April 29, 2024 Monday--5am

Good morning!

Well, the kitty litter saga continues.  We left you with her old stainless steel litter box being covered with the pine pellets.  It had a layer of her old litter underneath the pellets and she was using it.

Meanwhile, baby cottontail bunnies have parties on the patio every night.  It is too dark to get pictures most of the time.  There have been up to three bunnies at a time playing out there that I have seen.  They finish off the round orangish seed none of the birds seem to like much.

The new litter box arrived.

Really nice big box!

I didn't realize that the pellets Tidy Cat sells for these are PLASTIC.  That's why they need the pee pads underneath in that drawer.  But when you use the wood pellets, the pee turns the pellets into sawdust.  It truly is like a kitty compost toilet and that is why Dagan didn't need to use the pee pads.  Leah told me.  It isn't mentioned very clearly in the information online or on the box.  I can feel through the bags the pellets came in that they are hard as a rock and are likely plastic.  Anyways, I won't need to use the pee pads...which will save money.

I can't remember for sure what the full moon was called this month--(pink moon?)--but it was very bright.

Silly Allie still plays with her water.

I have seen no ants in the pantry for many days, but still have them in the bathroom where they first arrived.  I keep feeding them the peanut butter and borax.  Leah keeps forgetting to bring/send borax over.  What I have may be a little weak in proportions but I think it must be working...or just keeping them well fed--lol!

It has been so dark and cloudy out the partridges have been here during the day...

...and the baby bunnies, too!  

Been raining off and on since last Thursday night.  Supposed to likely continue through this Wednesday.  It is light and drizzly, but the whole world is greening up in delight.

Friday Dagan and the boys came by.  Dagan helped me switch the litter boxes and brought out all the trash for me.

I figured I was in the clear because Allie had been going in the box just fine with all the pellets in there--so I went for it.

Even got a new scooper.

Reviews said it worked with pellets.  And it really does.  The pellets can fall through the wider wire in the back really easily.

Allie pooped in the box on Saturday--woohoo!  

Meanwhile, I had an allergy week again.  But with all the rain it had settled down some by the weekend.  So, besides the usual cooking, baking, laundry, dishes, letters, and the like...I made it into the studio to play with some watercolors.  Just made multi-colored blobs and left them to dry.  Plan to doodle on them.

Then Sunday...the smell of cat poo drifted into the living room.  Good, I thought, and went to the pantry to scoop...nothing there in the new litter box!  Followed the scent...down the hallway...into the bedroom...

...and she had pooped under the table rather than in the new litter box!  

I cleaned and scrubbed it and sprayed with this zero odor spray I had left over from sick days with Karma and Annie before they passed.  Shut the door to the bedroom...

...and to the studio.

I took her old litter box that I hadn't scrubbed out yet and plopped it on the floor next to the new one.  If she misses it so badly so can use it bare.

Now I wondered if she peed anyplace else in the apartment?  I looked everywhere but didn't find any wet spots or smell anything.  But, then again, would I smell it with this runny nose?  Well, I could smell the poo--lol!  Will be easier to find after cutting her off from access to the bedroom and the studio.    

As you know I have written the weekly blog on Sundays to post early Monday mornings for a while now.  So it is actually Sunday afternoon as I am writing this.  I will be sure to update any developments on the litter saga before I go to bed.  

I do love cats so very much, but there are times...grrr!  LOL!  But this time, unlike when I let Annie win so easily, we want both cats using the same system before I move.  Blink has used the pellets for years.  I took it slowly and added the pellets to Allie's regular litter now for a couple of months, I think.  Increased slowly and all of that.  The wood pellets are sooo much cheaper and easier.  I know cats prefer to have something easier to dig in--so Blink might reject the pellets if we have both available, you know?  We need to make the switch with this old lady cat.  (Allie's somewhere around 9 or older.)  If you think teaching an old dog new tricks is hard...try an old cat--LOL! ;)

Allie.  Allie.  Allie.  

This battle has just begun.  

Anyways, McFamily is on the mend again.  Still drizzling outside.  Allie is curled up in my lap.  Being lovey because she knew I was upset with her.  Wants to know we are okay.  We are.  For now--lol!

I will probably get me some drawing pens and bring the art journal out here to doodle on tonight.  If I do, I'll add a picture.  Not because it looks good--more as proof that I actually do have enough extra energy sometimes to play around with art again--ROFL! ;)  And THAT is exciting to me. :)

That's it for this week's adventures.  Till next time...  :) :)

Okay--Sunday night--midnight...

I was doodling away...

...when I saw Allie squatting in the corner of the pantry!  Yes--she peed in the corner!  

I cleaned it up--plus the bottom of a couple pairs of shoes.

Things are not going well.

I put a small amount of her old kitty litter in her old litter box--so they are both there right now.

We are on the outs...needless to say.  

Hate to end on a bad note, but this is how the switching litter adventure is going.  Annie was older, too, when we tried switching her.  Blink was a young cat and adapted quickly.  Not sure if this is going to work.  

Boy!  Am I ever glad I shut her out of the other two rooms.  

Well, I have to go spray the zero odor stuff all over that corner...and double check the donation box that was sitting on the floor, too.  *sigh*

April 22, 2024 Monday--5am

Good morning!

Let's see...Dagan dropped off some groceries on Tuesday...Keanna had to switch to Wednesday...Thursday Leah left for Sioux Falls for work and came home Friday.  Ian was home from school Thursday...and by the weekend McFamily were all sick again with that cold/cough!  Me--wasn't a good week, but I was not sick-sick.  Have been very tired (even taking naps again), not feeling great, and have had a headache for several days.  So, the week flew by.  I never touched the clothes bins full of summer clothes or got near the art table.  Earlier in the week I did get some cooking and baking done and a couple loads of laundry done Saturday.  Wrote some letters and made plans to alter Miss Allie's life some more--lol!  Explanation will follow.  :)

The grackles are here every day.  As soon as I put out any seed they descend and devour every last sunflower seed--lol!

We had some rain...enough to briefly splatter the screen on the patio door where I tried to get a picture of some red-winged blackbirds who came to nibble.

We could have used a good downpour, but only had occasional drizzle.

Was enough to bring a cottontail out during the day to grab a bite.

Most of the week looked like this, though.  Very pretty--blue skies and white clouds.

Allie entertains me every day...

...with her water antics!

You may notice how the drizzle did green up the lawn!!

How do I plan to alter Allie's life?  Well, Blink uses pine pellets in her litter box.  I have been sprinkling some pine pellets in Allie's for quite a while now.  I made the decision to just take the plunge and order a wood pellet type litter box for Miss Allie.  So, instead of merely sprinkling the pellets over her usual littler...

...I dumped some all over the top of it!  She'll have had about half and half for a couple of days.  The new box is supposed to come tomorrow.  So I will set it up and switch her over this coming week.  Fingers crossed!  When I tried to switch Miss Annie over she would have nothing to do with it...period.  Pooped outside the box and wouldn't set foot on those pellets--lol!  But with Allie, I have been adding them to her usual litter for a good while and she has been okay with it.  I was figuring it will be easier to switch her over before the big move than trying to do it afterwards.  The time has come.

You can get a huge bag of pellets from Fleet Farm for like $7.00.  (40 lbs?)  You only have to scoop the poop out.  The pee goes down thru the bottom and ends up on a tray with a kitty pee pad.  Dagan hasn't even been using the pee pads--says it is just kind of like sawdust.  Kind of like a compost toilet for cats--lol!  No more kitty litter all over the place...or litter dust.  Apparently no more smell--well, except for actual poo smell--lol!  I am really hoping this works with Allie, too.  After all, I am going to be the official litter box scooper and cleaner once I move in.  Dagan will haul it out, but I will scoop and empty the bottom drawer with the pee pad.  I do think I will start with the pee pads that come with it and see how that goes.

Anyways, you may recall the cut up hunks of old memory foam pad from my bed (from when I used to be able to sleep in a bed) that I put under the cat beds all these years.  I had always thought I would sew covers for them or something.  I have wrapped them in towels sometimes.  But then it hit me!  I ordered some cheap orange throw pillow covers!  And they fit!

I think Allie even likes them--lol!  And they look SOOOO much better!!

Meanwhile, I am still battling ants.  But they are not really a problem.  They come directly out from under the baseboard and into the ink bottle boxes and back out and under...all day and night.  Especially where they first showed up in the bathroom.  (Next door apartment?)  Every time I hardly see any ants I put a little fresh peanut butter/borax in the box and there is suddenly a conga line of ants again.  They do love their peanut butter.  I wondered why they weren't dead and gone by now.  Googled and it said to use one part peanut butter and two parts borax.  I asked Leah what she had used  and she said she probably used half and half or maybe a little more borax.  That should be good, but she said she'd drop off some more borax this week.  

I have the feeling there may possibly even be more than one ant nest in the walls.  It's fine with me if it takes a long time to get them all because it's a less toxic way.  So many people have cats and small dogs in these buildings.  The ants are so happy being fed they don't even send out scouts like they were doing--(when they couldn't find anything but dry cat food in my apartment)--and Allie has no interest in the boxes.  There are just a few ants coming under the baseboard in the pantry anymore.  I haven't seen them anywhere else.  So, patience, I guess.  

I did get an assortment of pictures from Leah...hundreds actually--lol!  I'm not even sure where all of them are from, but they are Easter and up to the trip to Ohio for the eclipse.  I want to include some for posterity.  Probably more for Gramma...so feel free to scroll down if you would like to. ;)  I love seeing what they have been up to.

Pretty soon they won't fit into these matching sweaters they wear every Easter...

...and they will feel too old to wear bunny ears--ROFL  

Have to appreciate it while it is still fun times to hunt for Easter eggs.  :)

Easter dinner with Leah's brother, Aaron.

Easter egg cake!

Car packed on the way to Ohio.

Dogs love Dagan, too!

I remember when Dagan and I petted rays swimming by in Florida long ago.

Looks like a lorikeet came over to visit Liam at an aviary somewhere.

When you see dinosaur skeletons...another science museum, I assume.

A surprise from housekeeping!  A towel folded to look like a pair of swans on the bed at a hotel.

Ian--his towel creation--and a note for the housekeeping staff.

The note says..."Thanks for the swans.  Do you like my cute little elephant?  Ian"...in cursive!!  That makes Gramma so very happy!

Anyways, that's a smattering of what they've been up to.  They're all sick again now.  I am still in very low gear, but not sick-sick.  Allie is parked in the chair next to me at the table.  Grackles are squawking on the patio.  Have the door open because it's 65 degrees right now...supposed to be close to 70 tomorrow.  

The main project this week is that I need to pull all the dead flowers out of the planters.  This coming weekend we are tentatively planning on Leah bringing over a hose so we can really clean down the patio and the planter boxes...so that we can put them up for sale.  Once the patio is all cleaned off, no more seed for the critters until the planter boxes are sold and gone. 

Other than that, it will all depend on how I am feeling.  Hopefully will have more energy and be less achy.  Regardless, I know Allie and I will have an adventure with her potty changes that are coming--lol!   I hope McFamily will all be feeling better.  Hope you all are doing well, too.  

Until next time... :) :)