Settling in

This is the view from the front of our building. The glow is from the 3 cruise ships that were in dock that night. The tourist season will be winding down in a few weeks. It'll probably feel somewhat deserted around here. There's a kind of festive vibe when the ships come in. I'm glad however, that we don't face the road.

Maya (black) seems to be commenting on the view to Flip, "So whadda ya think? Not too bad, eh?"

We look on to a courtyard and pathways to the other buildings. Though it's pretty busy during the day: helicopters and sea planes taking off and landing, cruise ships docking, tour buses passing through and fog horns sounding, somehow it adds to the ambiance. Being in the back the noise is surprisingly muffled and when the action's done for the day it's lovely and quite. We're in the city but on the outer edge; the best of both worlds.

This pleases me no end and I'm shocked that it does. The spices have been piled into a basket in the pantry; not conducive to generating enthusiasm over cooking. I thought I'd chucked this shelf before we left but it seems Rod rescued it. It was meant to be here as it fits the space perfectly. The simplicity of this look pleases my eye. With my most used spices visible and within easy reach I've found cooking pretty pleasurable.

Here is our schedule

TA DA! Here is our latest project...the perfect kitty litter box to accommodate"Squirt" aka Maya who has taken up spraying over the edge of conventional boxes and Flippy who loves to poo just outside the kitty box and scatter kitty litter all over the floor. It took a few prototypes before we came up with this beauty.

HOW TO CONSTRUCT: get a big storage bin, cut a big access hole. Surround the bin with a room divider for privacy and improved visual appeal.

HOW TO SET UP THE LITTER: dump kitty litter and baking soda (I add my own) in the box, mix together, shove it to the back half of the bin. In this model there is a small trough around the base so make sure it too is filled with litter or pee will pool there.

HOW IT WORKS: Maya squirts against the back wall. Flippy poos on the floor of the bin so litter is pretty much confined to, the floor of the bin. You know it's time to clean it out when the litter covers the floor, after that they'll spread it further. You have to keep it from advancing like the polar ice cap during the ice age.

 As soon as the box is cleaned Flip and Maya take turns checking it out and making their marks. This picture gives a sense of scale and as you can see Flip's choosing her poo spot just beyond the litter. The screen hides the box from view of our front door to the right of the shot but not from the prying lens of my camera.