So, when we first let the Players out of their room to have the run of the upstairs, we put baby gates at the bottom of the stairs. It looked like this:
And this:
If you can’t tell, there’s a walk-through gate on the bottom, and then two pressure-mounted gates stacked on top. There’s a gap at the bottom of the walk-through gate, because when Fred installed that walk-through gate, it was when we had Livia and the Sopranos. The idea was for there to be enough of a gap for the kittens to get through, but not Livia. It didn’t always work – Livia is not a big cat – but it worked well enough. You can see in that second picture that I blocked the gap by sticking a folded-up box there. It worked for a lot longer than I expected.
Until Friday night, when that wily little Dennis figured out how to push the box through the gap at the bottom. Fred and I were watching TV, and I glanced down the hallway to see three freaked-out kittens wandering around in the hallway. We herded them back upstairs, and then Saturday morning Fred got up bright and early and went to Lowe’s.
And now we have a screen door!
We had to trim it to fit the doorway, but that was fairly easy to do. It’s unfinished, so eventually I’m going to paint it (or at least polyurethane it). It’s got a hook on either side of the doorway, and there’s enough of a gap between the door and the door frame so that if I’m downstairs and Fred was the last one through the door, I can stick a paint stirrer through and pop the hook up, and vice versa. (There’s not enough of a gap for the kittens to put their paws through. Believe me, they’ve tried!)
The kittens haven’t tried hanging on the door YET, but the screen on the bottom is made of pet screen, so should hold up well.
When there are no kittens having the run of the upstairs, we can remove the door and store it in the closet so that the permanent residents can go upstairs. (We leave the screen door propped open at night for them right now.)
And yes, I know you guys have been telling me that that’s what we need there. I know! And I’ve been trying to convince Fred of that, but he had to come to that conclusion on his own.
It is SO NICE to not have to deal with those baby gates any more!
“What doin’, lady?”
“What’s she doin’?”
“I don’t know. She’s weird.”
Oh, these kittens crack me UP.
On Thursday Ferdinand, Maria, and Orlando will be going to Petsmart. Room has finally come available for three of them, and since those are the three who are the most confident kittens in the litter, they’re the ones who get to go first. I sure do hope that they’re adopted quickly!
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Loony Jake sure does love his Tommy.
But he’ll snuggle with anyone who’ll have him, really.
I’m not sure Stefan realized he was there!
His heart really belongs to Tommy. Probably because Tommy will put up with him for far longer than anyone else.
Two boys and a heated bed.
Giving Tommy some space.
Jake will follow hiiiiiiim. Follow him wherever heeeeee may go!
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Previously
2013: “Humans. So gullible.”
2012: Lazy Sunday.
2011: (But, y’know, no pressure or anything, Maggie!)
2010: A future litter of kittens (when it’s MY turn to name them!): Dither, Ponder, Discuss, and Swagger. I’ll call them The Verbs!
2009: No entry.
2008: No entry.
2007: No entry.
2006: No entry.
2005: No entry.