PHEW!
I have gotten some flak from someone who keeps track of my blog and my yard, apparently, and is concerned with the welfare of my 2 outside cats, Punkin and Spook. It seems they worry about where the little guys go in inclement weather. It is true, they have the carport for a certain amount of shelter, but if the rain is heavy and the wind is blowing, the carport is not the greatest place to hide from the elements. In fact, not only does it flood, it can act like a wind tunnel!
Spook and Punk came here during hurricane Isabel, a few years back. Animals often travel in bad storms or get disoriented. (During one storm, a friend’s cat crashed thru the screen on her bedroom window which opened onto a porch, and disappeared. She never saw the animal again. So, sadly, it happens…) I posted pictures at the local SPCA and all the vets and advertised in the lost and found of the local papers and radio – nobody came to claim them. For the first month, they hid out under one of my several barns until they discovered the barns go under water in a heavy rain.
Eventually they got brave enough to hang out on the carport, and I built a shelter for them, well, 2 shelters, actually, both heated. One (the Cat House) opens with a vent into the furnace room, 
the other, we call the Nest, is heated with a vent from under the house, with hot water baseboard pipes right next to this vent.
Then, last summer I had a shed built covering my oil tank. 
With heating fuel over $4 at the time, people were discovering their fuel tanks were being emptied in the night or while they were at work, so I thought, “out of sight, out of mind.” The cats thought it was a great place to hang out as I stored some lumber, bird feeders, and plastic containers in there.
During this last soaker, with it’s more than 5 inches of rain and high winds, the cats hid out in the shed, but discovered the way out was now under water. Poor babies! They were soaked! So, I called my neighbor across the street who had promised me a small load of gravel next time he recovered his driveway and asked him when he was planning on redoing his driveway. He decided Monday was the day and brought me 2 scoops of gravel in his Bobcat front loader. It really tore up my yard,
but I have gravel to spare, and the floor of the oil shed is several inches higher and Spook, for one, is much happier.
. Next warm day I promise I will build them a suitable “porch roof!” But, this will have to do until then. See Spook's little feet? Last week, that would have been underwater!
I have gotten some flak from someone who keeps track of my blog and my yard, apparently, and is concerned with the welfare of my 2 outside cats, Punkin and Spook. It seems they worry about where the little guys go in inclement weather. It is true, they have the carport for a certain amount of shelter, but if the rain is heavy and the wind is blowing, the carport is not the greatest place to hide from the elements. In fact, not only does it flood, it can act like a wind tunnel!
Spook and Punk came here during hurricane Isabel, a few years back. Animals often travel in bad storms or get disoriented. (During one storm, a friend’s cat crashed thru the screen on her bedroom window which opened onto a porch, and disappeared. She never saw the animal again. So, sadly, it happens…) I posted pictures at the local SPCA and all the vets and advertised in the lost and found of the local papers and radio – nobody came to claim them. For the first month, they hid out under one of my several barns until they discovered the barns go under water in a heavy rain. Eventually they got brave enough to hang out on the carport, and I built a shelter for them, well, 2 shelters, actually, both heated. One (the Cat House) opens with a vent into the furnace room, the other, we call the Nest, is heated with a vent from under the house, with hot water baseboard pipes right next to this vent. Then, last summer I had a shed built covering my oil tank. With heating fuel over $4 at the time, people were discovering their fuel tanks were being emptied in the night or while they were at work, so I thought, “out of sight, out of mind.” The cats thought it was a great place to hang out as I stored some lumber, bird feeders, and plastic containers in there. During this last soaker, with it’s more than 5 inches of rain and high winds, the cats hid out in the shed, but discovered the way out was now under water. Poor babies! They were soaked! So, I called my neighbor across the street who had promised me a small load of gravel next time he recovered his driveway and asked him when he was planning on redoing his driveway. He decided Monday was the day and brought me 2 scoops of gravel in his Bobcat front loader. It really tore up my yard, but I have gravel to spare, and the floor of the oil shed is several inches higher and Spook, for one, is much happier.. Next warm day I promise I will build them a suitable “porch roof!” But, this will have to do until then. See Spook's little feet? Last week, that would have been underwater!
1 comment:
Wow... your yard is wet! We had a gray week, mostly misty drizzle, nothing to add up in the rain gauges. But this afternoon we actually had sunshine. Tomorrow is our town's Christmas parade. I hope it is sunny!
Post a Comment