Oregon Heats Up

We got some heat, finally.

Well, two days of it.  Close to 100 degrees.

Doesn't bother me, that hot.  In fact I rather enjoy it.

But what do I do when its super hot out?  Do I go to a river or lake?   Do I sit inside with the AC on?

I don't have that kind of sense.

Instead, I hit the project list.  Including, but not limited to, trimming down dead branches on a productive prune tree out back (branches broke from weight of fruit).   I trim the bush out front, whose branches were as unruly as my hair.   I tear down and out and up an old cat house in the cat yard, that has rotted and fallen into a need for removal from sheer age.  I tore much of it up out in the cat yard, then carried the pieces out to the garbage, although it will take two more garbage cycles to get rid of it all.  I cleaned up the area where it sat, forgot how I'd once bricked it over, although some of the bricks have sunk now.

And I've worked at building a new cat house structure for the same spot.  Mostly I have used old wood from the loft, dug it out, assessed its age and usefulness, because most of it has already been used in some other project, now dismantled, judged to be worthy to save for something else, and stashed in the loft.

I did get one piece of plywood awhile back, with a Home Depot gift card I'd been gifted.  I had the clerk cut it in half so I could fit the 4 foot by 4 foot pieces in my car.

So I measure and cut it up, paint it with the old house paint, 3/4 gallon was left in that, wait for that to dry, give it a second coat, wait, turn over, paint other side, etc.   The project has taken up most of the garage space and I will be happy when its done but its not done yet.  I need to scrounge one more 2x4 or 2x2.

The loft is almost empty now of my old used wood.  That makes me a little nervous but I'll find more, discarded or unwanted.  It's a two level structure I'm putting together, plus roof, to hold two plastic dog houses that will be straw stuffed.

I never plan things out.  So I'm just making this "thing" on the fly, figuring it out as I build it.  Never a very good idea.

This is what I'm building.  None of those shelf pieces are secured, just laid out, for now.  I have to take off one side again to get it through the door out to the cat yard.  I have to cut a roof slant to the tops of the 2x4's sticking up, and add the roof, but that will be done after I remove one side, and then the roof will go on out in the cat yard.

To the right is one of the two plastic dog houses that will go on the shelves.  I'm not too organized about building this structure.  There isn't much room to work in the garage.  I use a couple of live traps for saw horses and a very old skill saw I got for $5 at Habitat Restore.  Sure, I should get a new blade at some point.

This is the inside of part of the old cat house I took out yesterday.  Even though a dozen years old, the thing was hard to get apart.  I'd insulated it even, sealed edges with still clingy silicone.The plywood of the roof and one side had separated and rotted finally.  It had been built back then with previously used wood from other things.

I've not found a home for the log chunks from the cut down maple.  These are the chunks that fell inside the cat yard or are from the cut stump.  I thought the wood lot was taking them, if I took them out but then I went with six or eight pieces and they said no, I'd have to talk to someone else but I never found that person or even know who that person is.

So they rumbled around in the back of my car, until I called the friends who had friends who had before come with a trailer, and taken much of the wood fallen in my yard when the tree was cut, outside the cat yard, and hauled it off to split up for their wood stove.  My friends with the friends, gave me their friends number, said they were sure they'd want it, but they didn't answer and never returned my message or text.  Finally, I took the logs out of the back of my car and threw them into the driveway to wait.

I'd bought Slinko a Seresto Flea collar since he is allergic to fleas.  Unfortunately, only a week or so after getting it, I noticed it had worn a raw spot on the skin under his chin.  So off it came.  And it had been working too, all his other dermatitis had vanished.  It is possible the red area is chafing, not allergy.  I took it off for now.  He's going to the vet with me my next appointments.

It may have been hot for two days but this morning its cloudy and it rained in the night.

From high 90's yesterday, to this today.....