Today
My niece posted a picture a couple of days ago, showing her Cockerpoo sticking her nose through the newly installed catflap. She commented that perhaps the dog thought it was a window just for her.
In My Day
Eventually, we outgrew the house at Mead Close and decided to turn the garage into a kitchen. This left us with the problem of a place for the dog to sleep. Suddenly we had a "lightbulb" moment. A kennel!
We went to the DIY and bought four fencing panels and some corrugated plastic sheeting. Then to the petshop where we bought a dogflap of a suitable size. At home we found an old pallet and an offcut of vinyl flooring.
Paul set to work and constructed a bijou residence. The pallet floor, covered with underlay, kept it clear of damp. The fence panels made the walls, one of which entirely hinged outwards, like a dolls' house. The dogflap was inserted into the front panels and a pitched roof of corrugated plastic was added. Perfect! A ventilated home with natural lighting and easy access.
We popped the dog bed in. When the evening meal came round we put Cas's food into the kennel and he eagerly followed through the dogflap. The water bowl we left outside because the dog walked into it on a regular basis and we didn't want the inside of the kennel to get wet. We left Cas to it and went indoors.
In the morning I went out to greet the dog and give him his breakfast. He was whining and whimpering inside the kennel. "Well come on, Cas" I called "I've your breakfast here"! He carried on whimpering. The silly mutt had not worked out that the flap worked both ways, so had spent the entire night stuck inside. He was desperate for a drink of water and a pee.
I released him and commenced on dogflap training. It took him over a week to figure it out - cats understand the principle in moments - after which he was very happy in his little house and often asked to go out to it. He wasn't so keen when the cats chose to join him, as they managed to take up the entire bed while he hunched in a corner!
So maybe the solution, Helena, is a personal house for your Cockerpoo. Just be prepared for the person-hours spent on training!
Monday, February 12, 2018
Monday, February 05, 2018
Tooled Up
Today
This morning, while Paul tested the mudguard lights on the model radio-controlled truck he is making, I talked about some modifications I want to make to my workspace to give me easier access to things like ribbons and spools of thread.
"You know", I said "some of the people we know will have fully stocked tool, hobby, craft and sewing kits while others are hard put to it to produce a needle or screwdriver."
In My Day
Mamma and Daddy were definitely of the former variety. While Daddy didn't do any crafts, as such, he did carry out much of the maintenance and repair work at 4BH and his other properties. At the foot of the basement stairs, and partly tucked under them, was his tool cupboard. This sported a dazzling array of paintbrushes, old cans of paint, hammers, screwdrivers, saws of every type, planes, sandpaper and tins and boxes of nails and screws. He had a blowtorch, fuse wire, and pieces and offcuts of metal and wood. He put up wallpaper using a paste made out of plain flour and water. He had trestle tables for laying out the paper and bottles of turps and meths (I rather liked meths beautiful shade of mauve which, I later learnt, was added to put alcoholics off drinking it). In the garage would be sand and cement used for a whole range of garden improvements and repairs.
In the living room was his desk which housed a Remington typewriter and was a treasure house of paper, card, paperclips, pencils, rubbers, inks, rulers, rubber bands and other treasures. I think we children raided this fairly freely.
Mamma had a sewing machine, a sewing box full of threads, buttons and other notions. She had knitting needles and balls of wool as well as fabric scraps and other bits.
Her kitchen, apart from the usual saucepans, had various mincers and graters, cake and baking tins of every shape and size, cake icing equipment, biscuit cutters, sieves and colanders. And there was a fully stocked larder.
All this suggests a very busy and creative life, and I personally love to look at and use my well-stocked workspace and kitchen. How are you ever to replace a button if the only needle you have resembles a rusty poker and the only thread you have came out of a free sewing kit from a hotel, or hang up a picture if you can't lay your hands on a tack hammer and picture hook?
This morning, while Paul tested the mudguard lights on the model radio-controlled truck he is making, I talked about some modifications I want to make to my workspace to give me easier access to things like ribbons and spools of thread.
"You know", I said "some of the people we know will have fully stocked tool, hobby, craft and sewing kits while others are hard put to it to produce a needle or screwdriver."
In My Day
Mamma and Daddy were definitely of the former variety. While Daddy didn't do any crafts, as such, he did carry out much of the maintenance and repair work at 4BH and his other properties. At the foot of the basement stairs, and partly tucked under them, was his tool cupboard. This sported a dazzling array of paintbrushes, old cans of paint, hammers, screwdrivers, saws of every type, planes, sandpaper and tins and boxes of nails and screws. He had a blowtorch, fuse wire, and pieces and offcuts of metal and wood. He put up wallpaper using a paste made out of plain flour and water. He had trestle tables for laying out the paper and bottles of turps and meths (I rather liked meths beautiful shade of mauve which, I later learnt, was added to put alcoholics off drinking it). In the garage would be sand and cement used for a whole range of garden improvements and repairs.
In the living room was his desk which housed a Remington typewriter and was a treasure house of paper, card, paperclips, pencils, rubbers, inks, rulers, rubber bands and other treasures. I think we children raided this fairly freely.Mamma had a sewing machine, a sewing box full of threads, buttons and other notions. She had knitting needles and balls of wool as well as fabric scraps and other bits.
Her kitchen, apart from the usual saucepans, had various mincers and graters, cake and baking tins of every shape and size, cake icing equipment, biscuit cutters, sieves and colanders. And there was a fully stocked larder.
All this suggests a very busy and creative life, and I personally love to look at and use my well-stocked workspace and kitchen. How are you ever to replace a button if the only needle you have resembles a rusty poker and the only thread you have came out of a free sewing kit from a hotel, or hang up a picture if you can't lay your hands on a tack hammer and picture hook?
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