At Home In The Woods

[jinman]

Obed, 20 years is a very long life for a cat. As much as we get attached to them, all we can do is make their lives as good as we can and hope they survive. Many/most don't live anywhere near that long. I'm sorry for the sadness the cat's passing brings, but you did well and there are many other cats needing a family like yours.

 

[Obed]

Thanks everyone for the nice comments. Yes, 20 years is a long life for a cat. My wife seems to be handling it pretty well; she saw the writing on the wall earlier this week and did some of her mourning before our cat actually died. Yesterday seemed tougher for me than for my wife actually. But things are good. Today is better.

Our cat wasn't really herself these past couple of months. When we moved into the house, we made stairs out of boxes to our bed so our cat could climb into our bed. However, a few weeks ago she stopped sleeping with us, probably because it was too hard for her to get in and out of our bed. She didn't feel well and stayed in the garage most of the time, I think because she had such difficulty moving around.

 

[Obed]

We have finally figured out how we want to do the railing for the back porch and deck. We decided against using the horizontal cable railing because our girl would be guaranteed to climb over it. I even reconsidered installing the standard vertical wooden spindle railing although they would obstruct our view.

However, after doing some research, my wife saw a posting on the web by a contractor who contructs deck railing using vertical steel rods. Stealing from that guy's approach, my wife got quotes from some painting companies to powder coat 30" long 5/16" dia. steel rods. We will buy the 20' rods and the painting contractor will cut them and powder coat them. The final cost will be $2.15 per 30" rod and we will need slightly over 100 rods.

Here's a mock-up.

 

[dstig1]

That looks nice. I've also seen it done with 1/2" copper pipe. You can lacquer/varnish them, but it won't hold up forever. Leaving them to weather looks nice over time. Drill flat bottomed holes 1/2-3/4" deep or so to retain them in between the top and bottom rails, or some variation of that.

I would recommend drilling a small through hole in the bottom rail to let any water out of the rod holes and prevent rot.

 

[MotorSeven]

Hey I like that....looks great and the price is right!

 

[MotorSeven]

Obed, I just noticed about you buddy....sorry to hear that, but 20 years is one heck of a long good life. Now it just so happens that we have 5 brand spanking new one's almost ready to be weaned...heck I'll even throw in free delivery if ya want one or three

 

[clemsonfor]

Thats sweet take him up on it, and take 2 there always better with a freind. We have 7!! Wife is a vet assistant, they keep fining their way home with her.

 

[Obed]

That looks nice. I've also seen it done with 1/2" copper pipe. You can lacquer/varnish them, but it won't hold up forever. Leaving them to weather looks nice over time. Drill flat bottomed holes 1/2-3/4" deep or so to retain them in between the top and bottom rails, or some variation of that.

I would recommend drilling a small through hole in the bottom rail to let any water out of the rod holes and prevent rot.

That's a good suggestion. The rods are 5/16" so I can't drill a very large drainage hole, maybe 1/8" at most I would think. However, that might help keep water from collecting in the rod holes.
Obed

 

[Obed]

Thanks for the offers but I don't think we will be looking for another cat soon.

Obed

 

[Obed]

Obed, I just noticed about you buddy....sorry to hear that, but 20 years is one heck of a long good life. Now it just so happens that we have 5 brand spanking new one's almost ready to be weaned...heck I'll even throw in free delivery if ya want one or three

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Rick, they are rather cute. However, I wouldn't want to cause Leslie pain so I just can't take them from you.
Obed