Feline Update

The Destructo Duo went in for their yearly check up two weeks ago. It was a month early as I needed to get Rita in for a weight check so she was a tag along. She was in for her annual checkup last month and had lost weight (at 7.6 lbs) so we wanted to monitor it - all is good, she gained 1/2 pound and is back to 8.1 pounds. I figured out the youngsters were cleaning out her food as she is a grazer, so made sure that there was a surplus of kibble to be had.

Back to the youngsters. At about 14 months old, they both got their 3 year rabies booster along with FLVEPHCTDS (or whatever those letter are ). Spot is 7.5 pounds and healthy. Rainey, formerly Runt (because she was the runt of the litter), is now my biggest cat at a whopping 8.6 pounds . Yes, she is the one that will clean out Rita's canned food, and eat her kibble regardless of how much is in the "kittens" bowls. Although not lithe, she is by no means a fatty. She is visibly taller, and a bit wider than Spot. I didn't realize she is at least as tall as Rita and probably as long. Like they say, dark clothes make you look smaller - which must translate to fur color too.

Anyway, everyone is healthy and happy, and that is all I want.

Last weekend was very hot (for around here - mid 90's), so two things happened ahead of time:

1. I pulled out the portable A/C that I had bought off CL last year (when I got the kittens since they were to be caged upstairs so they couldn't get to the cool basement), and got that set up in the living room. That is a 10k BTU A/C and will keep the LR, kitchen and office "cool" (aka, 80*) as long as the bedrooms and bathroom are closed off.
2. I bought a 6k window A/C for the office - that happily also blows into the bathroom. Yes, it is red-necky in that I used rigid foam insulation left overs to cover the window to keep sunlight from streaming in.

If I leave the bedrooms open, both A/C's can keep everythig about 78-80. If I close them off, the temps can stay at 76 or lower. I only use the A/C's in the afternoon when the sun gets really southwest (oh how I miss that willow that shaded that side of the house)

The cats all have their preferred place of resting when I am cooling off the house. Rainey likes the bedroom which is a midrange temp.

Spot lays in the bathroom garden window - which is hot since it is in direct sun and I have a heavy towel blocking off the heat generated during the summer.

And Rita is laying right in front of the stream of air from the office A/C (the airflow stream is at an angle from the window to the doorway).

And then the other day, on a non-A/C day, I caught the three of them on the (messy) bed. Unusual for the three of them to be so close. You can tell by the looks on their faces that they were a little disgruntled at having their naps interrupted.

Comments

[Cop Car]

The critters are lucky to have you as their "mom". The health reports are great news!

I failed to recall that you had any air conditioning. Good show! I'm sure that, as does our open stairway, your open stairway lets the cool air pool in the basement. (Your dad freezes in his den during the summer - keeping his oscillating heater fired up. What was I thinking? Having the stairway enclosed wasn't really feasible with the stairs in the placement in which I put them. Drat!)

[bogie]

I'm not sure I mentioned that I had gotten the portable A/C since the way more exciting news was that I had picked up the kittens.

The air flow between the basement and main floor is not good. That is the reason I had to resort to two pellets stoves - I couldn't get hot air to rise (or at least not well) and it was 90* downstairs to keep the living room at 68 (and forget the bedrooms that were in the mid, and sometimes lower 50's).

The kitchen is one of the warmer rooms since I have the portable A/C air stream pointed down the hall and the window A/C is pointed at the bathroom. Plus, for the most part, I keep the main floor warmer than the basement is naturally.

[Cop Car]

Since we've never done much outdoor cooking, when we had a window a/c unit (purchased before you were born, when we lived on Lakeview and then moved to Park Lane), we installed it in the window above our (only) eating table - as close to the kitchen as was feasible. Since neither house had a total wall between the eating area and the living room area, that worked fairly well - as long as we weren't trying to sleep. We had (nor needed) a/c in Seattle and the Sunrise house was built with central a/c. I had a roof-mounted, whole-house swamp cooler in ABQ, you may recall.

[Cop Car]

Of course, I omitted "no" in writing about Seattle.