Author: Joe

Unhappy Cats

I finally got back to work on the cat tree, which means that I had to evict both cats and haul it downstairs (moving it was the primary reason I’ve been putting it off for so long). I didn’t have much plywood left, but measuring it revealed that I had enough to add the lower shelf and the slanted part using the thicker plywood (used on any climbing/sitting areas). I also started on the sides to the lower box using the thinner plywood.

The narrow shelf next to the hammock is thinner plywood – I just tacked it on to give Dash a shelf to use to get to the top since he can’t jump as high as Talore. I’ll replace it with thicker plywood when I’ve finished the lower box.

I titled the post “Unhappy Cats,” but really only Talore seems put out by me taking away her perch. Dash just followed me to the garage and curled up in the hammock there to watch. I really thought I had a picture of him in it while I was working, but apparently not.

I went and got another two small sheets of plywood today so I have enough to finish, but it’s cold tonight so I just finished the side and back of the lower box (which should be the last place I need the thinner plywood). That was a pretty good stopping point since it’ll probably be easier to install carpet in the box before all the sides are on. Tentative plan is to do most of the carpet this week then finish it next weekend if it’s not too frigid in my garage.

This is the current state right after I got it inside from the garage and put it down:

I suspect that once I’ve finished it I’m going to need help getting it up the stairs to where I plan to put it. I can still move it now, but it’s really awkward and getting heavy, and the turn on the stairs is sharp enough I have to lift it over the railing to make the corner. I’ll figure that out when I get there.

Finally Over

The final Wheel of Time book (A Memory of Light) came out the Tuesday before last. I finished it last weekend but didn’t get around to posting anything about it.

Note: This post will be spoiler free.

That said, here’s the top shelf on one of my bookshelves:

Note how nearly the entire shelf is Wheel of Time, and that’s even with most of the series in paperback. (That’s a terrible picture – both out of focus and off center, but it gets the point across I think).

I thought it was a good finish. It didn’t wrap up everything, or answer every question, but I never expected that. It closed enough and I was very happy with how it finally ended. I did think some things felt rushed, though the book was already over 900 pages without a glossary so adding in the build-up to make the one that bothered me most work better would have made the book even bigger.

This weekends project was to improve my tablesaw. Now it has a switch:

The previous switching method involved using a power strip with a switch on the top that I could step on since the tablesaw motor just plugs into the wall directly. That worked, but wasn’t the best (and it was annoying to have to unplug my tablesaw to use any other tools). This way I’ve got a switch dedicated to the table saw, and if I ever find something that I want to turn on when the table saw it in use I’ve even got a spare outlet for that (not likely). I also have greatly increased my outlet wiring experience (I’m pretty sure this was the first time I did something like this on my own, and it’s been many years since I helped my dad or anyone else with wiring).

The cord I used was a power tool replacement cord. For a little bit cheaper I could have bought an extension cord and cut the end off, but the replacement cord seemed like a perfect match for what I was doing. Having it made for rewiring stuff certainly helped: I don’t have to worry about the cord shell splitting from where I split the wires out because the shell stopped cleanly there, and the wires were all color coded to make it easy (though I verified with a voltmeter anyways).

To be honest, it would have been far better to just get a heavy duty extension cord and put the switch in the middle of that. That way I could have used an electrical box for one thing (instead of two, I think the term is 1-gang), which would have been more stable, and it might even have been cheaper depending on the extension cord (not that a single outlet is at all expensive, though a switch-only plate would have been cheaper than what I ended up with). Unfortunately that method of adding a switch was mentioned to me after I’d already bought all the parts besides the cord itself, so I just went with my original plan.

The next tablesaw improvement project will be to add some sort of bag or bin underneath to catch sawdust. That way I won’t have to vacuum it all up every time I use the tablesaw to keep Dash from rolling in the sawdust and tracking it inside the house… No idea when I’ll get to that, probably depends on how much I need to use the tablesaw for the rest of the cat tree. The simple solution is probably to get the right size/shape cardboard box and put it under there, but that may be hard to empty without spilling and I’m currently lacking in spare cardboard to make a box.

White Christmas

I thought I’d posted this a couple weeks ago. Turns out I made a new page instead of a new post, so I’m fixing that now. I even set the published date to when I’d originally posted.

A bit late on posting this, but it snowed on us for Christmas. Here’s the picture of my grandmother’s back yard (near Tyler Texas).

Very big wet flakes. I don’t think they lasted all that long on the ground, but this was right before we left to drive back to my parents house so we didn’t stick around to see.

In celebration of the last Wheel of Time book coming out this coming week I’ve been doing a partial reread of the series (skimmed through book 11 for the storylines I like, reading mostly chapter summaries of 12 but reading a few chapters, haven’t gotten to 13 yet). Reading in my chair upstairs means that the cat tree I still haven’t finished is next to me, specifically the hammock where Dash has been sleeping. He apparently wasn’t prepared for me to wake him up by poking him through the bottom of the hammock: he landed about four feet away looking back. Really wish I’d gotten that on video, but moving more than just reaching out to poke him probably would have woken him up earlier.