Author: Joe

Wet Cat Pictures

Once again I’m posting rather late, but at least I am finally getting around to posting.

I gave Talore another bath last weekend (perhaps if I used shampoo on her she would feel clean for longer), but this time I took pictures. Talore didn’t mind the water as much this time as she did last time (I could let go of her without her instantly lunging for the side), but she certainly didn’t appreciate it.

I was using my old digital camera for the pictures since it’s easier to use 1-handed and it wouldn’t bother me as much if it got wet and died, but that means that the pictures didn’t come out all that well. The other problem with taking pictures was that Talore would realize that I wasn’t paying as much attention to her when I reached for the camera and she’s start trying to get out of the tub.

This was the picture that came out the best (all the problems with it are because of the camera, not sudden motion):

That was probably the third time I tried to take that picture. I didn’t intend to let her latch onto the edge of the tub, but that was the easiest place to catch her one handed while she was trying to get out and it made a decent picture. It’s not obvious how hard she’s pushing to get out, but you can see that her claws are out attempting to grip the side of the tub. One of the earlier tries she managed to get her claws into my jeans (and therefore my leg), which caused me to swiftly put down the camera. Luckily the jeans prevented her claws from sliding so I just got stabbed, not scratched.

This picture didn’t come out nearly so well:

She stopped struggling to the point that I let go of her for a bit while she walked around the tub, but I wasn’t quick enough to get a picture of her just standing in the water. I don’t know if it was the fact that she was jumping straight at the camera that washed it all out or if it’s the camera just being terrible.

Cat Report

Talore got up to a good bit this week, and I even got a couple pictures.

First off, she’s developed a new way to wake me up that’s rather effective. She fairly often pokes her head through the edge of the curtain to see outside, which lets sunlight in. I generally just roll over and go back to sleep if it’s not time for me to get up. The problem is that she usually wants to play in the mornings, and I’m the only thing in the apartment that’s moving. I was used to getting pounced on occasionally, but this week she started getting on the bed behind me and stabbing me with a single claw in the middle of my back after I’d rolled over. I have no idea what’s special about one claw, but she’s done it twice now. It hasn’t been hard enough for me to start bleeding, but it’s plenty hard enough to wake me up all the way.

When I’m at my computer Talore often sleeps/curls up on the corner of my desk. That’s not a problem and I’ve got a space cleared off for her, but she occasionally starts edging out of her space onto my mouse/keyboard/lap if she wants more attention. This week she stretched and moved the other way, then all of a sudden while she was asleep she fell off the side of the desk (without even a nudge from me). She landed on her feet fine, but in her flailing when she woke up falling she managed to knock the cup of water (that I use to flick at her when she picks at my furniture) off on her head. She took off like a shot.

Speaking of picking at my furniture, I’ve got strips of clear packing tape stuck to the chair/sofa cushions with the sticky side out to deter her. The sticky part works quite well, but she’s started chewing on the spots where I have the sticky side down to hold it on. Flicking water at her deters her for a little while, but she goes back to it so I put rolls of duct tape over those spots. That’s working quite well, but she got in the way while I was putting it on, so I tore off a spot and stuck it to the back of her neck. Usually when I stick something to her she bites it and pulls it off, but she can’t reach that spot. She clawed at it and ran around my apartment for a while before coming back so I could get it off. Very little fur came off with the tape (and she didn’t even complain), but it stuck pretty well.

When I have the window open Talore sits as close as possible to the screen so she can see a lot. When the window is closed she still sits close, but I didn’t realize she presses her nose to the window. I’m almost certain all the spots on the glass are from her nose. I should probably clean that for her.

Roomba Repair

When I got home yesterday the roomba had made it about ten feet before stopping. When I started it up again it made a clicking noise as it went a few feet, then it stopped and told me: “Error 2. Open Roomba’s brush cage and clean brushes.” The brushes were already clean, but they wouldn’t turn when I tried it. I figured that something inside it had gotten packed with cat hair since none of the stuff that was there to keep hair from wrapping around the moving parts that were exposed actually worked very well.

Simply taking the bottom cover off revealed the modular design of the insides and a large amount of loose cat hair, but nothing that was problematic. I meant to get a picture of the impressively large pile of cat hair I removed, but Talore lay down on it and tracked it all over before I managed to. Since the brushes were the part that wasn’t working I took out the brush module and took it completely apart.

Sure enough:

The drive gear and the gear next to it were tied together such that they couldn’t turn. Oily cat hair is a pain to wipe off of stuff, but I did manage to get most of it out. What I didn’t manage to do was find all the clear plastic washers that came out with the cat hair (or so I assume, I only ever saw one). I also didn’t re-oil the gears when I put it back together due to lack of oil.

I’d have thought that the pet model roomba would be able to handle cat hair better than it did, but at least it was all put together with standard screws and came apart pretty easily, even beyond the part that was probably intended to be user serviceable.

Once I got it all back together (which was nearly as easy as taking it apart) it was willing to start right up and start making up for being out of commission since Friday. It now makes a slightly different noise on the linoleum in my kitchen (probably the noise it made before it got full of cat hair), but while I was watching it it had no trouble cleaning.

The schedule and the clock did get cleared while I had the battery out, but those are both easy to set, and I even changed the schedule I have it on slightly like I’ve been meaning to do for a while.