If You Build It, They Will Come

About a month before the wedding Justine proposed a new project to me: build a kitten house that includes room for kittens, mothers, food, water, litter, allows easy access for cleaning, and has a spot to run a heating pad's chord out. It should also be small enough to carry through a door into the house.

After a bit of sketching, I came up with a general design, then fired up Google's free CAD program, Google SketchUp. Since I was working with just right angles, it was an easy model to build on the computer. Below are a few shots of the 3D model I drew up:

As you can see, I designed two large doors, one on each side, and two flaps on the other sides to insert the litter box or food and water. I also put in a lockable cat door on one of the larger doors so we can easily insert the kittens/cats without releasing the ones already inside. There's also a series of steps up to the litter pan that should make it easier for small kittens to use.

SketchUp allows you to take measurements of your model, so I was able to draw up a list of materials, and how much of each I would need. A couple weeks before the wedding Justine and I went out and rounded up the supplies. I got a good start on the project that day and ended up with most of the bottom layer done as well as the doors. As you might imagine, finishing this project soon fell to the bottom of our todo list, and though I've done a bit here and there I haven't put in the time to give it the final push.

Yesterday afternoon I finished putting the frame together and reinforcing it then began cutting the wire covering. When Justine got home from work at the shelter, she helped me nail the wire to the structure. Once that was done we carried it inside, vaccuumed it, and inserted cats. All in all I think it turned out well, and was a really fun project to work on, from start to finish. I got a lot of good use out of my new circular saw (thanks again to Lynne and Brian) and once again my trusty power drill took all the abuse I put it through with flying colors. Below are some shots of the completed project (including the new inhabitants):

Honeymoon with company? (Part II)

After a while doing nothing in the condo, Nate and I started getting excited about doing some sight-seeing. Fortunately, Caro and her family were members virtually everywhere. First, we met up in Monterey, and we got to check out the Monterey Bay Aquarium. There were so many great exhibits! We got to watch the Otters being fed, and there were so many wings of different types of fish and mammals. Below are a few pictures from the Aquarium.

The second activity that we did together was going to Carmel-by-the-Sea, about one hour away from SeaScape. I told Nate that one of the only things that I really wanted to do while we were on the coast was to go tide pooling, which we hadn't gotten a chance to do last time we were in CA. There was a beautiful white sand beach with tide pools nearby in Carmel, so we spent the afternoon there (without any sunscreen). Below are a few more pictures of that afternoon.

After another day or two we said goodbye to our home away from home and headed back towards San Francisco.

Hey Honey, where's the moon?

After ten day of relaxation, Nate and I wandered back to Indiana and realized that for ten solid days (and many partial too-busy-with-the-wedding days before that), the world did continue on without us. For Nate that meant catching up on emails, fixing bugs, and getting back into work at a rapid pace (calling any of my paces rapid might be a stretch -Nate). For me, many phone calls. We picked up many new cat colonies while I was away, and there were surgery days to be had, so we both suddenly became very busy. We did miss our lives in Indiana while we were away, so this wasn't an unpleasant re-entry, but we have put off writing about our lives for longer than we should have.

The honeymoon, to me, came in four very distinct parts, and these parts may have to be split up for two reasons. The first is just time; I am currently in DC with Aunt Joan and Kyla, and time only permits small postings. Secondly, the beauty of a weblog is to get things in smaller bites and have time to digest them before reading the next posting, to avoid getting internet fat. Watch those e-calories, people! I do promise to get everything up in a timely fashion, as well as some of the exciting details of post-honeymoonal life.



We flew into SFO late in the evening and stayed overnight with my girlfriend Caroline in her home in Piedmont (near San Fan, near Oakland). Nate, Caro and I are pictured above; many of you likely met her at the wedding. Caroline's parents were the ones who so generously donated the beach condo for us to stay in. We got into SFO at around 1 am, took time to rent a car, and fell into sleep as soon as we found a bed. The next day we had a late morning, got packed again and drove to the beach condo.

The place we stayed is called SeaScape, and it is located in Aptos, CA, very close to Santa Cruz. Below is the view from our condo.



For the first five days or so, Nate and I did, literally, nothing. What a change from having to wake every morning with the stress of the wedding, knowing how many things still needed to be done! We were so happy to just relax. We found a place that rented DVD's nearby and shared all of our favorite movies. One afternoon we took what must have been a three hour walk along the beach. I am not quite sure of the time because I have no concept of when we left or returned, just that we walked for a very very long way down the beach and then back.

The condo itself was wonderful. Below is the view from the sliding door. There is a kitchen, wonderful little table for eating and great space for just lazing about. Two bedrooms with wonderfully fluffy beds, and our bedroom opened onto another little patio so that we could see outside. Both closets had complimentary robes to use. Two adorable bathrooms, and even a washer and drier! Everything we needed, exactly the right amount of space for a newly-wed couple, and room service. Life was perfect.



Also, to make matters even better, when we arrived we found this, gift from Caroline's parents. Also included in the gift was a bottle of champaign and a ticket for a free breakfast in bed. What a wonderful time!



More to come as time permits!