I need a camera I can place in a room in my house where one of the animals keeps shitting. I need to know for sure which one it is. Anyone have a cheap camera suggestion that can cover 12 hour stretches?
Also, I need to figure out a way to seal off my third floor during the winter. Even with the heat on 60 degrees my gas bill was astronomical.
rikyrah
I have no answers for you, Cole.
But, there are smarter people on here who will be able to get you the right information.
Virgil
Does a bear shit in the woods? Well, the only way to find that out is with a wildlife camera. People use them where I live all the time. Not to find out if bears shit of course. We already know that by stepping in it during hikes. So, I just did a quick search for “Wildlife Camera” and found this D-Link Wifi Camera . It looks like it would do the job. Bonus points for sound/motion detection alerts with email push.
wuzzat
Do you know any hunters who would let you borrow a game camera?
Possibly this could help with your sealing issue. Hard to tell without knowing more about the layout of your house.
Mongo
Have a look at the Mobius action cams… They go for about $80 and can be powered externally. With a 64 gig sdxc you’ll get about 12 hours of 1080p video. A cheaper option would be a lower res dashcam…
HTH,
mongo
Omnes Omnibus
I had a minor Colesque moment today. I was getting up from the couch, somehow tangled up my feet, and pitched forward into a bookshelf. I whacked my forehead into a shelf and split it open. So much blood. It is cleaned and bandaged now. But, man, did I feel dumb at the time.
WereBear
Put different color crayon shavings in everyone’s food.
SiubhanDuinne
@Omnes Omnibus:
Yikes! Did you go to the ER or a clinic, or just mop it up yourself? And are you sure you’re not concussed? Hope it heals soon and painlessly, leaving you nothing more than a dashing and piratical scar.
germy
Future balloon-juice live-stream?
jeffreyw
Cheap trail camera
Alain the site fixer
Something like this. https://www.amazon.com/EZVIZ-Security-Camera-Motion-Detection/dp/B01561GEB6/ref=sr_1_7?s=photo&ie=UTF8&qid=1488411628&sr=1-7&refinements=p_n_feature_keywords_browse-bin%3A2888679011%2C6009664011
Smiling Mortician
@WereBear: It kinda freaks me out that you had this suggestion ready to go . . .
JPL
There are baby gates for that..
zhena gogolia
@Smiling Mortician:
She’s an expert on cat behavior!
Alain the site fixer
@Mongo: I’d go for wifi so you can record to computer. Having to move the camera to access the sd card to copy to computer is a pain and an extra step.
Elizabelle
@WereBear: thats a great idea. Technicolor poop for the culprit.
Cost effective, if the pets will eat the crayon shavings. And eat from their own bowls.
Omnes Omnibus
@SiubhanDuinne: I took care of it myself. No signs of concussion. Bandage hidden by floppy hair as would be any potential scar.
Alain the site fixer
John, if you like Logitech they have some similar cameras. This was what I found quickly on Amazon.
Alain the site fixer
@Smiling Mortician: that’s a standard pet technique I think.
lahke
Is there an attic in the house, or just the roof on top of the third floor? you can insulate an attic. And what about your windows–do you have storms? You might want to plan on an upgrade there–with heat rising, having a leaky top floor means that you’re pulling all the heat up and out through that top floor.
tomtofa
Baby monitors are another option.
WereBear
@Elizabelle: A long history of rescuing pets. :)
MomSense
@WereBear:
Hahaha! I remember when my son and his friend are crayons. I opened the diaper and wow- technicolor.
@Omnes Omnibus:
Dog I hope we can’t catch the Cole clumsiness just from reading the blog.
ETA Hit reply inadvertently. Hope you are not in pain and the gash heals well.
Miss Bianca
@Omnes Omnibus: Oh, noes! You didn’t, by any chance, have occasion to use a mustard plaster? And not be able to find the mustard? Because that would make it really Cole-esque.
More seriously, hope you are OK. And that you have more effective pain killer than vanilla brandy lying around.
smintheus
Got a stairwell to the third floor? Put a door at the bottom; easily regulates how quickly heat flows up to the top floor.
FlyingToaster
For our attic we used foam board insulation over the pulldown-ladder opening. When we pull down the ladder we pop the foam board off the top as we climb out; pull it back over when we climb down before we close the hatch. The rest of the attic is already properly insulated (pink fiberglass what-have-you under plywood) from the 2nd floor.
Assuming there’s a door at the top of the stairs, and you’ve got forced-air heat, you could back the door with foam board, and pull the “blow” grates and put in a piece of foam board to block. I’ve had to do this in offices where the ceiling “blow” grate made our 4-person office 60° in August, and 90° in February. Do not block the “draw” grate, unless you want to keep replacing your heat exchanger (damn WarriorGirl and her box of injured stuffies).
Steeplejack (phone)
@MomSense:
Early symptom of Cole clumsiness.
MomSense
@Steeplejack (phone):
Heh.
Roger Moore
@WereBear:
That would require preventing them from eating out of each others bowls. Good luck with that.
Starfish
If you are losing a lot of heat through your windows, you can use that window shrink wrap stuff.
SG
I thought I saw at least one floor register in the pictures you’ve posted, Cole. If there are any registers opening to the attic floor, close them. I have a house that’s probably a decade or so older than yours, with a very similar layout. We have a door closing off the stairs to the attic and it’s very effective in preventing heat from rising up there.
I second the idea above for storm or otherwise insulated windows. I love the clean look of your windows, but it’s a trade-off in heating efficiency. Curtains or drapes, closed at night, help keep the heat in; open them during the day to let sun in to help warm the rooms.
As for the poop problem, is it on new flooring or old flooring? If it’s old, maybe the culprit is detecting a whiff of Walter’s previous, sad occupancy. If it’s not a health issue, it sounds like a psychological issue in the new surroundings. More lovies?
joel hanes
I’ve seen the pictures.
You might start by putting proper-sized winter curtains on the third-floor windows.
If you don’t have “storm windows”, so that you have two layers of glass separated by an airspace,
getting those will help a great deal.
Antonius
I use DropCams, I find them perfect for watching the pets.
Pricey, but effective
Bjacques
The poop…it’s coming from UPSTAIRS!!
frosty
My in-laws hung a heavy curtain across the stairs and it helped. Cheap solution, no construction involved and it doesn’t impede traffic for you or the dogs/cat. You could try it first and move on to something else if needed.
60… That’s cold. Although that’s where our addition stays when it’s in the 20s. Lots of insulation but too many windows plus French doors.
JMG
Nest has cameras designed to face outside to allow you to monitor things like the front door and driveway. I assume they work indoors, too. If you’re not using the third floor, just close or install a door at the top of the stairway. Works on the second floor (for guests only) at my house.
trollhattan
@MomSense:
It’ll be a diagnosis someday.
“I’ve suddenly become clumsy, lose things and bring home stray animals.”
[Rustles through test reports] “It’s confirmed, you have Cole’s. There’s no cure but you can still live a long, cranky life.”
Aleta
You could also feed the most likely suspect beets or beet juice. Then the next likely one.
Upstairs, not perfect, but in the short term you can hang some layers of wool blankets or clear plastic sheets to cover the opening. And some rolled up blankets across the floor to block the air at the floor at the top of the stairs. It might get warm pretty fast now, so that would give you the summer to decide on a more expensive fix.
Omnes Omnibus
@MomSense: @Miss Bianca: Not much in the way of pain. But thanks for the good wishes.
Patricia Kayden
@Omnes Omnibus: A couple of years ago, I fell so hard on the pavement for no discernible reason that I had to go home from work with a cut lip and broken glass frames. Very odd but I guess once in a while we all take spills. Glad you suffered no lasting injuries.
amk
and then, you are gonna do what?
Vlad the Clumsy
We got a pair of these to watch the critters when we had an evening out –
You can set it up to view on your phone via an app called “IP Cam Viewer Basic” and we found a website to link it to for free.
I fell in the garage last night, am I one of the chosen?
?BillinGlendaleCA
I have a Foscam R2, it works well, day and night. It’ll record as well. If you want higher resolution(UHD) there’s the Foscam R4.
Another Scott
Does your gas company offer an “energy audit”? It might be worthwhile to call someone out and have the place checked.
Another thing you might try is getting a IR thermometer (that one has 2 laser spots to better indicate where you’re measuring) and just go around to see what is much colder than the rest of the room. It could indicate whether the problem is the windows, or lack of insulation, or gaps somewhere, etc.
How old is the furnace? Ancient ones are 80% or less efficient. Newer ones are 94+% efficient. But it sounds like your biggest problem is heat loss. Even if the furnace is old, a tight home will not need to be at 60F to have reasonable bills.
Best of luck!
Cheers,
Scott.
Corner Stone
@trollhattan: “There’s no easy way to say this. You’re going to be stepping in a lot of vomit on the floor in the middle of the night. You will need to upgrade your insurance plan before the next winter icing, due to subsequent busted shoulders. On the plus side, your armpits will never feel lonely again.”
Woodrowfan
Just fed one dog corn. see if it’s that one. Repeat until you find the culprit.
rl
I made alcove window frames with furring strips and put the shrink wrap stuff around them. Added some cheap handles on the frames and viola an easy on easy off storm window…
keeps the cold out and easy to pop on and off for those alternating warm/cool times in spring and late fall.
Chris
Yeah, the shitting is most likely due to the stress of your recent move right? It’s stressful enough to for us to move house, right? Can’t imagine what kind of wft deal it would be for pets. Does it really matter who it is? Gonna go out on a limb here and say maybe Lilly, because she so seems like such a creature of comfort and not only has she been moved to a new home but her John has a lady friend now who is probably throwing her comfortable world upside down too.
OldDave
I’d “test” everyone in case there are multiple culprits.
Aleta
When you have to redo the roof, if the shingles also need to be stripped, ask about the cost of insulating it under the shingles. It will make the upstairs cooler in the summer too.
Keith P.
Three Dogs, One Floor….mpg
Gvg
Energy audit to determine for sure where the heat goes. I want to get these insulated roller blinds I read about with magnetic edges. You paint the walls around the edge of the windows with magnetic paint. It looks like graphite. Then you repaint with the regular wall paint. Voila, you have blinds that seal themselves tightly to the window and keep the cold away.
Could you post photos again of the stairwell you want to shut off, from both sides? I can’t remember well enough to suggest something.
schrodingers_cat
People’s Republic has an excellent program called Mass Save about options to decrease your energy foot print and be more environmentally conscious. You can have someone come take a look at your house, check the insulation, light fixtures etc. You should take advantage of it if WV has a program like that.
David Savard
3rd floor sealing help here. What kind of insulation do you have? Lots of air can get out through seeming tiny holes. In particular, do you have any ceiling vents for A/C or forced air heat? THe area around those can leak a lot if they were cut too large or not insulated. Can you close the door completely?if so, does the door itself get cold? if so, you may want to insulate the door as well by putting some rigid foam insulation on the inside. If the problem is air seeping around the door itself, then you can just treat it like an outside door by putting weather stripping between the door and the jamb all around the door. This stuff is a brass strip bent in half to form a V in cross section with one of the arms of the V a little longer than the other. You apply it around the door, using the little nails that come with it nailed into the longer edge of the V. It is very light and comes in a plastic bag about 3 feet long and usually has enough strips for one door. On the bottom, you can apply a sweep which will extend the end of the door to the floor, blocking out air very effectively. But I’d check the entire house for leaks as well. Good luck.
Alain the site fixer
@?BillinGlendaleCA: I’ve had some mixed results from Foscam cameras (3 different models) for a client but I expect that by now, their stuff is less buggy. If you’re having good times with it,then I’d say that’s a brand that John can trust.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Another Scott: Link no work.
For checking heat disappation, this is useful and fun!
lurker dean
i have foscam 8910 cameras for security that may work to find the pooper. you could connect one to your wifi and set it up to sense motion. you can also set it up to send an email with photos of what was sensed, though you need to leave your network and a computer on during the day for that. the camera needs to be positioned properly. if you have one camera on a shelf covering a whole room, it may not sense a small pet walking across. if you have the camera on the floor near and facing the poop spot, it should pick up the perp. my cameras are a few years old, there may be better ones now. i’ve tried panasonic and logitech cams and couldn’t get them to work.
all that said, i like the crayon shavings idea. setting up ip cams can be a pain in the ass for non-computer savvy people.
Another Scott
@?BillinGlendaleCA: Whoops – I truncated the Amazon URL too much. Sorry.
Dual laser spot IR Thermometer at Amazon
Cheers,
Scott.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Alain the site fixer: I had this one for a couple of weeks and I’m pretty happy with it. The picture is really clean in either day or night mode, though I’ve not tried recording from it.
Steeplejack (phone)
@Omnes Omnibus:
Damn. No naked mopping for a while, hear?
geg6
It’s Thurston. No doubt in my mind. Because his sister insists on pooping under our dining room table, on the Oriental carpet. She can poop outside and often does. She just LIKES pooping there.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Another Scott: The Flir One cam that I added in is more fun, though the IOS version is almost $100 over the Android version. Mine’s the Android version.
Sleeping dog taken with the Flir.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Steeplejack (phone): Well if there is now, there’ll be video.
Omnes Omnibus
@Steeplejack (phone): I think it’s just a minor case of Cole’s, so I don’t think that naked mopping is in my near future.
vhh
@WereBear: Or different colors food coloring. You know, like Christmas Meat or St Patrick’s Day pancakes. Red and Green are good choices, distinctive. Yellow might be the right call for Dog # 3. Or you could just dose two dogs fairly regularly—any “natural” poo would then inculpate Dog #3. And once you have the hang of it, why not market Pre-Colored dog food or treats? Call them Tell-Tails.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Omnes Omnibus: Oh, your nakid mopping? Must see TV.
PVDMichael
Potential low cost solution: if you have an old smart phone or an iPad…you can turn it into a temporary security cam with an app. One of the apps is Presence. It records on motion and can even alert you on another phone.
currants
@schrodingers_cat: Yes it (People’s Republic) does! And it’s paid for via our energy bills. WELL WORTH having them come do a once-over assessment–just for the free LED lightbulbs. (Used to be those other awful things, but the new LEDs are great.) Bonus, you’ll learn things. But Big Coal may not be so advanced down there in West Virginny.
Omnes Omnibus
@?BillinGlendaleCA: Ain’t gonna happen. I don’t mop.
Anne Laurie
@frosty:
Yeah, we tacked a quilt over the open bedroom door back when it was the only air-conditioned room, so the pets could stay cool while we were out but still be able to visit the litter box.
Try the crayon shavings as a first step, Cole. That’ll also let you know if Thurston (just a guess) is getting into the other dogs’ food, as well as pooping in the house. If anyone balks at eating wax-enhanced kibble, split a small can of custom-decorated wet fud three ways.
I know you hate to cheat us out of potential comic videos (she said sarcastically) but imagine the fecal close-ups you could share…
Bill
John, if the house is balloon framed, you may have issues beyond closing off the upper floor. There can be a chimney effect between the basement and the attic in the stud bays behind the plaster. warm air will rise, picking up heat from the lower floors and exhaust into the space behind the roof sheathing. You can read up on this elsewhere, but it’s a thing. If the house is platform framed, then just build a hatch or door from rigid foam and you’re good to go.
amk
@Anne Laurie: jesus, AL. you’re giving him shitty ideas.
Anne Laurie
@amk:
If he has any sense, keep the offender in a crate when there’s no humans around to supervise. Only a desperate or seriously defective dog will befoul their own ‘den’, and sometimes just a few days of part-time confinement will get them out of their routine — ‘Three o’clock, this is when I shit in the living room!’
NotMax
Almost feel silly asking, but what the hey.
Know fireplace is not being used but check anyway that the flue is closed.
raven
About a year ago an old friend of mine shot and killed his son after an alcohol fueled fight. They had lost their wife/mother to cancer some 6 months before. The only survivor is a daughter who was very close to her brother and furious with her father after the killing. This week the father pled guilty to second-degree murder and will be sentenced in April. A mutual friend contacted me and asked if I’d write a letter to the court giving my experiences with the father. All this went down in a town I left more than 32 years ago. After thinking it over I decided there was no way I could write such a letter unless I had the blessing of the daughter so I wrote to her asking what she thought. I haven’t heard back so I’m hangin but it’s a sucky situation either way.
amk
@Anne Laurie:
problemo, right there. when it comes to the critters, he is a dumb ass.
Bill
Also, Black and Decker used to (may still) make a IR thermometer that displays red or blue light at the area being measured to indicate colder or warmer than a baseline temp that you set when turning the tool on. It’s pretty freakin handy for finding cold or hot spots in an older house, and mine was like 40 bucks, way less than an IR cam. I’ll send you mine if you want to try it out.
Anne Laurie
@geg6:
Yeah, ‘problems with house training’ is a common small-dog issue, but poodles in particular seem prone to developing a preference for selective indoor pooping. Often to mark their favorite place in the house! Be (minorly) grateful that Lovey poops on the carpet — I knew one dog who scat-marked his owner’s bed. (He was locked out of the bedroom once she figured that out, but he’d keep watch & scurry in to take a dump if the door was left unguarded for even a minute.)
Another Scott
@?BillinGlendaleCA: Thanks for the pointer. FLIR makes a lot of good stuff, but most of it is very spendy (I had my eye on a T620 for work for a while. :-/
The FLIR ONE you mentioned may be a good choice, but it seems like overkill to me. But since the Blog Pays For Itself™ maybe JC will like it. ;-)
They seem to be upping the resolution over time, but the temperature range is rather low in this gizmo (-4F to +248F). It’s probably good enough for checking for heat leaks around the house though!
Thanks.
Cheers,
Scott.
reality-based (the original, not the troll)
@SG: or, if you don’t use the 3rd floor -and/or don’t want to buy storms –
heavy plastic sheeting and a staple gun in the fall. to create pseudo-indoor storm windows (staple to sides of window trim) –
so –
Here in NoDak, we also then staple fiberglass batting over the plastic, then another layer of plastic – but then, it’s NoDak, we are desperate in November/December
also – if your 3rd floor ceiling is studs and bare wood, – insulate
Iowa Old Lady
@Anne Laurie: Sometimes I miss having a dog. This is not one of those times.
Anne Laurie
@raven:
Truth, you speak it there — my sympathies just for having been drawn in peripherally.
I think you made the best possible choice. The daughter knows you’re thinking of her; if she doesn’t write back, I would assume she’s given you her answer.
reality-based (the original, not the troll)
@rl:
now THAT is clever. Went to top of my to=do list before next winter.
raven
@Anne Laurie: Yea, I’m thinking that is the case. I only have Facebook contact with her so I’ll give it some time.
Shygetz
Put different color food coloring in each dogs food, then look at the color. Better living through chemistry!
Barbara
Moving is stressful for animals. After one move my dog kept chewing the furniture so I moved him to the bathroom during the day, which operates like a big crate. Now, I have an area of my kitchen separated with baby gates and a dog door to the outside. Once a dog starts going in an area it is primed to keep going there by the scent. I would keep the dogs together even if only one of them is the offender.
Barbara
@Anne Laurie: What a terrible tragedy.
geg6
@Anne Laurie:
Yes. Lovey is, most of the time, gated away from the dining room. But she escapes into it now and again and then it’s pooping time! I’ve given up and just put a pee pad where she usually poops. Most of the time, she stays on the pad. And yes, I did some research when this behavior went on and on, despite her doing most of her business outside. I found exactly what you say. Small dogs, especially poodles, have a tendency to do this and it is something you apparently must learn to deal with.
Roger Moore
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
That seems like a perfect chance to link to this video. It’s a cat video taken with a high-resolution thermal camera.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Another Scott: Did I mention the Flir ONE is fun? I’ve also used it to find fresh dog poop in the yard at night.
Anne Laurie
@Iowa Old Lady:
I would mail you our little Sydney, but the Spousal Unit would never forgive me.
(Sydney is an incorrigible graffiti artist, using urine. Among his many many many other bad habits. He’s currently yapping loudly at the front door, because I used the word delivery on the phone ten minutes ago, and Sydney believes the take-out guy needs to be intimidated into dropping the food order & running away. I will not be sorry when Sydney dies, but he’s liable to live another twenty years just to spite me.)
Another Scott
@Roger Moore: Neat, and very impressive. Thanks.
Cheers,
Scott.
Lyrebird
Does anyone have any suggestions for rescuing my rattan porch chairs which were recently marked by (I assume) a local cat?
I have googled, but not everything that’s out there is something that actually works.
raven
@Barbara: It’s really bad when you are glad the mom died so she didn’t see it.
J R in WV
@raven:
Wow, that’s hard. Back in the 70s we had a new employee where I worked who was an ex-con. He killed his father – seconds after his father killed his mother. Don’t know how a jury in WV convicted him of a crime, but they did. He seemed to have gotten over the whole thing, was OK to work with, etc.
Hope he went on the have a good life.
Your acquaintance, what was he thinking a letter from you would do…? Hope the surviving daughter does OK. Really shitty circumstances for her to deal with. Sometimes the personal overwhelms the larger scale, doesn’t it?
MazeDancer
Twitter is running wild with the WaPo article that Jeff Sessions spoke to Russian Ambassador during campaign. Sessions claimed no Russian contact during his confirmation hearings.
So, Jeff Sessions going down for perjury seems appropriate for thread about shit on camera.
raven
@J R in WV: Well the judge will decide between probation and 20 years and word is that the father is in fear for his life in the joint. Apparently someone has written a letter asking that he get the max so I guess the thinking is that something expressing that he was a good guy might help.
tobie
Anyone following this breaking story that Jeff Sessions ended up having contact with Russian officials during the campaign after saying during his confirmation hearing that he had no contact?
P.S. It’s on the front page of the Washington Post and is dominating the discussion on MSNBC.
Shana
@MazeDancer: Also NYT article about Obama administration hiding info all over to keep the Trump administration from disappearing it.
DanR2
I know we all suspect Rosie or Thurston, but what’s the plan if you find out it’s Lily dropping the deuces?
J R in WV
@Lyrebird:
Hydrogen pyroxide with baking soda, just like using it for skunks. Our dogs got into it with a skunk the other night around 3 am. OMG the stench out in the back yard was horrible. We (I) yelled at them, told they they were stinkers and had to stay outside.
It wasn’t cold or storming, else the skunk would have been home in bed.
So I looked up the recipe for washing dogs – a qt of hydrogen Peroxide, 1/4 cup backing soda, and a teaspoon of dawn dishwashing soap. The two chemicals neutralize sulfur compounds, which is what skunks use to stink so bad. One dog still smells if you get too affectionate with her!
I will bet this will help as much as anything, the soap makes it like shampoo, the H2O2/calcium carbonate fizzes a lot and flushes things out, and combines with sulfur compounds to eliminate them. This is used for really nasty environmental clean-ups, which is what the chemists who dreamed it up was working on when one of them found a dead skunk by the road on the way to work. You might want to use more baking soda, cat piss is pretty acidic.
tobie
@MazeDancer: I didn’t see your post about the WashPost article. Sorry about this. @Shana: Thanks for the additional reference to NYT.
Baud
@Shana:
You sure you weren’t reading an article about National Treasure III?
BruceFromOhio
Imagine: I grab you, stuff you in a crate, drive for awhile, and then let you out into a place with no signs, no help, no directions, no one speaks your language, everything looks, smells, sounds, and feels different. All the familiar things have vanished, except the food and water bowls. The commonplace has been replaced with the starkly unfamiliar. You get fed, watered, and while you are under stress from the aforementioned, nature takes its course and you gotta shit like a motherfucker. Guess what? Bonus! You are naked. You get to shit when your body decides its time. Pick a spot, and ahhh, much better. For a moment, anyway.
Technology is not the challenge here.
ETA: On the way, I take away your thumbs.
Steve in the ATL
@Omnes Omnibus:
Dude, the correct procedure is to go the office and, before anyone sees your injury, fake a fall in front of witnesses and scream “workers’ comp!”
Aleta
@Shana: Also in that article:
Omnes Omnibus
@Steve in the ATL: It would have been tough to drive to work with all the blood in my eye. Otherwise, good plan.
geg6
Holy crap. The WaPo is saying Sessions committed perjury during his confirmation testimony by lying about contacts with Russia during the campaign. And apparently, the NYT is saying the Obama people hid information about the Russia investigation in various agencies so as to make it harder for the Trumpsters to purge it.
This seems pretty big to me.
Anne Laurie
@Lyrebird: In my (long, misfortunate) experience, Odor Mute is the best commercial product for those stubborn urine stains. Mix up a big batch and flood your chairs, making sure it gets into all the little woven crevices. Let it sit for the recommended period, rinse, and let your chairs dry in the sun.
No guarantee it won’t strip the paint off the rattan, or swell up the unpainted fibers till they warp, unfortunately…
cckids
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
We have . . . different ideas of “fun” :)
BruceFromOhio
@geg6:
I’m sensing a theme here.
Barbara
@geg6: It certainly overtakes the SOTU in newsworthiness. Sessions should resign but I have no doubt he will try to brazen it out.
Steve in the ATL
@Barbara: why would he resign? There is no one with power who is going to hold him accountable.
Lyrebird
@Anne Laurie:
@J R in WV:
Thank you both! Will try the peroxide/bicarbonate trick while waiting for the other product… The chairs are old & I’ll need to let them go one of these days anyhow, but that was an unpleasant twist to my attempted mood lift by sitting on the porch in the newly-warm weather. Would be glad to get to enjoy the chairs a little longer.
Plus I can try these on the spot the cat usually marks right by the front door, especially now that I need to sell this house!
(FWIW I support spay & neuter programs, but there is zero time in my schedule right now for sitting out and trying to drop-trap the cat…)
Thanks again!
jame
@Lyrebird: Clorox CleanUp. Spray liberally, scrub, then rinse with lots of water. (It may strip paint somewhat.)
Lurkypants
Instead of crayon shavings, how about different-colored bell peppers? The dogs may not eat the green ones, but the red and yellow ones are nice and sweet, and carrots will work for orange.
meander
If you want to reduce heat loss (or heat gain, in the summer) from single-paned windows but don’t want to replace the windows, I highly recommend Indow brand window inserts (indowwindows.com). They are acrylic glazing embedded in a soft border that seals against the side of the interior window frame. No drilling, cutting or other tools needed. Custom made for your windows — their dealers come and take measurements, and then the inserts are built.
I bought two for my bedroom as sound and heat insulation and love them. If I wasn’t so lazy I’d be ordering more for other windows.
Anne Laurie
@Lyrebird: If you’re planning to sell a house that’s been urine-marked, inside or out: Invest in a $10 black light flashlight. Amazing how many old spots will show up that your insensitive human nose (but maybe not a potential buyer’s) would’ve missed!
Jim Heim
This happens when a cat is moved to a new house. Happened to us. Vet suggested figuring out which cat was the one – the camera trick worked. Then lock that cat in a room with food, water and a sandbox for a couple of days. It never happened again. It’s been many years, so your vet can probably give you better details.
Mark
I haven’t been reading this site all that long but I have started to pick out who’s written a post by its subject matter. For instance:
–two big fat paragraphs separated by a colorful chart about healthcare is probably Richard Mayhew/David Anderson.
–Any photo of tropical plants/swamp dwelling reptiles is probably Better Cracker
–Anything related to animals defecating in the common living space is probably Cole.
Laura
http://boingboing.net/2017/03/02/a-wifi-camera-that-makes-home.html