The Catiary In Progress

Construction for the catiary (cat aviary, or Janine's Cat House, as John calls it) is finally underway. John and I worked on it over the weekend, and we've made pretty good progress. Before the pups and I went out of town, this is what the back of the house looked like. There used to be a rosebush between the two bedroom windows, but I moved that to a different location to get it out of the way.


While we were gone, John built the support box that fits around the bedroom window. This will help protect the bedroom from bad weather, as well as give the cats a wider landing for going in and out. The box is attached to the house, so its nice and sturdy.


Saturday, we got started with the boring part (although I'm not totally clear when we'll start the exciting part). We used blocks to provide a level base for the frame. John is checking the level of the string between corners before we start digging.


Reyna's not real sure what John is doing, but she knows that what he SHOULD be doing is throwing her ball.


And just to prove that John didn't do all of the work by himself...


Finally, the blocks are all set, giving us an 8x8 space that the cats will soon be able to enjoy.


John digs the holes for the corner posts. Boy, was he annoyed to find out that the house foundation extends quite a ways beyond the house.


Since it was well after dark by the time we set the corner posts, I waited until Sunday to take this picture.


Sunday afternoon, we were back to work. John got a lot of use out of his saw, and my little wheelbarrow bucket made a handy sawhorse.


Again, we didn't stop until well after dark, so these pictures were taken Monday morning.


Yes, the screen door is attached, even though there's no screen yet. But we needed it up to finish the frame.


John will be back over soon to trim the extra length off the corner posts and build the roof frame. I need to get some fill dirt, paint the frame, and attach the chicken wire (to keep the dogs out and the cats in) and screen. We have to build the ramp and I think there are still a few other minor things to be done. I also have to decide how much of a roof I want to have to provide shelter for the cats. If the weather holds, we might actually be able to have it cat ready within a couple of weeks.