Plan B Forum

It's that time of year again, in California, for water conservation. With no rain for three months, I knew this was going to happen. Already, I have my lawn sprinkler set on a timer.
When I water the outdoor potted plants, I attach a 'water wand' that let's me control the flow with a trigger.
For the indoor plants, I set the watering can (not a conventional-sized one, this one can hold 5000 cc's. You read that right, this can was found in an automotive store! I thought it was the perfect size I needed for plant watering, since I hate having to frequently refill, so now it's a watering can.) ...which I set in the shower. It fills itself! Saves time too, as I just reach into the shower stall and start watering; no more waiting.

I've discovered natural air refreshing!

While most everybody loves Febreze®, with four cats in the house (one died) we were going through gallons of the stuff. My solution was to ban cats from my room and while looking for something completely different, stumbled across: Salt Lamps. After looking up this ionizing claim, it seemed plausible; most lamps are fairly cheap and each are supposed to last a lifetime. It also adds to the Feng Shui! I suppose having a light on all the time isn't necessarily frugal, but I can always put an Energy-efficient bulb in the lamp, that's cheaper than buying a bottle of Febreze® every month.

LoCAtek
You might want to try baking soda. Sprinkle it around on the carpets and floors, let sit for a few hours and then vacume it up. We do it about once a month to get rid of the dog smell in the house, should work for cats too.

Here I had thought cats were supposed to be clean animals, but they really do have their own funk. My bunnies had a scent, almost a pleasant one; but these cats are smelly. Doesn't help that my roommates are nutZ and don't like to listen to me unless I threaten to evict them. They don't like to open the windows or let the cats out; which is why I believe one of them died. Let them out, or bring some pet grass in, either of which would be healthy for them. Instead, they tried to blame me, saying the cat must have eaten some rat poison, because of my rat problem [!!!] How dare they! I have never had a rat problem! In the clean-up I forced him to do a few months ago, the geek found (1) one, dead rat outside in the yard.
So, his cat gets anemic, and now that's my fault!?
I had to remind him, I had had a pet rabbit and I couldn't leave out poison if I wanted to, they're very sensitive to chemicals.


AnywayZ, enough venting, I was talking about frugality...

The watering can came in handy, in an unintended way the other day. This Mobile Home Park never fails to have the water cut off at least once or twice a summer. I used to keep a spare water jug in the kitchen, but the roomies took that away, even when I told'em about the cut-offs. So, when the water randomly stopped flowing, I had a back-up. Fortunately, it happened in the middle of the afternoon, after I'd already had my shower. However, I like to brush my teeth before I leave for work so, I open the tap ..and nothing. Damn. But wait, I have clean water, right over here! Ta-DA!

I was talking about frugality...

Baking soda is cheap.

Cats are clean as long as their litter box is kept up. Which means that with 5 is every other day AT THE LEAST. Me with one gets cleaned every week.

BTW Letting cats especially indoor cat outside can be dangerous.

Like I said; Pet Grass AKA Cat Grass AKA Wheatgrass



...the bunnies loved it!

To be fair, they have one cat who's very cool. Cat1 is their oldest and wisest so, he can come and go as he pleases. A very respectful gent, he likes to get outdoors (and eat grass) but he never leaves my park space. He won't go in the neighbor's yard nor into the street.
He's also the only person up usually, when I get home so, I get a pleasant greeting from him when I ride in at night.

I've always kept celery (the leafier, the better) in a jug of water for the cats to nibble on.

If you shop at CostCo, you can get BIG bags of baking soda for cheap.

I do like baking soda, I put it on the bottom of trash cans and I used to put it in the Bunny box (their litter box)


I miss em

I guess I missed it (due to months of not posting) but what happened to your bunnies?

They both died last year (yet another thing about '09, that made it 'The Worst Year Ever')
Walnut took two back to back beatings from Bonita, a younger tougher bunny. I think part of it was just heartbreak and she stopped eating. As soon as I decided, I should find her another home, she passed away on her own.

I had rescued Bonita from an Animal Shelter and she'd always had a bit of congestion.
I discovered why that was and it tied to her being a scrapper. The shelter had said it was an eye infection, but upon closer examination she'd had an eyelid torn some time in the past, during a fight and it had healed crookedly. Her eye probably teared excessively to compensate. Well, all this tearing made her congested in the back of her throat, which made her kinda husky voiced. Maybe all rabbits are vocal, they're just very soft-voiced. Bonita was the only bunny I ever knew who snored!
She also had a happy 'werf' when it was banana time or when she won 'bun-tag',
that I tear up thinking about. She got her meds; lots of love and vitamins; and in the summer, I thought it had nearly been cured. I remember thinking I was going to miss her 'werf', but it would be for the best.
When Fall came all her symptoms returned She couldn't fight the cold and her congestion at the same time. I tried stronger meds and clearing her nose and throat with a baby booger sucker, which helped at first, but the first cold snap of winter it got even worse. I tried helping with a humidifier but it was too late; Bonita died of pneumonia.
I know she was happy here. On Halloween, I had friends over and Bonita out to meet them. They were concerned that with the door being left open for Trick-or-Treaters she'd try to run out. 'No', I said, 'Watch'. and Bonita hopped to the open door looked out, and turned around, and hopped back to her 'bunspot'. She loved it here.

Sorry for your loss.
I know we will be devastated when we lose Apollo (our black lab).
pets are people too, well not really people, but they all have their own personality and we come to love them just the same