So the "Peas if You Please" project is no more.
We've been trying to come up with a way to keep Sam (the cat) out of Jakob's room. I don't want to always have to close the door but I don't want cat fur everywhere, nor do I want to worry about suffocation. We know Sam was jumping in to the crib when Jakob was sleeping with us, because we found him sitting on the hutch with all of Jakob's stuffed animals. We would have put up a normal screen door outside his door, but our house has metal door frames so we can't mount a door like you normally would.
We ended up finding an expensive screen at Home Depot. It mounts in the interior of the door frame so we didn't need to worry about screw holes, and it slides in and out so it has a very clean look. The screen is kind of like an accordian, when you release the catch it glides back on a roller track and folds in on itself. It works perfectly- except that Sam figured out that the screen is only a mesh fabric and that if he pushed he could walk right under it.
Yannick went out and bought a baby gate to put behind it. The gate blocks Sam well, but it is a little too high for me to step over comfortably, especially in middle of the night with Jakob in my arms. When my mom suggested something like a "draft blocker", I decided to construct one.
The peas were for weight. I had 12 lbs of peas. We were hoping that 12 lbs, around Sam's weight, would be enough of a mass that if he pushed against it, he'd feel resistance and not persist in trying to get under the door. I chose peas because they were the cheapest item in bulk, and I knew that I could always eat them if it didn't work. Barley was cheap too...but I don't like barley. My original idea was to pour the peas into two soda bottles, put them nose to nose, wrap them in fabric batting and stuff that into a nylon for structural support. I would then knit a cute cover for it. (Anything for an excuse to knit a "cozy"). After pouring peas into one of the soda bottles I weighed it and found it only came to around 4 lbs. A total of 8 lbs would not be enough weight to stop Sam, so I scrapped the soda bottles and just kept the peas in the plastic bags they came in (to stop moisture). I laid them in a row and wrapped the batting around, using the nylon to hold it in place.
I put the resulting sausage in place temporarily while I began to knit. The knitting worked out great, I have about 3 inches done. The blocker? Not so great.
 Can you see the problem? Here's a better view:
 Sam just walked right under it. So now the baby gate is back up, and this project is scrapped. We will end up changing the baby gate for a lower "wall" that Yannick will construct for me, and I will have to resign myself to eating a lot of peas for the next while...unless anyone has other uses for 12 lbs of dry yellow and green peas?
 My brother is slowly condo-shopping and borrowed Yannick last weekend to go see some open houses. While we looked on line for promising listings, Jakob kept Michael entertained for a while.
 I'm so proud. :)
Labels: jakob, life, Peas if You Please |
That is one persistent cat! My hubby would say that it's just more evidence that cats are inherently evil (he really dislikes them and is allergic). ;) I hope Yannick is able to build something convenient.