It’s been very dark here… it’s felt like no sun for days. Honestly, I don’t think I could live anywhere more dark or cloudy. It makes winter very tough and this year has been one of the toughest in years. My proof point? Lake Erie hasn’t frozen over in about a decade. This year, it froze in late January – one of the earliest times its ever frozen. And while that thankfully shut off the Lake Effect Snow Machine, it left us with mountains of snow in its wake.
But this morning? Well, with the lake frozen there is a bit of a sunny morning on tap. I believe it clouds over soon – and it’s only 7:39 a.m. here – but at least we get a sunny morning. Even the snow looks pretty in sun. Slowly, the snow has also sublimated and a warm day earlier this week helped to create a little melting so there are a few green patches pushing through. Whatever signs of green I can find are a cause of celebration. I really hate winter.
In that vein, we are headed out in March for a week in the sun. It’s not much – a quick direct-flight trip to Orlando and a rental house for a week – but it gives me the sunshiny break I need to finally end winter for me. I’ve learned over the years that there are very few things as effective for my winter blues as a week in the sun in March. It essentially “ends” winter for me and gives me something to look forward to during the dark days. This year, I need it more than ever.
But even as I need the sunshine, things are slowly getting better. Work has picked up a bit, which makes the whole “owning my own business” thing a little less stressful and life has settled into the tiniest bit of a routine after finishing the upstairs. In fact, for the first time in a long time, I think we are on the cusp of making a healthy renovation decision. Let me explain.
We have five rescues – all of them strays and only two who could be considered not feral. (One was a three-month old kitten when his momma abandoned him under our deck and he never knew a life outside and the other was a drop-off.) Needless to say, ALL would like to go outside. Only our two oldest have actually earned those privileges. The younger ones? Too adventurous and there’s too many predators out there for any one of them to spend an overnight outside. Let them out on their own – even with a radio collar – and we run the chance we wouldn’t see them again.
Still, they drive us nuts as soon as the weather warms up. We’ve got harnesses and leashes but that works to varying degrees. Our solution? A catio. But here’s where the healthy choice comes in.
When we started talking about a catio, we immediately went big. If we were going to build a catio, we may as well screen in our side deck with pet-appropriate screening to give them the whole porch. Then, we could go outside with them. A cover on that deck would mean it would be usable in rain. If we did a modular design, we could assemble/disassemble each year during the winter months to avoid ice and snow piling up on it. It went on and on and included a Home Depot data last night to scope out options.
But then… . Sometime last night, cooler heads prevailed. What was supposed to be a simple, one-weekend project to give the cats a little bit better quality of life had turned into yet another major project. All of a sudden, we were both feeling like those weekends with “unstructured” time when we could pursue other interests had dwindled away. We were back to being slaves to our house. More than that? Who knew if the cats would even like the catio?
That’s when this little family started thinking about the unthinkable: buying a prefab catio and not custom-making, over-engineering and over-building a catio. Today? I’ve got four options for us to consider tonight. Each will do the job and improve their quality of life. Even more? They all assemble in less than a day.
Honestly? This feels like a rare concession for us. If we can’t do it the hard way, we just don’t want to do it. I know I’ll eventually hear my hubby’s arguments: it will be flimsy (true-ish), it won’t last (it’s not pressure-treated, so true), it doesn’t accomplish everything we wanted to do (true as well, we can’t use the porch for ourselves, too) and it’s about the same amount of money (totally true). Still, if we start with the end in mind, we wanted an easy-to-assemble, easy-to-manage catio. This gets us that. We can install a new storm door (we need one anyway) with a cat flap and push the catio up against the house/door. In the morning, when they’re allowed out, the big door is opened. Our air conditioner can continue to run as the glass storm door will keep our cool air from escaping. Cats can go in and out at their leisure. Finally, it has human access for when we have to go shoo someone back inside at the end of the day (there is at least one who will likely refuse to come in). Most of all? We get our weekends back and if we decide that the we really do want a screened in porch for all of us, that project can go on the list for next summer because the catio buys us at least a year’s time.
The big point is that sometimes you have to do things in moderation. It was one of my momma’s favorite sayings. (I can hear her now.) What we really need as humans – both of us – is a release from house-related pressure. If we don’t prioritize meeting that need, we will never be able to escape the demands of the house. This is why this feels like a monumental decision. Yes, the custom-build would be better and more usable but it would require more of the thing we can’t get back: time. And this time, it needs to be about our personal needs.
This time, I’m going to enjoy the morning sunshine and the freedom from another huge project.
The Yuppie Homesteader 