It's Good To Be King

Kitty McQueen

One of my favorite movies is The Great Escape. Or it was, until it started happening with regularity in our house. In record time, Smudge discovered the weak spot in our newest cat-gate, escaping from the kitchen on the third night just in time to remind us that it's 3 a.m. and time for breakfast. We've added two more latches to the "door". 'Nuff said.

On Friday I tested another new recipe. I chose one that was described as sort of an inside-out ravioli. The filling goes on top of the pasta rather than inside it, eliminating the step of making the actual raviolis. Starts with cubed butternut squash coated with olive oil, salt, and pepper. Roast. So far, what's not to love.

Saute shallots in olive oil.

Combine in a blender, add water, puree.

Pour into a pan, heat, add sour cream (or greek yogurt), nutmeg, Parmesan cheese, salt, pepper. We chose to put it over fettuccine.

The end result was a little disappointing. It was okay, but a little bland. I think this recipe may end up in the recycle bin.

Saturday cleared up nicely so time to work off last night's dinner.

Another day of riding in the brutal Portland winter

Phillips Rd., heading toward Rock Creek Tavern

Art ?

Back at my parking spot.
Would have been a good post-ride treat

We weren't planning to ride on Sunday because the weatherman said it was going to rain. But it looked dry to us and the online weather radar showed clear skies until at least 4pm. Chris road from the house. A few miles down Broadway, through the Pearl District, then up into the West Hills. I drove to meet him at the top. I thought I'd get there in time to get a picture of him riding up the steep grade on Thompson but he beat me to it.

Top of Thompson, at Skyline

Off we go

Cats Are Smart

Ever since Smudge arrived 4-5 years ago Chris and I have been in a battle of wits with her, whereby we try to keep her downstairs at night, and she tries to get upstairs to our bedroom. The reason we want to keep her downstairs at night is that she likes to eat between 3-4:00 a.m. which, coincidentally, is when we like to sleep. To alert us to her hunger pangs she makes loud and incredibly irritating noises until a plate of food presents itself. This is very disruptive to our sleep. So having her ensconced in the dining room/kitchen at night, out of sight, out of hearing range, out of mind, has been our goal ever since she was a wee kitten.


The living room/kitchen doesn't lend itself easily to enclosing a cat (a dog, on the other hand, would have been a piece of cake). The dining room has a pocket door that closes but there is no door between the dining room and the kitchen, or between the kitchen and the hallway that leads to the stairs that leads to our bedroom. So we have spent a good part of the last 5 years researching, building, and experimenting with ways create a cat gate that won't let her escape the kitchen. 


Cats can jump, climb, knock things down, pull stuff, and apparently, move things that are far heavier than they are. So enclosing a cat in a room that does not have a door is no small matter. There isn't anything readily available on the market that we didn't think she could get past in, oh, about 5 minutes. So we knew it was up to us to save ourselves.


The following is a list of items that we've used over the years to build and enhance our cat gate: a large box that once held a flat screen TV; miscellaneous other pieces of cardboard; duct tape; a backpack; two ten-pound weights; about 1/2 dozen books; a bar stool, an inflatable sleeping pad; a chair; a piece of wood about 2 feet in length; and I'm sure some other things that I can't remember. 


In Smudge's previous life she must have been a monkey because she has eventually found the weak spot in every contraption that we've created. Including, last week, our latest pride and joy that had worked seamlessly for most of this winter. 


Determined to outsmart our 12 pound cat once and for all, Chris headed to Home Depot with a plan that could only be born of yet another round of sleepless nights. A home-made "DOOR"!


The ingenious little invention consists of a 6 foot tall, 1/4 inch thick, lightweight, flexible piece of wood of some kind; and two latches. Before we go to bed we slide the "door" into place in the existing frame, then bolt the two latches that Chris installed. The latches hold the door in place. The bottom of it cannot be pushed out because the hallway tile is higher than the kitchen floor that's behind it. In the morning we remove the "door" and hang it on a nail the wall at the top of the stairs leading to the basement.

Fantastic! It' only been a few nights but I've got a good feeling about this one. I think Smudge may have finally met her match. (To those who might think, why not install a real door.... we've wished for one many times.... but a real door would be quite awkward in this particular area).


So, with visions of future good night sleeps dancing in my head, I turn my attention elsewhere....


Under the 'But Who's Counting, We're Just In It for the Scenery' category, our cycling stats, year-to-date, for month ending January 2012:


Chris: 261 miles, 23.5 hours of riding, 32,564 feet of climbing
Ellen: 99 miles, 8.28 hours of riding, 9,949 feet of climbing


And some gratuitous photos....

Pygmy goats, Logie Trail Rd. So cute.

Chris, mountain biking the Wilson River Trail (which is not on a river), Oregon coast range, February 4, 2012: