K is for Kitty Tent

When my daughter was in about first grade, she had an assignment in her gifted class to invent something that solved a problem. She invented the Kitty Fun Bed, because our big, fat, now-asshole cat Pete was pretty young then, and he would attack her feet through the covers when she was trying to sleep. She used the lid of a copy paper box, put an old baby blanket in the bottom, and made an arch over the box with some Tinker Toys and dangled a kitty toy from it.

The Kitty Fun Bed was actually a pretty big hit with Pete, and it was in her room for several years.

Fast forward to this year's A to Z Challenge. I put out a call to all who wanted to submit Pinterest pins for my consideration, and not one, but TWO different people recommended a kitty tent for me to try (thank you, Marisa and Ivy!). 

Here's the pin:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/diy-cat-tent

The directions called for a sheet of cardboard for the bottom, but I opted to use the lid of a paper box, just like my daughter did for the Kitty Fun Bed, as it would be sturdy and the sides would be appreciated by any cat who wished to sleep in it. 

My husband brought home a box lid last week, and it has been in the kitchen until today, when I prepared to build the Kitty Tent. When I had gathered the necessary materials and prepared to craft the tent at my workspace on my unmade bed, I looked down at the box lid and found a spatter of white chocolate inside. NOW do you believe me when I said that stuff went EVERYWHERE?!

The hardest part of this whole project was finding two metal clothes hangers. Everything we have at home is either plastic or wooden. After a search at preschool, I finally found two metal hangers in the back of a closet and procured them for today's Challenge.

After straightening out the hangers with a pair of pliers, this is how it went down:

Ruby checking out the white chocolate.

Stuck the hangers into the corners, bent them into an
arch, and reinforced them with duct tape.

Good use for a free t-shirt I will never wear.

Stretch the t-shirt over the frame. Not easy, actually,
as the frame is pretty flimsy.

Pull the shirt tight and safety pin it into place.

Place an old towel in the bottom.

Set it on the floor and instantly get the
attention of Ruby.

Intrigued....

Aaaaand she's in.

Not bad!

The wait is on to see if she (or either of the other two cats) will ever get it in it again, but until then, it's a tentative Pinterest win.