K is for Kitty Hammock

When my daughter was in kindergarten, she had an assignment in her gifted class to identify a problem and create an invention to solve the problem. Her problem was our then-young cat Fletcher would play with her feet when she was in bed trying to go to sleep, so she invented a Kitty Fun Bed for him. She used a box and made a canopy over the top and hung toys inside, and he did actually use it for awhile.

Currently, I am watching Nora and Pete sleep on my bed. They are taking up my entire side of the bed, and when I go to bed myself, they will begrudgingly move SLIGHTLY to let me in, but the reality is that my husband will take up his side of the bed and infringe somewhat on mine, the two cats will be on my side of the bed, and I will be squeezed into a pretzel shape, filling in the little spaces between them all. (Pete did used to sleep in a cat bed we had, but he got so fat that he broke it - yes, BROKE it - stretching the foam inside until it cracked apart.) 

Maybe Pete and Nora (and my husband, if he doesn't GET THE HELL ON HIS OWN SIDE OF THE DAMN BED) would like their very own bunk bed! Problem? Solution!

https://www.onegoodthingbyjillee.com/2015/07
/make-a-simple-diy-cat-hammock.html?

Instead of trying to hunt down a box big enough to accommodate Pete's 20 pounds (yeah, you think THAT'S big; he's lost 7 pounds since fall), I bought a box at Walmart in the office supplies section. It was about $1.50 and totally worth it. I also needed a piece of fleece slightly larger than the box for the hammock. Here's something you should know if you're ever in the market for a piece of fleece and you don't much care what it looks like: Walmart sells 60" wide fleece by the yard for $4.00 a yard. They sell fleece blankets that measure 50" x 60" for $2.50. You do the math. 

I taped the box together as securely and as plumb as I could get it, then measured and marked the four sides to make the corner posts. I used a utility knife to cut the middle sections out of the box and had a flashback to high school and Joey Birchard using one to cut cardboard during set construction for a school play and plunging the blade into his arm (holla if you were there). I cut without mishap and only missed the line I was following in a couple of places, but I was able to (mostly) fix THAT with this gizmo my dad got me (good for trimming cardboard AND scalping dolls).

Carefully...carefully....

I don't know what this thing is called,
but you should get one. It comes with
all kinds of different blades and stuff.

It honestly took me longer to cut the piece of fleece than it did the cardboard box, mostly because I was too lazy to carry the fleece upstairs out of the basement where I could lay it out neatly and use a yardstick for a guide. I also got a lot of unsolicited help with the fleece from Nora.

Can't imagine why I had trouble
measuring the fleece. Hmmm.

Pete had to come down and investigate.
He's too lazy to get involved and
too fat to jump up on the workbench.

Next, I measured for the holes where the hammock would be attached and made the holes with a drill. For the record, I have had that drill, a Skil, since shortly after I graduated from college. My dad gave it to me, along with a huge set of drill bits that he couldn't sell at his hardware and farm supply store because someone had nicked a couple of them. My husband may actually have married me for that drill.

Never underestimate a girl with a drill.

The hammock was made with a piece of the fleece cut four inches larger than the box bottom. A slit was cut into each corner of the fleece, and each side of a slit was poked through a hole in a corner post and tied with a knot.

It was a tasty knot...

I put the extra fleece in the bottom of the box for bed #2 and carried it upstairs for the big reveal.

Pete laid on the bed and ignored me and the new Kitty Fun Bed, but Nora, who had been heavily involved with the construction, came right over to check it out, because SHE HAD NEVER SEEN IT BEFORE. After she gave it a look-see (and it looked JUST LIKE IT DID when she was messing with it in the basement less than five minutes earlier), I picked her up and pushed her into the hammock.

She jumped out like it was burning lava.

I put her back in, she jumped back out.

She moves fast.

Then I tried to put her back in, but she kept ending up in the BOTTOM bunk, as if there were a hole in the hammock, but as I was struggling with her and trying to hold onto my phone to get a picture (and my husband sat in his chair and watched and did NOTHING to help me), I realized she was tucking her head and curling up like a roly poly bug just as I would try to push her onto the bunk. Tuck and roll, personified (or catified, as it were).

Then, miracle of miracles, I shoved her in there one last time AND SHE STAYED. 

Isn't she the cutest?

Pinterest win here, even if she never gets in it again!