Hatrack River Writers Workshop: One thing leads to another...

This is topic One thing leads to another... in forum Grist for the Mill at Hatrack River Writers Workshop.

To visit this topic, use this URL:
http://www.hatrack.com/ubb/writers/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=8;t=000226

Posted by Lyrajean (Member # 7664) on :

I have a cat. One I've had since I rescued her as a 4 wk old street orphan a year ago. I live in a studio apartment. One that supposedly doesn't allow cats. -Shhhhh!!! To save space I chucked the bed my predecessor left me and plunked the box spring on the floor. this arrangement suited me fine and apparently some bugs liked it too 'cause they've chewed a whole bunch of holes through the mattress.

Whn she was 6 months old my cat Aya started whizing on my bed. We got her checked out and put on prescription food (apparently her ph was bad). But the whizzing continued. The Vet reassures me there is nothing wrong with her now.

Its very hard to get the cat urine smell out of bedding, so several hundred dollars of bedding and cleaner later, I decided to stike at both problems and replace my bed with a more western style one, actually a sofa-bed that is off the floor with a metal frame and a synthetic matress -hah, bugs eat that!- .

The bed's only the equivalent of a US twin size but it's huge in that room and made me realize that the Japanse style table I use to keep my computer on is too big (its dining size really) and I need to replace a perfectly good table with a smaller one to feel comfortable doing my work at it.

Posted by BenM (Member # 8329) on :

But what happens next? Inquiring minds what to know!

I'm seeing you getting used to everything being lower. You start walking in a squatting, waddling fashion which that cat loves because now you're a bit lower for a cuddle while moving around. Only now the windows are too tall, and you can't see out them, so you get them lowered. And the sink too. And the airconditioning vents in the ceiling are too far away, so the ceiling gets lowered, and pretty soon the whole house is this half-height endeavour that redefines, in the context of housing, the meaning of the word "flat".

Could be!

Posted by Kathleen Dalton Woodbury (Member # 59) on :

Can you sit on the sofa-bed to type at the table?

Actually, one of the things I love about desktops with separate keyboards is that you can lean back with the keyboard in your lap and type on it while the desktop sits up there on the table or desk.

And a plain keyboard doesn't heat up like a laptop in your lap.

Posted by Robert Nowall (Member # 2764) on :

You've let Aya get into the habit of whizzing on the bed. You'll have to break her of that---not an easy thing to do with a cat---but getting a new bed is a good start. If you can keep her out of the room, do so. (Doubtful in a studio apartment.) Does she sleep on the bed (a) by herself or (b) with you and-or anybody else? Does she go when she's alone on the bed or when she's with someone else?

(When our family moved down to Florida, we lived in a rental house and I spread my SF paperback collection on the floor for the time being. Our cat, an old unfixed male, liked to sleep on Arthur C. Clarke---and there are still bloodstains on them.)

*****

I'm thinking in a studio apartment you could try a foldaway bed in a couch (but the mattresses are uncomfortable), or a Murphy bed (often ditto), if you needed to open up the room.

Posted by billawaboy (Member # 8182) on :

I spend 90% of my waking life at my laptops. So I've worked out some home-grown methods...

I like to type lying (laying?) in bed. I have a large breakfast in bed table I use sometimes. (get one that clears your legs, folded and unfolded)

I have Targus laptop thingy that I find indispensible - i use it to prop up my laptop to the right level and wrist angle.

I use sturdy boxes of just the right size with a section cut out so my legs can pokes thru

sometimes I use foam seat cushions to raise the height.

sometimes I use old thick textbooks to raise the height just right.

I also have a foldable dinner tv tray thingy where I can adjust height and angle.

Posted by Lyrajean (Member # 7664) on :

Believe me we've been working on the cat for six months now... Enzyme cleaner, replacing bedding or cleaning ti every time she has an accident, the whole nine yards. I keep a plastic tarp on the bed when I'm not actively in it. She got real creative getting it off (I weigh it down with pillows etc...) Closing her out of the room is not an option really as the apartment consist of a hallway/kitchen around the sole tatami floored room.

She only does it while I'm around usually within an hour after I get home she has these accidents. She's spayed yet there is a large feral cat population here. Her last bout of whizzing coincided with a period where I could hear cats calling outside.

The table in question is a Japanese table, meaning about a foot off the floor and bout 150 x 100cm. Coffee table height to most Americans. The bed/sofa is very high. I sit at the table on the floor on a cushion like the Japanese do. I'd like to continue this arrangement, but the corridor between the bed and table is a little cramped now. Especially since you can't walk on the bed like I used to.

Aya is having a ball exploring under the bed. A new space since it was on the floor before. Lots of hiding places. I do have to watch out for stealth attacks from under the bed though!