A few years
ago one of
our trees lost a large branch and we thought it would be a fun idea to
make it into a cat tree. So Alan put a couple of carpeted platforms on
it and a heavy base and we moved it into the house. It stood nearly
seven
feet tall and the cats loved to climb on it. Unfortunately, it came
with
a few added pets of its own in the form of wood beetles. Every morning
we'd find a pile of sawdust under the cat tower where the beetles had
worked
during the night. We tried a variety of non-toxic methods to rid the
tree
trunk of the beetles but to no avail. The cat tower soon found it's way
into the firewood pile.
Earlier this year we had another large
branch fall from one of our pecan trees. This one landed on our roof.
While
the arborist was cutting the branch down I asked him to save a nice
chunk
of branch for me. I stored it in my workshop through the summer to be
sure
it wouldn't find itself infested with any little critters and after
about
5 months with no signs of hitchhikers it began it's transformation into
our little treehouse. |
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Above is the assembled box before the carpet was
added and the
top which has been wrapped in vinyl cloth to make it moisture
resistant.
(In case there are any kitty accidents) The tree branch has the bottom
section cut away so it can be attached inside to the middle support of
the box to keep it stable when attacked by flying kitties.
Below shows the box starting to be carpeted. The holes in the top are
cut out for the branch to drop through the middle and the corner cut
out
for access to one of the bottom sections through the top. This hole in
the top allows the hooligan cat in the box below to reach up and swat
at
the relaxing cat on the top of the deck.
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The treehouse sits in front of a double window. The
top shelf is
about six feet off the ground. The windows are usually left open so the
cats can supervise the goings on in the neighborhood. But open windows
and sunshine make photography pretty challenging due to the backlight
glare.
So bear with me on the following pictures.
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Murphy leaps from the top of the new treehouse to
the piano while
Sierra and Diego marvel at the dexterity of their older brother.
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OK, so this is how the hole in the top is
used...Murphy waits for
his chance and then whacks Diego in the head when the chance arrives.
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But Diego catches on and reaches up to give Murphy
a poke.
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Murphy gets tired of the game and Diego is left to
look for someone
else to torment.
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Murphy perches on top of the treehouse and surveys
his domain.
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Murphy & Diego wear themselves out and take a
nap on top of
the treehouse. The top shelf wasn't designed with two cats in mind, but
they seem to manage pretty well!
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The guy with the camera wakes up Diego.
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Sierra does what she does best... napping in the
sun.
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Once again we want to show that Sierra does indeed
move around!
(This is an animated .Gif and may take a moment to load)
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