Legend of the Corsair

Most of you are going to read the subject line and wonder what could be so interesting about cat litter as to warrant the use of an entire post. Well. Read on and you shall discover exactly that point.

Now, I'm not one to run around tooting the horn of some corporation or its products. I'll occasionally leave a review on Amazon, under a specific alias to do so, if the product warrants an up/down statement. However, I will rarely rave about something based on the quality of a product in other forums. (That's not to say I won't rant about poor service or crappy products, but it's usually left to one-liners on Twitter.)

With that as a prelude, you must be wondering what in the multiverse could've happened to cat litter in order to have precipitated THIS.

For those of you that have indoor cats and use clay based litter, you'll know how damned heavy it is to lug to wherever you keep the pan as well as how heavy the scoopings can be from cleaning it (never mind doing a complete refresh of the litter in the pan).

Here's my situation: I have my litter station in the basement. I have only two cats, but I don't like teeny tiny bathroom stalls and figured they don't either, so they have the luxury of two side-by-side pans that each measure approximately 2ft wide x 3ft deep x 1ft high. Up until recently I'd been using Tidy Cat Small Spaces (b/c I had found it to be the fastest at clumping & odor control).

I had tried out multiple brands & types of product offerings prior to this and have been responsible for the caring of cats for nearly four decades. I've lugged sand from river bank, used that wide variety of litters, and have ALWAYS hated, to one degree or another, the scooping/cleaning of the pan.

Last weekend, however, I decided to take a chance on a new product I'd seen lurking on the shelves. It had taken a while for me to be willing to make the switch b/c it absolutely REQUIRES that you do a complete changeover from your current litter to this new litter. With pans as big as mine, you tend to keep a bit of litter on hand to replace volume as you remove clumped "offerings," and I knew it would be a grievous, back-breaking chore to remove ALL the litter from the pans, lug it up the stairs, then down the stairs & driveway to the garbage bin. No convenient door to open air from the basement for me. No!

It WAS back-breaking. That stuff is HEAVY! My DH was not happy with having to lug those bags as aforementioned. But the Herculean task was complete. Thanks for the help sweety!

Okay. Time for the reveal. I switched to Tidy Cat LightWeight, represented by a blue feather on the box.

HTTPS://www.tidycats.com/lightweight

I was easily able to get multiple boxes of it from my preferred pet store, easily lift it into the cart, from the cart into my car's trunk, from the trunk up & down a flight of stairs to land next to the cat pans. Was able to lift and easily pour said boxes into the pans, filling each halfway in its full depth, per usual. This stuff is LIGHT WEIGHT, no joke. But my amazement wasn't to end there.

The next time I went to scoop the pan, I noticed that the offerings were also very light. It also presented the tightest clumping I have witnessed in that nearly for decades I mentioned earlier. To wit:

Clumps left a the wall of the pan pulled smoothly up & away. Instead of leftover bits crumbling & "contaminating" the remaining clean litter, you just scrape bottom & side & it remains clumped and is completely removed from the pan.

If your cat loves a particular spot in the middle and uses that spot multiple times, the spillover immediately clumps up, and the entire conjoined clump will lift out wholly. Even if it breaks off mid-lift, you'll be able to get ALL of the used litter out as the clumps do not crumble.

There's no smell to the clumps, or to the other, litter-covered offerings. None. Okay, I didn't shove my nose up to a clump & inhale but you know what I mean. There was no discernible smell radiating from the offerings as they were removed from the pan & bagged for disposal.

Last item: the bag of waste, which had previously been stinky and heavy, are now neither.

The direct result of this changeover has been to make what I'd once considered an onerous chore, one that was necessary in order to enjoy the presence of cats in my home, into a chore that is easily accomplished and no longer considered the dreaded bane of this cat caretaker.

Notes: Always wear a light mask when scooping, regardless of litter type, especially if you have any respiratory ailments like asthma. This litter like many of its shelf-mates will create small puffs of dust when agitated.

I use the leftover plastic shopping bags to dispose of my litter, I try to make sure they are the nice, biodegradable ones that are made from corn/soy. I do not yet know if this litter breaks down and it's potential affects to being dumped in a landfill. Will find that out when I can, but may not remember to update the post. If you know, please tell me.

End.

This is what I was inspired to write, when I wad looking out a window, while still abed in the crisp predawn under the toasty warm covers.

And The Lion Shall Lay Down With The Lamb

Early morning light
through the trees
Shows me a pattern of light and leave darkness
It resembles a lamb lying with a lion
The lamb on the left
The lion to the right
Laying flush against each other
Back to back
One eye each facing me
The lamb has its forelegs
Folded yet upthrust
Into the adjacent air
The lion in similar pose
But with velveted paws
I can hear the lion's voice
A low growl tumbling softly
I can feel a sense of peaceful contentment from both; happiness
At the edge of conscious thought
One has fire in its eye - the lamb
The other has fire in its mouth - the lion
What a strange thing with which to wake

(c) KT

Just finished shoveling a walking tunnel to the dog's pen so we can bring him out and back when he needs to go out. Damn. Already have about 18" accumulated and it's going to be heavy snowfall until 10am... Methinks we will be one of the places with the now predicted 30"!!

Stay safe people.

I'm sitting here... Trying not to shudder... As I am subjected to a school student concert. I love my nephew but my ears - they're bleeding!

Rather, I'm going to get credit & a title - 'Branch Technology Contact/Coordinator' for our department. Every time someone has a problem with their tech, they come to me anyway. Now I'll be the 'authorized' tech contact. Taking on the responsibility will be good for my next review...

Yay me?

So what are your opinions on the Meetup? I had done a few back during my last year of school but haven't participated in any since. They still seem like they might be a nice, public way to meet new, local friends.

Please. Chime in.

Situation: Ready to go to work, you go down to the garage to drive there... Car doesn't start. Shite! Use CoB's car to go to work. Get (free!) tow to mechanic. Three hours or so later and here's the decision presented to you:

1. $5500 for a new engine, with labor included, call it an even $7K; no financing, 140K mileage on the original car.

2. Get a new (for me) vehicle; this means playing "where's the financing" and possibly painful negotiation process. End up with a monthly payment with no trade in, etc.

Screwed either way. At least I can store the non-working car at the mechanics for free for a couple of weeks.

Car hunting tomorrow. Wish me luck with the finding and financing of the next piratical transport device.

Wish my supervisor wasn't all "don't care about road conditions or for your driving safety, next time leave 2 hours early rather than coming in after it stops snowing & the accidents are cleared off the highway."

It really is his only truly irritating fault.

Was in an hour earlier than my latest ETA and put in 6.5 very productive hours... And I still have another 10 hours of personal time left through the end of the year.

Ah well.

Saw a trailer for a new werewolf movie today "The Werewolf" on the apple trailer site...

Made me think of you, ginmar.

I have been keeping quite busy at work, occasionally twittering, and watching episode after episode of Bones. With the hotness of David Boreanas and all the cool science, how did I ever miss this when it originally started running?

You're like the cat which has landed on its feet in front of a bowl of cream, and had a trout leap out of the water to land beside it.