So, are you TRYING to be evicted??

[sevendaysky]

Re: the cat pee thing... Nature's Miracle and similar enzyme cleaners can really help get the odors and such out. Of course, the sooner you hit the stain, the better, as usual. I have one cat who, for reasons known only to her, has never used the litter box for poo. She will pee in it, but her poo always ends up outside the box, even after we got the SUPAREXTRALARGE box for her. We couldn't get her to stop, no matter what we did. So we compromised and bought some of that painter's tarp stuff, the semi-opaque plastic sheeting. Doubled it up a bit, cut it to fit the area where the litter boxes are -- basically a narrow hallway -- and laid it under the boxes. Makes it easier to scoop up the poops, and if litter gets kicked out, we can just pick up the tarp and funnel it down into the bag to toss out. It's worked well for us for the last few years.

[Pixilated]

I know where he lives--in a ritzy mansion several miles away. But, I also know that he's into some shady shit. He got busted several years back for his role in an organized theft and mail fraud ring. He was always nice to me when I was younger. Even so, I'd be hesitant in getting involved with his business.

Sounds like a situation my siblings and I and some relatives-by-marriage encountered in an Eastern European country a few years ago. The guy who'd built the small hotel we stayed in was reported to have gotten his money from some, er, extra-legal activities.

About a week after returning home, one of the relatives-by-marriage went to get on another plane for an in-country flight and got pulled over by 'sniffer' dogs ... they'd detected traces of explosives on her luggage. (To be fair, given this entire area's recent history, that doesn't automatically mean the explosives had to come from the hotel -- they could've come from anywhere. We did have fun speculating, though.)

Re: the cat pee thing... Nature's Miracle and similar enzyme cleaners can really help get the odors and such out. Of course, the sooner you hit the stain, the better, as usual. I have one cat who, for reasons known only to her, has never used the litter box for poo. She will pee in it, but her poo always ends up outside the box, even after we got the SUPAREXTRALARGE box for her. We couldn't get her to stop, no matter what we did. So we compromised and bought some of that painter's tarp stuff, the semi-opaque plastic sheeting. Doubled it up a bit, cut it to fit the area where the litter boxes are -- basically a narrow hallway -- and laid it under the boxes. Makes it easier to scoop up the poops, and if litter gets kicked out, we can just pick up the tarp and funnel it down into the bag to toss out. It's worked well for us for the last few years.

I did something similar at one point: I had 6 cats and 4 litterboxes -- and a huge apartment. I set up the litterboxes in a row on one of those super-heavy plastic runners that are often used in hallways during bad weather.

Kudos to you for working around your kitty's issues. I had a friend once whose cat started using the tub, for unknown reasons. She had the cat euthanized, even though I offered to take it.

[greek_jester]

I had a friend once whose cat started using the tub, for unknown reasons. She had the cat euthanized, even though I offered to take it.

It's a tub, just rinse it out! Good grief.

Our black lab was diabetic, nearly blind from cataracts & became incontinent after she went onto insulin. She was fine in the day, but couldn't hold it all night any more.

We just put sheets down so we could tell where she had wee'd before stepping in it & bought an upright carpet cleaner. Toss the sheets in the wash, run the cleaner over the carpet, job done. She (very happily) lived for another few years; she loved being walked down the beach, & would sit near the breakers & listen to the waves hitting the beach. Being nearly blind didn't bother her, she learned "wait" so we could move things, "up" & "down" for kerbs & steps & "careful" to feel her way very quickly. Scarily smart dog was Bonnie, much like all of our pets.

[thedrunkenmonkey]

Perhaps not exactly germane to the conversation, but...

One year at The Event in the Desert, I was camped with crew and suchlike in a relatively "quiet" zone. For the most part, if you go to an event, "quiet" is relative - sleep is best done with earplugs and a healthy insensitivity to ground vibrations, because people really DO bring speaker systems that loud.

But this camp went over the edge.

They played the sounds of animals being slaughtered at 4AM.

At 120db.

I checked. I have a soundcheck decibel meter.

And one wild guess what political / sociological group this camp was affiliated with?

Now, don't get me wrong. Mrs. Monkey and I try to buy organic local pork, chicken, goat, salmon, halibut, sturgeon, etc. We go to the local farmer's market and get our salmon from the guys who catch it from the boat out in the Pacific on lines. Our beef is almost entirely raised on Mrs. Monkey's family farm up in the San Juans, and if we had the ability to blow $1,500 on six calves, we'd be raising six heritage steers for meat, staggering them at six month intervals.

But seriously? Seriously.

Somehow their entire bespoke speaker system found itself with a bunch of cut cables and a generator suspiciously without any oil in the system (that subsequently froze) when they woke up at 9AM the next day.

I have no idea nor do I want to know exactly what happened, but my electrical toolkit seemed to be missing a bit of vinyl tape. My bolt cutters - the ones insulated with about fifty yards of bike handlebar tape - also had some scorch marks.

The fact that I'd mentioned to my neighbors that they should feel free to borrow any of my tools at any time they felt they needed to might have worried me.

But not by much. The next night the camp had repaired the damage and repeated their "art installation". Surprisingly enough, the next day their speakers had mysteriously caved in from mysterious blunt object force used repeatedly on the grills and speaker cones.

Fortunately I never lend my sledgehammers to anyone. The damn things are 20lbs each. You'd be barely able to lift them if you weren't me. And I know for a fact that I took two lovely teenage bottles of cabernet franc to a quiet, candlelight dinner in my RV that night. Anything that occurred after that happened without my knowledge or consent.

[AccountingDrone]

And I know for a fact that I took two lovely teenage bottles of cabernet franc to a quiet, candlelight dinner in my RV that night. Anything that occurred after that happened without my knowledge or consent.

RVs are allowed at the large flammable hominid in dry territory? I didn't know that, it puts the event into the realm of possibility. [Gimpy so I pretty much can't tent camp any longer, and I need access to AC at least the hottest part of the day to avoid physical distress. I tend to nocturnal anywhoo]

And how rude, 120 dB?! Whatever happened to respecting your neighbor's enjoyment of their possible entertainment.