Koonie's Kastle, A Repurposing Project
Posted: Fri Oct 16, 2020 10:56 am
My sister Pickles has been busy getting outdoor stuff ready for winter. She’s repotted etc the house plants that have been happy outdoors during the summer and they’re now ready to come back into the house for the winter. She also decided to rebuild Koonie’s Kastle which is down in the back along the edge of the woods next to Mt. Brushmore. It was an interesting repurposing project.
Koonie is a healthy 17 year old loner who for the past 8 years has preferred to live outdoors. She enjoys visits from Lester cat and the possums who live in the big brush pile next to her Kastle. The other two cats (including her 18 year old mother) don’t pay her any mind. This was taken in 2012 and shortly afterward she “moved out”.
This is Koonie’s new Kastle. Her house is now a roomy recycled “dogloo” (now a catloo) with straw inside along with a box that holds her heat retaining pad. There’s a front porch, a back porch, a little covered breezeway connecting the front porch and the catloo and an escape hatch cut into the back of the catloo. The whole works sits up on two pallets and is tied down nine ways to Sunday with bungee cords.
The front porch is an old chain link fence gate covered with a cheap clear shower curtain that keeps her food dry and provides a nice view of the back yard. The chair is Pickles' “supervisor” chair where she sits and chats with Koonie when she brings Koonie’s food and water. It’s also a good time for brushing, removing any burrs in the fur and general health inspection.
The back porch is a fence gate covered in another old shower curtain and rests on an old garden bench. It keeps rain from blowing through the back door flap.
This is Mt. Brushmore (brush pile) next to Koonie’s Kastle. It goes back into the woods a ways and is riddled with passages made by possums and who knows what else. We call it Possum Holler.
Periodically the “mountain” collapses as stuff composts, collapsing the tunnels. It happened again recently but I see there’s a new entrance to Possum Holler. Life goes on. We’ll have to set up the game cam and see how Koonie’s neighbors are doing.
Koonie is a healthy 17 year old loner who for the past 8 years has preferred to live outdoors. She enjoys visits from Lester cat and the possums who live in the big brush pile next to her Kastle. The other two cats (including her 18 year old mother) don’t pay her any mind. This was taken in 2012 and shortly afterward she “moved out”.
This is Koonie’s new Kastle. Her house is now a roomy recycled “dogloo” (now a catloo) with straw inside along with a box that holds her heat retaining pad. There’s a front porch, a back porch, a little covered breezeway connecting the front porch and the catloo and an escape hatch cut into the back of the catloo. The whole works sits up on two pallets and is tied down nine ways to Sunday with bungee cords.
The front porch is an old chain link fence gate covered with a cheap clear shower curtain that keeps her food dry and provides a nice view of the back yard. The chair is Pickles' “supervisor” chair where she sits and chats with Koonie when she brings Koonie’s food and water. It’s also a good time for brushing, removing any burrs in the fur and general health inspection.
The back porch is a fence gate covered in another old shower curtain and rests on an old garden bench. It keeps rain from blowing through the back door flap.
This is Mt. Brushmore (brush pile) next to Koonie’s Kastle. It goes back into the woods a ways and is riddled with passages made by possums and who knows what else. We call it Possum Holler.
Periodically the “mountain” collapses as stuff composts, collapsing the tunnels. It happened again recently but I see there’s a new entrance to Possum Holler. Life goes on. We’ll have to set up the game cam and see how Koonie’s neighbors are doing.
