Home Improvement

My two big weekend projects over the long Memorial Day weekend were installing our new portable A/C. At first, we were calling him R2D2, but his final, official name is A2/C2:

He was designed to go in normal size windows rather than our tall skinny living room windows. As a result, I had to remodel the rectangle that the vent plugs into. Out came Kitty Daddy's trusty Dremel and I made the new and improved window vent! The plate had an outer part that was too long for the window and an inner part that could slide out to make it longer. So I cut the outer part to fit and then cut two short pieces on the inner part to make "ears" to fit in the window so it wouldn't flop. Voila!

While the Dremel was out, we also got a 8' long 1x4 and FINALLY got the gate to the kitchen to behave. The pads that contact the wall are flat, but the baseboard is sloped so it was constantly slipping out and having to be adjusted. I cut two 3' pieces off of the 1x4 and then used the Dremel to shape the bottom to fit over the baseboards, but retain contact so the board is flat. Add a couple pieces of the sticky, mesh shelf liner (like the stuff you put under area rugs) between the boards and the wall to keep it from slipping when Bugs and Beans attack, and (again) voila...a gate that stays put!

Ta-da! (Kitty Mommy takes a dainty curtsey)