Details of DIY Drainless Porch Potty

In my last post, I showed you my concept for a porch potty for my little dog. But as we all know, sometimes things work better in theory than in practice. Thankfully, this doesn't seem to be one of those times.

I forgot to get a before picture, but this pile of wood used to be a pallet i salvaged from a dumpster. The results were a small sheet of plywood (2'x3'), 3 two-by-fours (3' long) and what i'm going to refer to as remaining scrap. (might have gotten a little over zealous with the disassembling) 

If you decide to go the salvage route...it's very helpful to have two people, crowbars, and hammers with the claws on the back. My dad and i disassembled this pallet in about 10 minutes.

This is the supplies i gathered: The soda crate in front is only 1.5" tall (when laid flat). But if you get a more common style that's taller, you may need to change the size of your wood tray or cut it.. 

IMPORTANT!: just because it's called a 2x4, doesn't mean it's actual measurements are 2"x 4". It's actually more like 1.5" x 3.5". This link explains WHY. 

STEP 1: Cut down the Plywood down to size

I have a table saw available. But you could use a circular saw, a saws-all, a jig saw...basically just get it cut down to size. I originally was going to have the crate sit INSIDE of the wood tray walls, so i took the measurements of my tray and added 1.5 inches to each side for the width of the 2x4. 

STEP 2: Cut the walls down to size

Remember, i'm using all salvage wood. So i had to adjust the raw pieces before cutting them to length. 

Since the crate i got was so short...i decided to "rip" the 2x4s (cut along the grain aka...longwise) down to 1.5" by 1.5". And just in case you're wondering...yes i actually did all the work myself. Dad just sat back and took pictures - which may explain some of the shaky, tilted or unfocused pictures to follow.

Then i cut the walls to length. 

STEP 3: Dry fit assembly

No glue or screws or nails yet. You just want to make sure everything fits together. 

For this, i used what's called "butt joints". The end of the wood butts up against the side of the wood to form a joint. Had i wanted to make this a little nicer, i could have cut the corners at 45 degree angles and "Mitered" the joints. But this is for a dog and she happens to enjoy butts :)

It was at this point that my dad and I noticed something interesting about our crate: There was a lip on the edge!

So the design changed slightly: We moved the walls in slightly so that edge of the crate sits ON TOP of the walls at the lip instead of INSIDE. To do this, we cut the plywood and the wall pieces down just a little bit and moved the walls in and added a piece in the center to help support the middle of the crate (that's the little square in the middle: i cut off a small end of the scrap from the walls and glued it to middle of the plywood tray)

Originally, i was going to have at least 5 of those support pieces, one in each corner and one in the middle...but the lip on the crate took place of the corner pieces. The point of these was to keep the crate off the bottom of the tray where kitty litter/pee pads will collect the pee. 

STEP 4: Sand.

You don't want the plastic to get punctured, so you'll want to sand down all the splinters and sharp edges. 150 grit sandpaper should be fine. You can do a higher grit count if you're using nicer wood. But honestly, there was only so much i could do with a scrap pallet. 

STEP 5: Final assembly

I coated the bottom of the walls with glue and clamped them into place.

Then to secure it, i flipped it over and got out a trusty nail gun. You could do this with screws or regular nails, but...air nailers are so much fun!!!

Space the nails about 4-6" apart all the way around. 

For good measure, i screwed the walls to each other as well. these, were 4 inch deck screws and i pre-drillled the holes to prevent splitting. 

STEP 6: Finishing

I ran the sander along the edges again, and filled in some of the gaps with wood filler then set it up to dry. 

At some point between the point that last picture was taken, i added short square feet to the bottom to keep the tray off the deck so moisture wouldn't get trapped. Those were just glued and air nailed down. But unfortunately none of the pictures i have shows them. 

I suppose i could have waterproofed it, painted flowers on it or attached LED lights to it... but I just used a can of spray paint my dad had in his cabinet and let it dry. 

Then I took the whole kaboodle home, up 3 flights of steps (really this wasn't bad, it was maybe 15 pounds of material) put a pee pad on the bottom (until we get kitty litter), laid the crate in and covered with grass i stole from my parent's back yard. 

Drum roll please!!! 

Kira wasn't really sure what to make of it at first. Apparently it was good enough to eat because we spent the whole first day trying to get her to stop eating the grass. 

The second day, had the same problem. 

We'd let her out there, she'd try to eat it, then refuse to pee on it even when we shut her out there and waited. The minute we let her in, straight to the pee pad. I started to wonder if it just wasn't going to happen and this was a big waste of time and effort. 

Finally I did something a little different. 

Since i usually get up first around 6...i'm on morning potty patrol. I let her out of her crate to go potty and she runs right over to her pad and goes immediately. So this morning, i picked her up, and carried her outside and put her right on the grass patch. She wiggled for a minute, but then squatted and went potty on it. I praised her, gave her treats and a long belly rub. 

And my little Wigglebutt pranced her way back into the house very proud of herself. 

I'm setting a reminder by May to touch back to this topic and give you an update. Cover what worked, and what didn't, what issues we ran into and how we went about fixing them. 

I hope this is helpful to all the do it yourself dog people out there. 

DIY No-Drain Puppy patch for Apartments

Shameless i'm in love with my dog plug->; 
Besides the normal adorableness of simply being a puppy, shes silly, smart, and learning all sorts of new things. But she's not yappy at all! I'm serious...she almost never barks, is good with other dogs, people and even children. No food or toy aggression except when she forgets your hand is not part of her toy collection. Really, Boyfriend Jon and I have a wonderful dog and she has really become part of our family.

Probably the most impressive feat is her bowel control. She not only never messes her crate, but figured out the pee pads in a few weeks, and now at 5 months only has accidents where she's slightly off the pee pad. But we started noticing a slight problem. She's SO good at holding her pee, she won't go when she's out for a walk. We have to stay out there and wait for her ability to hold it to run out. Otherwise, she makes a mad dash for the pee pads when we get back home. We've tried rewarding and praising her whenever she does go outside but the message doesn't seem to be sticking. The obvious solution would be to make the grass her exclusive potty. But we live on the 3rd floor and I'm not walking down 3 flights of stairs first thing at 6:00am in winter in the northwest. Not happening. Period. Exclamation point!

So Boyfriend Jon and I started brainstorming solutions to this problem.

The obvious solution seemed to be get a potty patch, porch potty, patio potty, piddle patch, deck dumping ground. whatever you want to call it.

But what i came to realize is that those things are either too small or outrageously expensive!

AS SEEN ON TV!
I don't know about you, but almost all of those items i've seen on tv are cheap, fall apart or less than functional when used in real world situations. It's a great idea in concept, but i doubt it will work well in real life. Also, i don't really want to have to deal with a resivoir of pee.
CUSTOM BUILT FANCY VERSION
300$ for a potty that has built in sprinklers to help keep the odor down? I personally don't have that kind of money to flush.
SOD OPTION!
I've seen lots of diy mini sod gardens. Great idea! But in order to not create a sespool of fermenting pee-mud, you need to drain them. Which i'm pretty sure my downstairs neighbor wouldn't appreciate.
ASTRO-TURF
Similar to the sod garden, this idea uses astro-turf in place of the sod. While great idea in theory, you run into the same problem as sod...you need to have a drain of some kind  Also...it's nearly impossible to find a rug size piece of astro-turf. You either have to buy enough to cover your entire living room, or several tiny squares which makes it cost-ineffective.

I took all the great ideas the internet had to offer and refined them to suit my apartment where i can't drain it off the side. I think a lot of people have this problem. Probably the best idea i saw belongs to some fellow Seattlites. So if you're looking for one with a drain...here's their concept. So i'm going to take a lot of their idea and tweak it.

So, being a prolific do it yourself-er, here's my plan to get around gimmicks, sespools, cost, and having to walk downstairs at 6am to wait out my dog's ability to hold it. Please forgive my pencil sketching being hard to see but the concept is this:

Basic concept is a layered box.

• Layer 1: Wooden Tray 
• with sides to contain the leaks This should be about 2-3 inches tall. It's just to create a frame for the whole thing. Since my grid is all one piece, i'm considering putting small chunks in the corners and center to help keep the second tray up and away from the kitty litter. I'm also going to put some small feet on the bottom to prevent rain water from getting trapped under it
• Layer 2: Heavy duty plastic 
• to protect the wood
• Layer 3: Kitty litter! 
• the idea of having to clean out a liquid resivoir doesn't appeal to me. This was totally Boyfriend Jon's idea and it was quite brilliant. 
• Layer 4: A grid- 
• I found a discarded soda crate bottom for support and to create a barrier between my curious pup and the toxic kitty litter. I plan on fitting this inside of the tray with just the handles showing. The point of this is to keep the sod up and away from the kitty litter so the litter doesn't suck moisture out of the sod.
• Layer 5: Screening 
• Run of the mill screen from an old screen door my dad has had lurking in the back yard since i was....10? Maybe this is unnecessary but i figure it will help keep the sod and kitty litter separate.  
• Layer 6: Either sod or astro-turf. 
• I plan on experimenting with both and seeing which is better but since my dad has an abundance of moss infested lawn, he's generously offered to let me take whatever i want for free. So free sod? yes please.

Although I'm a sworn dog person, i must say that cat people have found a superior way to manage a cat's urine. Clumping and odor neutralizing technology (in theory) is a great way to maintain this design without running a drain onto my neighbor's patio.

I was able to scavenge a wood pallet for the wooden tray, the soda crate, the plastic, and the screening. I know i can purloin the sod from my dad, but home depot sells a 2x4 foot section for just $3.50. So really, even without scavenging too hard, this design can be made for less than any of the internet options. And it can be sized to any breed.

(Helpful hit for new DIYers - major hardware stores will cut their wood to size for you usually at little to no cost. so you can make it long and narrow, square...whatever works for your living space)

I realize this is just the design, my next post will include pictures and dimensions for those that need a little more detail.

I return and +1

The end of last year was brutal for me. NaNoWriMo was a chore. But i did finish, then promptly put away my writing and refused to so much as look at it since then.

But i couldn't put my entire laptop away. There was something very important to research. Something that i dove into headfirst and relentlessly pursued. Something that i hadn't realized just how much i missed until I started that research.

Boyfriend Jon and I got a puppy. This is Kira. A miniature Schnauzer at 8-10 weeks old.

Kira has made such a change in our lives in a very short span of time. Our normally clean floor is littered with toys and strands she's pulled out of her rope toy. The tv competes with squeaker toys and we have big celebrations revolving around poop and pee. 

My sweet dog Rusty was put down last year and it was devastating. I missed him every single time i went into my parents house and he wasn't sitting in sphinx pose at the top of the stairs. Miss Molly the Wallet Theif while adorable...isn't my dog. It helps...but it doesn't fill the void. And i will always miss Rusty. 

And life moves on. And now there's a new spot that's quickly developing in my heart for this bundle of energy and adoration when we come home and her little tail wags furiously and she stands on her hind legs to greet us. She sits at my feet while i'm working at my desk on various projects occasionally draping her toys over my feet to let me know she wants to play. 

She's been a member of our family for just over a month and although i dread the thought of walking her at 6am in the middle of winter...i wouldn't give her up for anything. 

And since there's no such thing as too many pictures of puppies....

Weird Zombie Apocalypse feeling

When Boyfriend Jon and i first started dating, we would play a small game. In only minor seriousness, we would compare our various survival skills and try to figure out how we would survive in the event of a zombie apocalypse. Even now, when we talk about skill building, we talk about it in terms of if it would be "useful" and by useful, we both know what we mean.

No we don't actually believe that there will be Resident Evil style zombies, but more that there will be a distinct lack of all the modern conveniences, and that people will become desperate for the most basic things.  We both worry that if there ever is an apocalypse, that the knowledge and skills of our ancestors will be entirely lost, and humanity will struggle to survive. We both want to be strong contenders IF this were ever to happen.

Boyfriend Jon is a boy scout, avid camper, and gets really animated when talking about movies, books or tv shows that discuss how people's "real world" skills would be pretty much useless if there was ever a disaster. (Like a mechanic would be more valuable than say a tax auditor).

I grew up with a scouting family. Both my parents have been scout masters, both brothers were scouts. My parents never saw the need to put me in Girl Scouts since i pretty much went wherever the boys did anyway. We started primitive camping when i was seven and i never regretted it. Where else in this day and age do you learn how to live for extended periods without any modern conveniences?

We both love learning new skills that could increase our chances of survival if the world comes crashing down. Jon learned how to knit. I learned how to skin an animal. Knot tying, cooking over open flames, weaponry, fire starting without matches, extended first aid....anything and everything that could keep us alive.

This last week, everyone has been hearing about Superstorm Hurricane Sandy and the artic blast that followed it. There have been several earthquakes up and down the pacific fault lines. Weathermen are predicting a harsh winter this year. We've already had a few small power outages.

All that got me thinking. What do i have ready if there's an emergency?

I'm honestly not the hypochondriac kind. I don't think the world is going to end, I don't think that disaster is right around the corner. But there's a difference between being paranoid and being prepared.

Since moving in with Boyfriend Jon, we have almost no emergency supplies stored. When the lights flickered last month. I got a little worried and went on a candle buying spree. I thought that would be enough.

It hovered in the back of my mind. That constant whisper of What if there was a disaster now? Then there was a large earthquake up at the Canadian border. Earthquakes trigger more earthquakes. Then Hurricane Sandy hit, and i heard horror stories of flooding, power outages for days, store shelves completely empty. Gas, water and food shortages. Then that sparked the worry about what happens if the electricity is out for days? No refrigeration, no cell phones, no internet to tell you what's going on.

Maybe i should learn how to create a generator out of car batteries and alternators. Or is it possible to learn how to build a real solar panel?

One thing led to another and it all finally centered on this thought which i haven't been able to shake.

YOU ARE NOT PREPARED FOR ANYTHING

When i should be thinking about work, i'm thinking about what to include and where to store emergency supplies in our apartment. When i should be thinking about driving, i'm going over how to winter camp without getting frost bite. When i should be writing for NaNo, i'm researching how to build energy devices.

I'm trying to not be crazy obsessed about this, but the more i think about it, the more worried i get. About six years ago, the area was without power for a week in the middle of winter. I was lucky to be living with my parents at that point. We had fires going, bundled up, and in general were just fine. But would i be fine now, living on my own with boyfriend Jon? Or would we be one of the hoards of people looting for the most basic supplies because we were caught unprepared?


I think, as much as we talk about being prepared, that we would be hurting for some basics in the event of a disaster if it were to happen today. So, call me paranoid, call me crazy, call me silly....but I think now would be an excellent time to get prepared for the basics.

Nano Time 2012

NaNoWriMo kicks off in just TWO DAYS!

This year, i'm really nervous.

1. I'm doing a NaNo no no by re-writing a previous nano. 
2. It's the same NaNo from last year which took several thousand words in which my characters revolted and i couldn't get them off the damn boat!
3. I'm running not one but two write ins which i often don't get a whole lot of work done during.

So this could be the first year i can't win. Or i could blow it all out of the water and have the most epic story on the face of the planet.
.......
more likely the former.

This will be my fifth year doing NaNo. It's hard to believe that four years ago, my buddy somehow talked me into doing this.

I remember thinking to myself, "self! you couldn't even write your Elixir story that you've been working on for 13 years. Why would this be any better?"

And yet the story that came out of that year was awesome. Reading through it even now, i still enjoy the story.

Last year's story, the idea was good and solid. It hasn't even changed that much. Just the premise and the order of things and small tweaks to my characters to make them more believable. Less of the majestic heros and the drop dead gorgeous heroine. More of realistic 20 somethings that have quirks, odd habits, and drive each other crazy.

I believed so much in this story from the beginning even after the 30,000 words on the stupid boat that i started a re-write back in February. I woke up one morning and just had to write a scene that i had dreamed about. 4,000 words later, i had two chapters, a new way of going about my story.

Over the course of the last year, I've talked through several points of my story with Boyfriend Jon and many many other friends. Slowly finding the reason for my story. Finding new characters that belong in my world. New ways to seed foreshadowing, and themes. Very quickly, everything falls into place. I should be excited, and exuberant, and enthusiastic. But instead, i'm just nervous.

What if i get caught up in all the problems that held me back last year? Like the fact that i don't really know much about pre WW2 fasion, society, landmarks, culture, and just the history of WW2 in general. What happens if all these new ideas run me into corners? What happens if for the first time i fail NaNoWriMo?