Gah

[rolanni]

Four a.m. cat-fight between Mozart and Scrabble woke the house. Combatants separated, we tried to go back to sleep. I think Steve may have done so, but I laid there for an hour, not breathing well and occasionally rubbing Hexapuma's stomach. He slept through the entire thing. The upside of being deaf.

The alarm went off and I staggered up, got lunch together, started coffee, oatmeal &c. Went outside to start the car and! -- you know where this is going right? -- all four doors frozen shut.

Steve managed to get the passenger door open and turn the key. Things are warming now, and that's Quite Enough Adventure for one day, right?

Right.

Comments

[jhetley.livejournal.com]

I anticipate similar difficulties with our car. Don't need it for another hour, though. Sun may solve the problem.

[darke-conteur.livejournal.com]

I can always tell when our cats fight. There's clumps of cat hair at the scene of the crime.

[kimuro.livejournal.com]

Alcohol based hand cleansers work to quickly melt frozen keyholes, doors, etc. I have one that aerosolizes the cleanser, which was convenient when the storm door push button of the handle was frozen.

4 a.m. is such an inconvenient time to be awakened.

Cat Fight

[(Anonymous)]

Hi Sharon,

A couple of my cats had a fight last night too -- midnight, just after I'd turned out the light and was about to drift off to sleep. It was my big guy, Walt -- the newcomer (but it's been 10 months!) -- and the little girl, Blackie.

I turned the light back on and got up, but they had both disappeared and yes there was some white fur left in the hallway (Walt's).

Went back to bed, but it took awhile to fall asleep, as I was anticipating a resumption of hostilities at any moment, but fortunately, not. Still it cut down on my five hours of possible sleeping time until my alarm went off at 5:00 a.m.

Walt loves to chase Blackie, and Blackie will hide under the bed and growl if Walt approaches. Yet I have recently seen them both curled up sleeping on the same bed, only a few feet apart, and twice in the same day. I think it's a game to Walt (he's still a youngster of 4 or 5), and they are better than when he first arrived and no bloodshed has happened.

But Scrabble and Mozart have been together how long? I wonder what caused their spat? Anyway, I hope you can get more rest tonight.

Barbara in Baltimore

[mardott.livejournal.com]

Yes, indeed. I hereby grant you a peaceful rest-of-the-day.

For all the good that may do you.

But my goodness. Having grown up in the desert, and living for decades around balmy SF Bay, it never occurred to me that car doors could freeze shut.

The diversity of this planet always amazes me.

[srmpublisher.livejournal.com]

And sometimes the doors don't freeze shut because there's ice in the locks but because the car is encased in 1/4 inch or more of ice. When we had the big ice storm some years back there were many inches of ice coating everything -- I used a hammer to break the ice on/over the windshields of our pair of old Crown Victoria police specials -- inches and inches of it -- and carried the ice into the basement to boil on the woodstove.

*fixed small typo

[(Anonymous)]

My occasional AM spat is between my dog and one of my cats. The dog likes to sleep near the foot of the bed and since he is 50 lbs, he takes up some territory - on my side or toward the middle bottom. Occasionally, one of my Siberian cats, Alexei, will decide to "visit" in the middle of the night and curl up for a snooze. As long as I keep them separated by some part of my body, there isn't a problem. However, if the cat accidentally wanders into the area the dog has claimed for the evening, I am awakened by a growl followed by a hiss. Generally, the animal getting on the bed checks and leaves if it is already occupied. I have actually seen the dog wander into the bedroom and then leave if one of the cats is on the bed. However, at night, with blankets and pillows and people in the way sometimes the first occupant animal is missed. In that case, I try to arrange my body to keep them separated, but it doesn't always work.

I have also had the occasional AM cat spat wake me up. Generally, the cats are just playing and one of them gets too rough and the other gets mad. By the time I arrive, the two cats are usually in their own "corners". Cat fluff is sometimes an indicator but not right now. This time of the year my Siberians are literally "blowing" coat.

Susan
Orlando

[(Anonymous)]

This happened to me, but the only door that would open was the hatchback. I was younger then.

[kalimeg.livejournal.com]

Last time that a frozen door happened to me a co-worker told me I should march outside with a bottle of rubbing alcohol and pour it in the door crack for an instant open.

Cold Doors

[(Anonymous)]

I haven’t tried it, but I’ve heard from people who say they have: Clean the doors well where they close and meet. Particularly the rubber seals. Spray same with silicone.

I donno. Maybe it doesn’t give ice crystals as much to grab onto?

Raymond

[(Anonymous)]

Burton from Montreal

Be very careful with using alcohol to open car doors. Getting it on your skin will cause minor frostbite or worst.

The Montreal area just started to dig out from the last two day's snowfall. Waiting for next deluge on Thursday evening. Not looking forward to the non-amusing sequence of rain into freezing rain into snow. Yesterday the snowplow guy got his truck bogged down in the mushy snow.

What did the NorthEast do to annoyed the weather gods I wonder?

[mbarker.livejournal.com]

Don't forget to write it down in your sleep journal (diary? something like that). Isn't this the designated reporting period? So the cats are giving you something exciting to put down above and beyond "slept."

Snow and ice

[(Anonymous)]

Hats off to everyone who manages to go about their daily business around the obstructions created by a northern winter. Where I come from, a fogged up windscreen is enough cause for consternation and extended conversation around the photocopier. Phyllis

Cat Fights

[claire774.livejournal.com]

Any chance of separating the kitties at night? I'd be afraid of escalation of hostilities and even injury.
C.