This is a first for me.........yay!

[Hu Lowery]

just thinking of a warning for the cats

Hu, I have a catfish feeder that I have been thinking about modifying. Currently it launches the pellets up to a hundred feet or so ... not a great way to feed the cat. If I remove that part of the dispenser and just use the part that meters out the food, it might work. Raccoons are smart though ... I wouldn't be too surprised if they could reprogram the control electronics to dispense food at night.

I have tried motion sensors connected to floodlights. The raccoons left a note thanking me for thinking of their convenience. I'm not sure that any horn or siren would be any more effective.

Bill,

I figured the noise was just to keep the cats from getting hit by the lid too often. Dang raccoons don't hesitate to come in a pet door and get on your counter to ask for food, I wouldn't expect to scare them off. The things that come in pet doors, I wouldn't have one I couldn't lock much of the time.

Seems to me that anything that could sling catfish feed a hundred feet should at least fling a raccoon a dozen feet or so . . . . I know what some kind souls are thinking reading this but wouldn't you like to see it one time?

You can only trap most critters once in a live trap so I'm thinking of a plan B, an upscaled mouse trap I saw. A five gallon bucket works for mice. You place a free turning spindle side to side with a plastic 20 ounce coke bottle in the middle. Put the bucket next to something or build the mice a nice set of stairs. A little peanut butter or something to attract them in the middle of the coke bottle, they climb the coke bottle to get it and down they go.

Then you can go release them in a nice sylvan glen, . . . or not!

Hu

 

[odie]

Can only upload two images on the gallery, but wanted to show you this profile view of the ash bowl being discussed in this thread........

The angle of the two intersecting surfaces on the exterior, near the multiple detail grooves is about 170°. With such an obtuse angle, it's very difficult to get a good clean corner without very minimal sanding. Tool sharpness, control, presentation, all have to be the best you can do for this to happen. There are multiple detail grooves throughout the bowl's surfaces, and the supporting surfaces range in run-out between .003" to .007".

ko