Sunday, December 13, 2020

Christmas Tree Hack for Cats


Look at this cat enticing tree! LOL So much fun!


Do you have a cat that climbs your Christmas Tree, knocks it down, and subsequently destroys all of your ornaments?


I've seen many people fighting over dominance of the tree with their kitties.

I've seen so many people decide to tie their trees to the wall..

 I have extra persistent kitties and here is how I beat them every year! (They always climb the tree before I get around to making the collar- sneaky twerps!)

I get sheets of tinfoil and a roll of scotch tape and lay flat on my back under the tree. 

Pass the sheets of tinfoil up through the branches and lay them flat on the very bottom branches, as close to the center as possible, and out to where the little branches come off the spoke. These sheets must lay across two spokes at a time and overlap each other.

Once the 'collar' has been created, lightly tape the sheets of tinfoil to the branches (one piece of tape, every other branch should do it) and also add a single piece of tape to the seams where the tinfoil overlaps.

Gray plastic Walmart bags work well, stuffed on top, if you dont want to use tape. (you won't see these if your tree is fluffed and spread well) They also help in addition to tape if your cats are the EXTRA EXTRA persistent type. 

Again, tinfoil sheets should be as close to the center as possible, must stretch across two branches at a time, and leave no gaps!

Kitties try to climb up center like a ladder- the tinfoil blocks this.

I have seen my cats poke the tinfoil and once it doesn't move they walk away.


Here's a Blueprint for illustration:



Here's what the collar looks like under the tree:


Notice those spokes I was talking about... Kitty climbing ladders!


I swear you can't see it from outside the tree!

No one will know you have defeated your kitties! Remember- you will need a NEW collar every year. Please remove the tinfoil when you remove your decorations to put the tree away every year.


Like I said... I have had numerous friends complain about their cats in their Christmas trees... please let me know if these instructions need clarification and I will be happy to oblige!




Saturday, October 13, 2018

What makes your Antagonist Sad?


#ExploringNewWorlds Challenge Day 13 


Hmm, making the antagonist sad...

The Platonians are the antagonists in Visionary From The Stars. The Military Guild doesn't have many opportunities to show me sadness, though some of their friends and family members have left the guild in favor of a more peaceful life. I suppose being separated from their friends while their superiors call them traitors might make members of the Military Guild sad. There are a few of the guild who no longer believe in the guild's purpose but stay behind, instead of joining their families, because they feel they can be of more help from the inside. I suppose they might feel rather lonely, alone in hostile territory...







You can join this blog challenge too, whether you are a writer OR a reader! Just pick a favorite book off of your shelf (or a story you are currently writing) and click on the image below for info on how to join in on the fun! You can also join in on social media by posting your challenge answer with #ExploringNewWorlds added to your post!Come check out others who are posting their Day 13 Blog Challenge as well!

Friday, October 12, 2018

What makes your main character happy?


#ExploringNewWorlds Challenge Day 12 What makes your protagonist happy! 


The Star Traveler Crew:

Laurie Kingston: Some new circuit to diagnose, pull apart and fix.

Anna Kingston: Making sick people feel better

Eli Kingston: Photographing plants and flowers

Captain Mitchell: A plan that goes as intended

Eric Smith: Studying images of nebulas







You can join this blog challenge too, whether you are a writer OR a reader! Just pick a favorite book off of your shelf (or a story you are currently writing) and click on the image below for info on how to join in on the fun! You can also join in on social media by posting your challenge answer with #ExploringNewWorlds added to your post!Come check out others who are posting their Day 9 Blog Challenge as well!

Thursday, October 11, 2018

Day 11 What do book characters do to relax


#ExploringNewWorlds Challenge Day 11


Hmm, this is a fun one! How about something for each of the Star Traveler crew!

Laurie Kingston, the main character in Visionary From The Stars loves learning in her spare time. When she is trying to relax you would most likely find her reading a book. She has gone for walks on the beach with her friend Chris when she really needed to get out and get some fresh air though.

Chris' idea of a good relaxation activity is to play video games, though he has had little time to play since he and his father have moved to the new colony on Exandra. Instead, he spends most of his time hanging out with Laurie and heading off to solve disagreements with the ECOPS.

Captain Mitchell enjoys going camping when he is trying to relax

Dr. Kingston, Laurie's mom, is slightly ocd and prefers to find something to organize while she is trying to relax. She has been known to ask the computer to scramble the entire colony's medical database just so she could alphabetize the entire thing by hand when she is really on edge. Dr. Kingston: "Hey, that's not fair! We were under a blizzard warning!"

Eli Kingston, Laurie's father, prefers to listen to classical music while he is trying to relax. He says it reminds him of the wind blowing through the leaves.

Dr. Eric, his idea of relaxation is dragging his telescope out to stare at the stars just for fun.



You can join this blog challenge too, whether you are a writer OR a reader! Just pick a favorite book off of your shelf (or a story you are currently writing) and click on the image below for info on how to join in on the fun! You can also join in on social media by posting your challenge answer with #ExploringNewWorlds added to your post!Come check out others who are posting their Day 11 Blog Challenge as well!

Wednesday, October 10, 2018

Day 10 What Makes Your Protagonist Sad



#ExploringNewWorlds Challenge Day 10 What makes your protagonist sad. 


Laurie Kingston is a typical young girl. She gets sad over having to leave her friends. She mourns the loss of her friends when a few of them get killed. She has a big heart and always wants to help others, which is why she joined Exandra's Caretakers Of the Peace, or ECOPS for short. She doesn't like seeing others argue and always wants to find a solution that will suit both sides.






You can join this blog challenge too, whether you are a writer OR a reader! Just pick a favorite book off of your shelf (or a story you are currently writing) and click on the image below for info on how to join in on the fun! You can also join in on social media by posting your challenge answer with #ExploringNewWorlds added to your post!Come check out others who are posting their Day 10 Blog Challenge as well!

Tuesday, October 9, 2018

Day 9 What makes your protagonist angry


#ExploringNewWorlds Challenge Day What makes your protagonist angry! 


Laurie Kingston is pretty level headed, she doesn't get angry much but others being stubborn can sure get under her skin!

But here... don't take my word for it, see for yourself!




We must make it, we must, Laurie thought to herself.
“Hopefully they can’t climb trees,” Chris muttered to himself.
If only we can make it to the edge of the marsh, mused Tarpin. He had a plan.
It was a narrow escape when they finally reached the marshland.
“Climb the marshland trees!” Tarpin yelled over the hollering of the Platonians.
 Immediately Chris and Laurie grabbed hold of a tree and started climbing. Tarpin climbed up after them. They were hardly in the middle branches when out of nowhere came a band of one hundred Squirrels.
“Stay perfectly still,” Tarpin advised quietly to the two. “The Squirrels will attack the Platonians and drive them away; they think the Platonians are attacking them!”
The Platonians were close on the heels of the refugees and nearing their hiding place. In the branches of her tree Laurie fought back a giggle when she spotted a few of the Platonians jumping away quickly from the areas where the ground was the soggiest. The mud was soon the least of the Platonian’s worries once they heard the distant war cry of the Squirrels.
 Stunned they froze in the path and watched in horror as the band of Squirrels descended on them, through the treetops and on the ground. The Squirrels had spears, slings, and knives brandished high. The Platonians, knowing the reputation of these fierce warriors, turned and ran out and away from the marshlands as quickly as possible. The Squirrels stopped at the edge of the marshlands and watched the Platonian retreat.
After putting up his tegar, Tarpin hopped nimbly down from the tree,
“We thank you and your tribe for saving us from that murderous tribe of Platonians,” he said, smiling.
Startled from the voice behind their lines, the chief turned to face his new menace.
“What do you mean ‘saved you’? What are you doing here?” The Squirrel chief demanded.
“I said ‘we thank you’, not ‘I’. There are three of us,” Tarpin reproved, as behind him the two children jumped swiftly down, their tegars still extended full length. “We came here to ask if your tribe has seen a group of humans, like these children but older?”
“No,” the Squirrel chief answered deftly.
“I know otherwise!” Tarpin growled.
Unexpectedly rebuffed, the chief responded, “What does it mean to you? Our spies tell us that their group, calling themselves the EOE team, was planning to attack and overcome us.”
“EOE stands for Explorers of Exandra. We were on a mission to explore, not conquer!” Laurie exclaimed, quite consumed with anger and frustration.
Chris laid a hand on her shoulder.
“The young one speaks the truth,” said Tarpin, his face stern.
“How can you be so sure; you were not here when the humans came!” The Squirrel chief accused.
 “These two were,” Tarpin answered.
“How can you believe their story? How do you know they are not lying?”
“It is called trust, thou who have none,” Tarpin said sternly.
“Ha, trust,” the chief mocked.
Laurie knew that neither the chief nor the Squirrels were convinced that the EOE team had not come to the marshlands to cause them harm. Laurie was still quite aggravated with the Squirrels, but now she had an idea. She took her MTD out of her pocket and began pressing a few buttons. Chris looked over her shoulder curiously; Tarpin was still arguing with the chief over whether or not the members of the EOE team were conquerors or explorers.
After having finished, Laurie walked over to a stump of a tree and set her MTD down on it. It looked very tiny sitting open there, with its blue screen glowing slightly. She turned it toward the others, who now stared at her with suspicion, wondering what she was doing. She pushed a little blue button on the side of her MTD and stepped to the side.
The Squirrels gasped and muttered in surprise, a light shone from the MTD on the tree stump. Two feet away from the screen, a hologram began to flicker and then the image became steady. It was a 3D map of Exandra. It showed in detail all the hills, valleys, rivers, and wooded areas that the EOE team knew of before they started on their trek.
Most of these things on the map were from the information Trib had given them. Nevertheless, there was still a vast area of Exandra that not even the Laskonians had explored; these areas were blank on the 3D map. The team had set out to explore a certain piece of this unknown land. Laurie showed and explained to the Squirrels the map and the team’s detailed plans for exploring more of the blank areas on the map. Trying to persuade the Squirrel chief that the EOE team had not come to conquer the Squirrels, she insisted that the members of her team did not even know the Squirrels lived here.
“If we knew you were here, don’t you think we would have ignored this area?” She asked.
“Not if you were coming to attack us,” the chief answered.
Laurie shut her MTD off and closed it.
“Oh, you are hardheaded!” she exclaimed. “Don’t you think that if we were trying to attack you we would try to come undetected and not walking out in the open?” Laurie said, exasperated.
“Or what about the fact that if we were attacking you we would have brought weapons; we were unarmed when you ambushed us,” Chris added.
The Squirrels just looked at the two children blankly.
Laurie shook her head.
“If you still don’t believe us, why don’t you ask our group why they were headed here?” she exclaimed.
“That is a capital idea,” said Tarpin.
“Humph. Oh, very well,” the Squirrel chief answered.

(End excerpt)



You can join this blog challenge too, whether you are a writer OR a reader! Just pick a favorite book off of your shelf (or a story you are currently writing) and click on the image below for info on how to join in on the fun! You can also join in on social media by posting your challenge answer with #ExploringNewWorlds added to your post!Come check out others who are posting their Day 9 Blog Challenge as well!

Monday, October 8, 2018

Day 8 Photos for the setting in Visionary From The Stars


Exploring New Worlds Blog Challenge Day 8 Photos that remind you of your book's setting! You can join this blog challenge too, whether you are a writer OR a reader! Just pick a favorite book off of your shelf (or a story you are currently writing) and click on the image below for info on how to join in on the fun! You can also join in on social media by posting your challenge answer with #ExploringNewWorlds added to your post!



So... here are some photos that remind me of some of the settings in Visionary From The Stars... Thank you Pinterest!





Come check out others who are posting their Day 8 Blog Challenge as well!