A New Round of Repairs Is Already in High Gear

This winter has been entirely too long, spring should’ve been here weeks ago but we’re still having cold, wet and demoralizing weather that makes everyone tired and reluctant to go outside. However, what must be done, must be done and now that winter

seems to be finally giving up, this year’s round of shelter repairs has begun. With the dismal, overcast, windy and rainy days we’ve been having lately, it’s not possible to work outdoors , but the sheltered area under the eaves needed to be paved in order to

become more durable, less slippery and easier to maintain, so we’re currently working on it. The paving tiles had been bought months ago, so we just needed to purchase the glue and paving is now in full swing. It may not seem like very much, but when

it comes to repairing the shelter with not enough money raised, every little bit counts!

The next step, and a big one too, will be fixing the only cat room in the front yard. As all of you probably know by now, that cat room is in the worst shape of

all, with a huge bulge caused by moisture that has formed in the ceiling and countless cracks in all of the walls. The roof over the room hasn’t been repaired in time and like the rest of the house's roof, (except for the section that was fixed last year), it’s totally worn out,

with partially cracked roof beams, rotten rafters and sagging tiles. If enough of the ceiling gets waterlogged, it will become too heavy to support itself and the entire structure will be on the verge of collapse! We can't allow the ceiling to crash down on my

cats, so it’s imperative that the room is renovated as soon as possible.

The concrete path that leads from the side entrance into the yard to the cat’s indoor facility wasn’t even touched last year as we didn’t have enough money to

make a new path, but we’ll have to do it this spring. The biggest problem with the old path is that heavy rains always leave it covered with standing water, so the existing deteriorated concrete will have to be removed, and the top layer of the ground stripped away to get

the path leveled. After that, steel frames will be set in place to provide a welded framework that's ready to receive the poured concrete; that’s exactly what was done last year with the path between the house and the main entrance gate.

We can only hope that the outdoor perimeter fence holds on a little longer, although I fear that the coming sun and heat will cause additional damage to the already crumbled fence posts and then the whole fence will be at serious risk of falling down. If these rotten

posts fall apart, there’ll be nothing left to hold the iron fence up and fixing it is becoming an emergency as chunks of mortar are already falling off…

Not until these urgent repairs are done can we proceed with replacing the roof and

repairing the auxiliary rooms in the backyard, both of which must be finished before the cold weather sets in again. The roof of the auxiliary rooms has already begun to leak and it’s crystal clear that it can’t possibly endure another winter. We’ve been

lucky so far, as this last winter wasn’t a very severe and snowy one (even though it had its moments), but we can't count on luck forever. We must find a way to prepare the shelter for the next cold season at any cost!

As soon as real spring comes, winter's ordeals will be forgotten by many, but if we’ve learnt anything from our own mistakes, then we know there’s no time to waste. Day by day, step by step we are getting closer to the goal, which is to make the shelter a

safer, more secure and more comfortable place for the Felix kitties to live in. Will you help us?