Sunday, February 17, 2013

THAT Was Easy!

Last week I tried to keep Pepper the cat from his new habit of dumping the kitchen trash by spritzing cologne on the bag.  It didn't work, so I had to think of another solution.

We store the trash can in the cabinet under the sink, which is in a corner of the kitchen under two nice large windows.  The arrangement of the sink pipes and garbage disposal in the cabinet take up a lot of room; many cans won't fit in the space in front of the pipes. Thinking that a can with a locking lid might do the trick, I went to Bed Bath and Beyond to look at their selection of trash cans.  The cheapest one that would fit in the cabinet was close to $50.  I didn't want to spend that much, so I came home to do some divergent thinking.

The stone in the can
As I pulled into the garage I realized there were a few leftover landscaping bricks of different styles piled in the corner next to the recycling bin.  One of them might work to make the trashcan untippable.  The bullet-nosed edger was too long to fit in the bottom of the can, but a square paver was perfect.  It was a little larger than five inches on each side (and two inches deep), so it didn't take up a lot of room.  It weighed almost 5 1/2 pounds, and I was pretty sure that was more weight than Pepper could handle.  And the best part?  My cost was zero.

The next morning the trashcan was upright.  I think Pepper looked a little sad that he couldn't play his new tipping game, but he quickly got over it.  As the week wore on, there were no cleaning up trash reports from Hubby Tony, so on Friday I tried the ultimate experiment.  When I baked some chicken I threw the foam tray and absorbent pad in the trash, then left for a few hours.

When I came home nothing had happened.  I'm going to call this project a success.

Five years ago today: New Thing #37--Mix it Up

8 comments:

  1. Glad you figured out how to outsmart the cat. Not an easy task.

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    1. You're right about that! I think Pepper's already trying to figure out his next plan of attack.

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  2. That's even better than spraying cologne!

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    1. Yep. Now that the weight is in the can I don't have to keep on top of anything.

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  3. Brilliant! We're still working on the cat who jumps on spotless counters to see if we overlooked anything!

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    1. And leaves paw prints to prove he's been there?

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  4. Very good idea!!! Good for you!

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