For over a week now I’ve kept the door to my workshop in the basement open, and allowed our two cats to roam the floor freely. Our George could really care less about what goes on in the workshop, but Winfield is always curious and always looking to be where I am. After a super glue mishap when he was a kitten, I kept him out of the workshop. But at the insistence of both the cat (via meowing and howling) and my fiancee (who was sick of hearing the cat carry on outside the closed door), Winfield was granted entry. We even took an old chair and covered it with a wool blanket for him to sit on. Well wouldn’t ya know it? The little fuzzball loves his throne. I worked on my 1:72 scale Defiant for four hours yesterday evening, while Winfield slept soundly. It was the best deal I could have brokered with my feline friend. The only time I won’t have him in there with me now is when I’m using aerosol paints.
Does anyone else allow pets in their workspaces? Obviously it can be a hazard, but I was curious to see if I’m the only one brave (or foolish) enough to allow an animal into my workshop.
And speaking of the fuzzball, here’s Winfield enjoying life in the workshop:
Hi Rocker, I used to have two cats. They liked to come into the worksop (a converted spare bedroom after the oldest went off to college). They were pretty good MOST of the time but there were times they suddenly appeared ON the bench and became a problem. When we redid the back porch, I replaced the wooden screen door with a metal storm door. Repainted the wooden door and put it on the bedroom. The cats didn’t seem to mind. They laid down outside the door and watched quietly. The door provided air flow and I was able to hear all the goings on in the house.
The cats have since passed over the rainbow bridge and are waitng there for us. We now have a 3 year old Beagle/Jack Russel mix rescue. The door has since been removed as the house is up for sale and the real estate agent asked us to take it off for staging and showing the house. The only time the dog comes into the room is when she wants to be taken out or my wife wants me for dinner. She has no iterest at all in anything in the room and has not touched anything. She’s great.
I have two mature cats that I let roam freely in the workshop, no problem. They just like to hang out with me, and don’t bother anything on the workbench. They are good company!
Our outdoor cat hangs out in my shop, where she enjoys napping on a pillow on my wood working assembly bench. I do modeling on an old drafting table in the same “room”, a 12’ x 12’ makeshift insulated area. She’s a great companion; doesn’t talk much, forces me to take breaks from the close work and keeps the mice away. If I need to use the woodworking bench, all I have to do is look like I’m going to turn on the air compressor.
Three cats here. Two love to hang out with me just because, the other is a scaredy-cat! None bother my workbench and are extremely well behaved. On the other hand, my grandson…
Just the family dog, she usually appears when she wants a walk, needs to be feed or during a thunderstorm. I prefer her not to be around when AB’ing due to toxic nature of the over spray (even after being vented outside).
I have one cat that just loves to search the net with me but stays away from my modeling desk. She’ll come down to hang out with me but much prefers the couch to the modeling desk.
This is her in one of her “if it fits I sits” modes.
Ever since our cat died, several years ago, we have been troubled by mice. Ordinarily I set lethal traps, the normal mousetrap.
But there was this one odd mouse that used to come out in the daytime, and hang in my workshop. He’d come out in the daytime, odd for a mouse. And he would quietly wander into the shop, very stealthily, and watch me work. If I looked directly at him, he would scurry away, but he’d be back later. It seemed like he was really interested in watching model building!
I came to like that little guy, and didn’t want him killed in a lethal trap. I managed to set up a deadfall with an inverted box and stick. Sure enough, I caught him alive. I took him out behind the house, where there is a wetland, and tossed him into the bushes. Never saw him again- don’t know what happened to him. I just doubted I could help him become a real model builder.
No cat or dog in my work bench…one day maybe. My dad had a female Basset Hound that would follow him into his modeling shop all the time. She had a bed right next to his bench and everytime he would stand up and head that way she would get her lazy butt up and follow him. Once there she would lay down and sleep.
I guess you could paint him semigloss black with a siamese pattern undercoat ! Then Mount super green eyes and you would have my " Sam " . No , It’s not short for Samantha . She was my Landlady’s daughters cat .She moved and got another furline .
Sam didn’t want to go ! She ran up my body and clung for her life when Daughter tried to put her in carrier ! So I inherited her ! She and I model together . She finds the parts the carpet monster gets and bats them over , somehow , ever so gently and then butts my leg and I look at her and Viola there’s that missing greebly !
You’d thought I had tried to run out on her when I went to hospital .Talk about purrs and hugs .Yeah . She actually hugs me . She raises the front of herself and puts one paw on either side of my neck and tucks her head into the curve of my neck and shoulder .
If she thinks the bench is getting too messy she sweeps it with her tail and then lays on or in the open boxes . T.B. P.S. I have to amend this after reading the rest . I think the one fellow has a catpalooza going on ! LOL.LOL. When my first mate was still alive and we lived on a converted cutter we had two Labs and one Jack Russell as well as two cats .( Well , the cats really had us ) One was the spitting image of Gizmo and the other , Well , what can you say about a cat that has no hair and thinks she’s Cleopatra ? ( her name too ! ) None ever messed with the modeling area . When there though , the Queen decided my lap was the place to be . The Jack Russell , Well what can I say ? Jack lived up to the hype .The Labs ? Unless it was in the water with them , they didn’t care !
I have no cats but dogs. My 97 lb. Rottie/Lab has matured to the point that she will not bother an open kit box now. A couple of years back she munched on a 1/72 Jake I was working on for a Japanese GB. She doen’t do that any more…I hope. [*-)]
Our past dogs, (all Lab’s,) were somewhat interested in my garage hobby shop, Maggie, Lucy and Daisy liked to either watch or sleep beside my chair, never a problem. Blue would sit beside me and rock his head sideways at the sounds of the airbrush, psst, psst.
Spike and Booger were a different sort, always nudging for a scratch or to be petted. Loved them but they weren’t the best for a bench companion, so after a while I would put them in the house.
This one, Ellie, doesn’t even want to be there. We are avid walkers, Ellie consistently prowls looking for wife Karon’s socks to roll and play with, so she stays inside and indulges HER hobby, finding socks wherever she can and she’s really good at it.
Absolutaley no cats will pass my front door. Have never had good experiences with a cat.
My Lab, “Buddy” aka “Junior” was ALWAYS by my side or at least in the same room. So, if I was building, he was laying on the floor at arms reach. I was the only one special to him, he was MY dog and I was HIS human. Next week will be the 4 year mark, since I had to bury him. It still hurts.
We also have a Golden Ret… “Dug” is a simple dog…mellow…boring. He never came down to the “war room”, until after Buddy was gone. He’d lay at my feet, under the bench. Been a while since he’s come down the stairs…at 14+…he has a hard time getting back up the stairs.
My cat Getty has jumped on the bench a couple of times and I find her hairs stuck to my projects more than a few times! She also likes to chew on my projects once in awhile. Here she is with a FSM magazine on the coffee table and eating a $40 palm tree, [8-)]
I don’t “own” cats; two neighbor cats have visited me. Maggie’s “home provider” (cats own people remember) took her away over two weeks ago, really miss her, Cash now visits me more. My models are in robustly built dust-proof display boxes where they can’t bother so don’t worry about them, do worry I might step on Cash as like Maggie she likes to walk around me whilst I’m walking.
