7/14

I have a large sliding door in the studio
that leads out to the garden
there is a big plate glass door,
then a screen door,
then a gate which swings outwards
that is secured by a padlock

to go from the studio to the garden,
which i do often in warm weather,
it is necessary to open both the glass & the screen door
to get to the padlock
then it takes about 30 seconds to unlock the lock,
swing open the gate and slide the doors behind me

all of this time there is either 1 or 2 little kitties fighting to get out.
oski and smudge were already 8 years old when they got here and they came when they were called,
they were not a problem
and i loved having them in the garden with me

these guys...
well they are not ready to go out yet...
thing 1 NEVER responds to being called even if there are treats involved, and when she is scared... she disappears
thing 2 is going to go straight up a tree

so i built an airlock
it is a somewhat light weight structure
with a screen door
i can go inside it,
close the door behind me
open the glass door
slide the structure in place
make sure that no cat manages to get in by crawling through the gap that is between the structure & the stairs BEFORE it is in place
then open the screen and the gate
and then close the screen behind me

it is quite the production,
it cuts down on light & airflow in the studio
but at least i can go outside
unfortunately,
for now,
alone
:(