When I moved my family to a brand new home in Parachute, Colorado, in late March of 2007, we found a few surprises in the neighborhood. There were the obvious, unsurprising things, too: The need to landscape swiftly to meet code, the scramble to stuff four bedrooms worth of stuff into three, etc.

But the biggest unpredicted events involved critters. We brought several of those along with us--a gecko, plus cats. All of these, however, were inside-only pets. The outside was another matter. For example, the black bear that stopped by to see if there might be an open door leading to food. The foraging raccoon that ambled up the street on several occasions. The huge pigeon with stunningly beautiful, irridescent feathers of many colors who walked along the roofline and cooed to us.

Not to mention the many praying mantis, who adopted Pam and she them. On most summer days, she would sit and relax in the garage with the door open. Mantis family members would stop by, to hang around on the wood or atop the old carpet roll or wherever, paying close attention to my wife as she talked with them.

Then came the black cats. Two of them, though at first we thought they were the same cat. They did look a lot alike, and they never came together. Probably related. One, the male, hitched a ride to a farm outside of town after a few weeks and at last report was doing well on a diet of mice and such.

The female, however, adopted us. Or Pam adopted her. Or both, more likely. This beautiful furry girl had been roaming the area, collecting handouts, for who knows how long. Gradually, though, she began staying with us more and more, sleeping most nights inside our garage, secure from prowling kitty-enemies, well fed and plenty warm.

Summer faded, and we began to worry. Pam had named our new boarder "Green Eyes", and our friend Green Eyes was welcome to live in the garage permanently. but...winter was coming, the garage was unheated, and in Colorado mountain country, the mercury can and sometimes does drop below zero (Fahrenheit) during the coldest months. A catsicle did not sound appetizing at all, and we certainly couldn't afford to insulate/heat the entire garage....

Nor were the commercial supply houses able to provide the right answer. Oh, we checked some good ones, like Pet House and of course our favorite veterinary supply source, but nothing seemed to fit--and certainly nothing for less than $200. Ouch. But then....

INSPIRATION!!

I looked at Pam and said, "We'll use a card table and make her a condo."

We actually owned a card table we could use, so we didn't even need to go to Wal-Mart. Or rather, I had to go to Wal-Mart for a heater, but not for the table. I did have to dig around to hustle it out of the clutter in our jam-packed pile of storage boxes, but that did not take long.

Pam then designated a couple of old blankets to pad the cold concrete floor beneath the table, plus two old quilts to drape over all sides of the table except the front. Facing the wide front opening from a distance of about 18 inches, we placed an electric heater, which cost under $30. And bingo, kitty condo!

Important: See the obvious extension cord powering the heater? Most of us know the safety experts ALL say never use an extension cord with an electic heater. Please believe us when we say: If we had been able to come up with an alternative, we would not have done it. But if you ever do something similar, please at least use the precautions we observe to make it a bit less hazardous:

1. The cord is heavy duty 10-gauge wire for outside use, which helps reduce heat buildup in the cord.

2. Where the heat does build up some, which is at the connection point for each end, (A) the plugin to the wall outlet is open to the air entirely, which helps dissipate excess heat, and (B) the plug at the heater end lies on open concrete with nothing else nearby, which also gets rid of the heat quickly.

3. These "heat points" are checked several times a day. They have never been more than "a little warm to the touch", but we don't take any chances.

4. During the afternoon of each day, the cord is unplugged entirely, giving the heater and cord--the entire assembly--a "cooling rest" for at least an hour.

The unplugging was not wise during the few very coldest days this winter when the temperature was down around zero or even below zero. However, on those days, we gave the heater a rest at least, by swapping it out with an identical spare heater. Okay, so that ran the total cost up a bit, but we felt it was worth it. And on those extremely cold days, not even the extension cord was able to make itself feel warm to the touch!

What we did not know at first was: Would this arrangement actually keep the under-table condo toasty warm? To our pleasant surprise (we weren't even sure this would work), it does the trick perfectly. Green Eyes is not the sort of kitty to join our inside bunch; she is a little paranoid and aggressive around other cats. But in her Kitty Condo, she is one Happy Camper. In fact, she enjoys it so much that she writes her own humor page from the roof of her low budget card table condo.

Thanks for reading,

Ghost32