I woke to the first glimmer of this fantastic misty, foggy sunrise out my bedroom window a couple of days ago… so I scrambled to set up a camera on the deck to capture a time-lapse video and snag a few nice shots. Pan supervised:
Tag: cats
Robot in the House
For years I’ve dismissed those little semi-autonomous, robotic sucking machines. It sounded like they weren’t really worth the trouble since they couldn’t really run for very long, pick up much debris in their tiny compartments, deal with furniture without missing spots or getting stuck or trapped. With all the need to supervise, it sounded easier and quicker to do it yourself. But then recently I stumbled on a review of a new model and was intrigued by the improvements and the possibility of a little machine to help keep up on all that cat hair my two furry friends are always producing.
A fun video showing my new little helper in action (1.5 minutes, 24 MB)
It’s the BotVac 80/85 from Neato. Unlike its more well-known competitor (iRobot Roomba), this robotic vacuum cleaner does not just follow a random walk around the room, bumping haphazardly from one obstacle to the next. The BotVac uses laser sensors to map out the shape of each room and build up a floor plan as it goes about its business. When it encounters obstacles like tables and chairs, it will actually work to navigate around each leg, vacuuming under and around as much as it can. It’s pretty amazing (and mesmerizing) to watch it navigate around the house, room after room, following its little internal rule sets to deal with various obstacles as they come up.
- When the BotVac gets low on charge, it will actually backtrack through the map it built to return to its charging base and dock itself for recharging, even off in another room. And when it has finished recharging it will return by itself to where it left off and continue the job!
- It’s got touch sensors in front to help it maneuver tightly to objects and walls.
- It has a sensor underneath to keep it from running off a cliff (or stairs).
- It comes with some magnetic strips that you can lay down on the floor to cordon off rooms or areas that you don’t want it to intrude on. (It’s much simpler than the battery-operated “fence” posts that the iRobot apparently uses.)
- It has a little edge-cleaning brush on the right side. (Thus it will always approach walls and make its rounds in a right-handed path.)
- It’s squared off in front so that it can get into corners much better than fully round designs like the Roomba.
- It has a larger-than-typical dust bin and it’s very easy to remove and empty out – without even having to turn over the unit. It makes sense to also vacuum out the dust filter though.
- You can set a schedule for when it should run but this doesn’t seem practical to me as I would first want to clear stuff off the floor and make sure there aren’t any cat messes that it would get into – and make worse. (Hera often has stomach issues.)
It’s not quite a replacement for a full-size vacuum cleaner but it certainly does an amazing job considering that you can just start it up and let it go while you go about doing other things. (You also do need a normal vacuum cleaner to clear out its filter.) It’s pretty cool though to come back and find everything freshly vacuumed! And it’s not really that loud (certainly much less than a full size vacuum) and it’s not too annoying to have it going about it’s business while you do other things.
One limitation with the BotVac is that at about four inches tall, it can’t fit under some furniture, particularly couches. (The Roomba design has a lower profile and can fit under more furniture.) Also, the BotVac can get itself stuck at times and need help. This happens sometimes with furniture that offers just enough clearance for it to partially slip under but not quite enough for it to fit entirely under. Often this goes fine and it will just work its way around, but other times it’ll get itself wedged in and need to be pulled out. When it does get stuck or trapped, it will cut power to its vacuum and call for help by chiming. It’ll then sit and wait quietly for a while before chiming now and again.
Here’s a much more mixed review of the BotVac that comes out in favor of the Roomba. Some more reviews: BotVac 85 vs. Roomba 880 (favors the BotVac) and iRobot Roomba vs Neato Botvac (favors neither).
Note that the BotVac 85 is really just the same model as the 80 but it comes with two extra filters included. (This wasn’t obvious to me.) Both the 80 and 85 come with the two different brush types.
Now… what should I name him?
UPDATE (1/28/2015): The BotVac is still running but I have seen more of its deficiencies. One thing that happens is that it essentially becomes a little senile with a low battery charge: it often has become unable to find its way back to its charge station with its battery runs low. It will repeatedly and aimlessly search a small area (a couple of square feet) and after a long while finally give up and call for help – this without any obstacles in the way. My guess is that it lets the voltage level drop too far on the battery now and is unable to sufficiently power its electronics and sensors. At first it only happened occasionally, then it started happening almost every time. But then, more recently (April 2015), it’s been working properly again! Weird. Anyway, when it does “go senile”, I have to pick it up and manually dock it at its charge station. (If I let it continue its search for the dock right in front of it, it will just wander off again.)
The other issue (and this is more annoying) is that its methodical method of covering a room means that it will get into try over and over again (unsuccessfully) to reach some particularly difficult spot (due to furniture) and waste a lot of its battery charge or even eventually get itself wedged in or otherwise stuck. Bringing it back out again will often lead to it just finding its way right back into that spot. I’ve since got into the habit of leaving some strategically placed pillows or other items to prevent it from getting into those spots. This is where I imagine the Roomba might do better with its random walk pattern: it probably won’t get stuck obsessively trying to reach the same spot.
Lastly, as I mentioned earlier, the biggest problem with the BotVac is the little laser assembly sticks up in the center of the unit. This protrusion isn’t accounted for when the unit tries to go under some furniture so it can end up wasting energy trying over and over to get under some furniture or even getting wedged under such furniture.
However, the BotVac does still do a good vacuuming job and it’s great to be able to set it off running while you take care of other things.
Another Bobcat in the Yard
I should know better than to just ignore Pan when I see he’s staring out the window. The second time I walked by I stopped to look and… oh, hey! There’s another bobcat – and it’s in the front yard this time! Or maybe it’s the same one I keep seeing in the open space behind my house. Anyway, by the time I ran upstairs to get the camera, he was following the driveway out of the front yard, but not before stopping to mark his territory. It was dusk and getting dark, but I boosted the video a bit:
I went outside to say hi but he wasn’t interested in chatting. Presumably he’s looking for the rabbits I sometimes see – or maybe the field mice that escape Pan’s fenced off domain. I followed him down the driveway a bit, scaring off the deer, before he disappeared into the brush.
Pan’s New Modeling Career
Pan has apparently started his career in modeling and now appears in this promotional YouTube video for Terra Nova Ecological Landscaping. My yard is featured starting at the 1:12 mark but Pan makes two appearances starting at the 1:36 mark:
Pan the Poser
A few more recent pics of Pan mostly posing for the camera:
Pretty Kitties
Just a few pictures of Pan and Hera from over the past year:
Rough Week for Pan
Pan was pretty content when I woke last Sunday morning (below left) — but I noticed he had a lump under his jaw — and there was a dead bat on the bedroom floor when I came home late Saturday night.
Yeah, a bat. I suppose they caught it on the roof — they have a pet door upstairs so they can access the balcony and roof. At least both he and Hera are current on their rabies shots.
So, the result of taking him to the vet is that they anesthetized him, took care of some overdue teeth cleaning, gave him a rabies update and installed a drain in the abscess that had to remain in place for the week.
That first night was a long one. He was drugged out for the evening but then he started getting restless and wouldn’t tolerate the elizabethan collar — he kept pulling himself out of it. He also seemed to hallucinate things now and again. I didn’t get much sleep that night baby-sitting him.
Sometime early the next morning I finally remembered the cat body harness I had and was able to attach the elizabethan collar to it so he couldn’t remove it any more.
Not a happy or comfortable cat for the rest of the week until the drain and collar could finally be removed. But he’s good and happy again now and healing fine.
Not a Happy Bat
This little guy was not having a good day. Presumably one of my cats caught him last night. I saw his tiny dark form on the porch last night when I let Pan and Hera in, but I assumed it was the remains of another mouse for me to clean up later.
I was surprised in the morning to discover it was a little bat and that he was still alive — squirming occasionally on his back. I got some cardboard to turn him over and he shrieked a bit but still laid there. He clearly wasn’t feeling too great. Rather than let Pan and Hera mess with him, I decided to carry him into the front yard. He squealed a bit and started hissing and showing his teeth. That explains why Pan gave his little form such a wide berth coming in last night — I thought it odd at the time.
Anyway, I carried him into the front yard where the cats couldn’t get him, but of course there are plenty of birds…. And yeah, just an hour or so later I saw several large birds around where I had left him and went over to find him curled up, no longer moving and… covered in ants. Yeah, wasn’t a good day for the bat.
Slippery Slope
I half-woke this morning to the noise of a crash. Or perhaps I dreamt it? I listened for more but there was nothing. Had I heard anything? Pan was in the room. Hera wasn’t. Maybe knocked something over. Perhaps I’ll find out later? Back to snooze.
Much later, and after browsing the web and answering some email, I finally get up and make my way downstairs with Pan running ahead of me expectantly. First thing he wants everyday is to go outside. I go to open the porch door and… a very perturbed Hera comes rushing up to the door from outside and gives me an earful.
And I’m thinking… what the heck?? How did you get out? How long have you… hey… I don’t suppose that noise…
And then I have a hunch. So I go upstairs and take a look at my solar panels and sure enough, there’s the evidence. Kinda funny to see, actually:
You see, I have a pet door in an upstairs window that let’s Pan and Hera get out to a patio off of my bedroom. And I’ve got several planters out there with grasses, herbs, catnip and nepeta — all kitty goodies. They do have to brave the various hawks and birds of prey, but they’re pretty good size cats and it seems worth the risk to let them enjoy free access.
So it would seem that Hera decided to try walking on one of the panels this morning and slipped or perhaps was even startled by the shadow of a hawk overhead. (In fact, one such shadow passed over while I was up there to take a picture.) She then must have scrambled to hang on, crashed into the metal gutter (the noise I heard) and yet still tumbled off the side and down to the ground. A pretty good fall for a big fifteen pound cat particularly since the ground is much lower on that side of the house. Well, Hera was a little annoyed for not being able to get back in the house all morning but no apparent injuries.
Next day thoughts: It is odd how there are simple paw prints at the top of the panel, scrambling smears at the bottom and nothing in between. Did something try to pick her up? Maybe, but she didn’t have any qualms about going out again later that night and she doesn’t seem to have any wounds from talons. A mystery remains.
Aliens!! Hiding in the Sun!
I found the alien spacecraft hiding in front of the sun today!! It’s still there now as of 5 pm June 5th, slowly moving across the face. Alert the media!
Strangely, neither Pan or Hera seemed particularly concerned about this news, but at least Hera seemed to be paying attention.
(Okay, yes, for the benefit of finding this later, it’s a transit of Venus.)
The Last Straw/Corpse
Alright, that does it. Enough “surprises”. After several mice in various states of disrepair, a bunch of live but tail-less lizards, a not-quite-dead gopher this morning and a most definitely dead and disemboweled mouse, gopher or rodent of some sort tonight… that’s it. I’ve had enough. No more pet door, guys — no more free in-and-out access. Perhaps you’ll eventually deplete whatever remains in the fenced-in area but you’ll have to do it with controlled access from me.
Oh, you want back in? Not with that lizard you’re carrying, Pan.
Hera, what’s that under your paw? No, the other paw. No, your *other* other paw!
Perhaps after many months like this (not being able to bring prey inside) they’ll lose this habit – or at least drive off all the prey.
They seem to enjoy the access to the roof though – I installed a pet door in the upstairs bathroom window instead. And there’s an upstairs patio area off of the master bedroom where I’ve put in some potted plants and grasses for them.
The One That Got Away (Almost)
Waking up early this morning, prepping to go ride Wilder with MBOSC, I wonder “where’s Pan?” as it’s odd for him not to be curled up with me in bed. So I go downstairs and find him easily enough:
It appears he’s been terrorizing another tiny little field mouse all morning (or night). From his body language, purr and greeting to me, it’s clear in his mind he’s “playing” with a toy. “Look what I got!” I doubt the mouse sees it that way.
Do you really have to bring them inside though, Pan?! Some days he brings in one lizard after another and I keep tossing them out back, scolding him while I do it. The amusing thing is that Pan gets all pissy with me and talks back – clearly upset that I don’t appreciate all his effort spent to bring them home.
Well, it turned out to be easy enough to lure this little guy into a shoebox and toss him to safety — after showing Pan what I was doing. Get the idea, Pan? NOT in the house!
Follow-up: The very next morning I awoke to the sound of kitty excitement in my bedroom. It would seem that *somebody* recaptured that little guy and brought him/her to my bedroom (argh!) and which point Hera took over to make a meal of him. Lovely. Leaving entrails when they were both done. Wonderful.
Unless the mice and lizards learn not to venture into the fenced area, I don’t think my current “open pet door policy” is going to last. Although I will say Pan seemed at least a little concerned over what my reaction was going to be when I first realized what was going on. Or, more likely, he was just expecting praise.
Ew, gross.
Came home today to find the remains of a mouse in the living room. (Just head and entrails, how nice.) Yesterday I had to chase Pan out several times once again with the live lizards he’d brought in to play with.
I may have to rethink their free access to the pet door if I can’t break them of this. Or maybe move it to the upstairs for the roof/balcony where they can’t catch anything.
Update: Just a day later, I hear Pan come in with something through the pet door in the evening. Yep, a little mouse, still alive of course. This got Hera’s attention quick and as they proceeded to chase it along the wall I went to get a box or towel or *something* to retrieve it and toss it back outside.
Only… by the time I came round with something, it was gone. No sign. And Hera sitting there licking her chops. Swallowed whole, apparently. (Thankfully.)
Actually, that’s not entirely true. I did find a tiny bit of something on the floor to clean up. A millimeter or two in size but I wasn’t going to examine it too closely to identify it.
Blech.
Henri the Cat
Hera Panic Attack
*&%!#@! I’ve just been freakin’ mauled! By Hera. She just sliced up my face, around my eye, down my nose.
She was laying next to me on the next chair and watching an episode of Castle with me on the big screen. I had been streaming it from my iPad and it had just ended and I started fiddling around with it in AirPlay mode (everything on the iPad is mirrored up on the big screen). So I happened to call up some old photos and videos and started playing one of Pan from a year or more ago. It’s sort of a first person, low angle video where I was getting him to hunt towards the camera. So Hera apparently looked up to see a FIVE FOOT TALL image of Pan looking down with wide, hunting-mode eyes looking into the camera and then he lunges for the camera…
Well, this causes Hera to leap up next to me in a mad panic and climb directly up and over me to escape and run away, cutting open my face in the process and leaving me shocked and bloody. Luckily she missed my eyes. I’ve got cuts across my eyelid and under my eye, a small cut near my ear and a long gash down my nose. So now I’m propped up in bed waiting for my wounds to clot up a bit after rinsing them out. I guess I’m going to have to bandage it up to avoid getting blood on my pillow in the night. These wounds are going to look great for days….
Geez Louise, Hera!!!
Here’s the offending ten seconds of video that I think freaked Hera out. I don’t suggest projecting it up on a wall, larger than life, if your own kitties are nearby:
Settling In
Pan and Hera seem to have settled in well to my new home in the hills above Santa Cruz:
