Tuesday, March 04, 2008

Felis vs. Machina

I have previously mentioned Merlin's Thing about water bottles (i.e. that they Must Be Knocked Over). Apparently, Things With Water Reservoirs falls under the Water Bottle heading.

To wit, our humidifier. Ole Merl found out that not only is there a lot of water to play with in there, but if you knock apart the whole thing, there's a soggy papery treat (filter) inside to tear apart and scatter.

We (I) have tried the following:

1. Yelling at Merlin. Right.

Merlin: 1; Momcat: 0

2. Came up with an ingenious truss (somewhat resembling a bridle) made out of cotton straps and a buckle that effectively held everything down. Merlin studied it for 5 seconds, grabbed one of the straps in his teeth and yanked sideways. Water all over the place, plus there's this great new rope thingy to play with!

Merlin: 2; Momcat:1/2 (hey, that humidi-bridle took all afternoon! Pitypoint.)

3. Immediately after Incident 2, I found a bungee-net that I use to cover the basket on my bike. I hooked it around the humidifier, completely covering the thing with bungee strappage. Again, Merlin studied it for a few seconds (long enough for me to get back into bed) and then we heard the telltale gurgling of the water reservoir. Looked up in time to see Merlin, with a bungee in his teeth, standing about a foot away from the humidifier as he's dragging it across the room. Sproing! And it's all over.

Merlin: 3; Momcat: 1/2

4. Finally, a blash of frilliance. Got some industrial-strength sticky-backed velcro strips, stuck everything together so's you can actually lift the whole thing up by the previously detachable reservoir. Ha! Got into bed, heard aforementioned gurgle, looked up in time to see Merlin picking up the whole dang thing by the power cord and tipping the whole lot over.

Merlin: 5 ('cause seriously); Momcat: 0 (who am I kidding?)

Further bulletins as events warrant.