# The kitties think we have a new cat tree



## builder (Sep 2, 2012)

They are knocking everything over and and making my Christmas miserable. They are going into my train tunnel and knocking over my trains.

I actually don’t know how they manage to get as far as they do without wiping out everything, but most of the damage is done when they get frightened and run off. :crying

I ran out of SSSCAT and ordered more, but I hope they don’t destroy everything before it gets here. The trains are too loud to keep running all night and I can’t catch all 5 cats to lock them up. Well I guess that’s what I get for making the display so big.

I wish I could figure out how to insert a YouTube video


----------



## builder (Sep 2, 2012)

Oh I give up on the video. I saw the sticky on you tube videos but its not working.


----------



## Tsukiyomi (Nov 18, 2014)

Why not just put the link if anyone wants to see it. I'm certainly curious.:devil


----------



## builder (Sep 2, 2012)

Tsukiyomi said:


> Why not just put the link if anyone wants to see it. I'm certainly curious.:devil


Ok I'll try that 







Oh now it works, I guess the sticky instructions aren't correct


----------



## TabbCatt (Mar 26, 2014)

OMG,:yikes that is one FANTASTIC display! You've got like 4 (?maybe more?) trains going and so~ many cool houses and lights there, it's literally Chirstmas City!! :thumb All you need is Santa, his elves and the reindeers! :crazy


Guess I can't blame the kitties for being so curious and wanting to go in there, looks so much fun, lol. :devil Hope the ssscat devices help, I think I'd be worried the display would be in shambles if it were my two, especially G.


----------



## builder (Sep 2, 2012)

Thanks, I just caught Sebastian capturing and kidnapping one of the Ice skaters and I’m afraid there may be none left by tomorrow.

Here are the Ice Skaters


----------



## 10cats2dogs (Jun 16, 2013)

OMG! Johnny,
That is Spectacular! So much work and artistry in that...
I love Trains! I used to take my lunch break in Portland, OR, where I could watch and listen to them!!

Absolutely a Breath taking display!
No wonder the cats are so intrigued! 
Sharon


----------



## builder (Sep 2, 2012)

Thanks Sharon,
Well the ice skater’s survived the night, but I’m afraid that Santa’s Village on top looks like a typhoon hit it. Luckily I rigged up a mechanism to unlock and open a corner window for access to Santa’s Village and to the trains in the tunnel from the outside.


----------



## Marcia (Dec 26, 2010)

Are you kidding me?? All those moving pieces are just magnets for kitties! It would be the rare cat or kitten that could ignore that winter wonderland! Your only option would be to hire me as a guard. I will work cheap, chunks of deliciously smooth white chocolate is all I ask, and I will stand guard and enjoy the show!

I had to disable the twinkle lights on my tree because they drove Polly nuts and she wanted to grab them. The stationary tree and lights she has largely ignored which I'm thankful for. You may need to set this up in another room, or forego it for a few years until they mature more.....or hire me.


----------



## BotanyBlack (Apr 6, 2011)

Woah! If I were a cat,I would so ignore the sccat to get to that. OMG the lights and stuff. Gorgeous display!

Oh and hire Marcia above to keep meddling people from dragging me from all the fun glittery things.


----------



## builder (Sep 2, 2012)

LOL, well I just bought another attraction for the kitties, but not sure if I’ll have time to install it before my grandchildren show up for Christmas week. I bought a Santa's Ski Slope that will probably drive them wild.:devil


This is a video from someone else that shows the Ski Slope and their cat.






I’m not going to mount mine in the tree though. I’m modifying mine to add to the village and it will be right were the kitties can reach it.:roll:


Anyway this is the view I get to see when I’m kicked back in my recliner.


----------



## TabbCatt (Mar 26, 2014)

Builder,

You make the rest of our households look like _amateurs_ when it comes to Christmas displays and decorating! I have to ask, are all those mostly Dept 56 pieces? I used to work in retail a while back, and remember seeing people's face just light up whenever we had new Christmas houses and villages in stock! 

Seeing your display reminds me of walking through a quiet neighborhood cul-de-sac street during winter where almost ALL the houses had some sort of elaborate Christmas decorations on their property...from reindeers, Santa, nativity scene, popular cartoon character wood cutouts, complete with twinkling lights in the yard and all over the house! One or two also had a Christmas Village display similar to yours in their BIG front picture window! Getting a good photo was hard! The entire neighborhood and others visiting would stroll on through, admiring and enjoying each property's novel theme. It was dubbed, "Christmas Lane" in Hawaii, of all places, lol. No pressure living on _that_ street during the holidays! Despite seeing all that, I've NEVER seen one as HUGE as yours, Lol. I think you'd win 1st place each time! :wink


----------



## dt8thd (Jan 7, 2013)

Wow, that's a pretty awesome display! I can only imagine how much time it must take to put everything up! I've put up Christmas lights and two Christmas trees (with _a lot_ of ornaments) so far, and that's probably taken me between 8 and 10 hours over the course of a few days. We still have more to do (front step, fireplace mantle, dining room, and family room), but I can't seeing that take as long as erecting a room-sized Christmas village comprised of tens of thousands of tiny moving parts.

Hm, tens of thousands of tiny moving parts? I wonder why the cats are so bent on destruction?  Lol!


----------



## builder (Sep 2, 2012)

TabbCatt said:


> Builder,
> 
> You make the rest of our households look like _amateurs_ when it comes to Christmas displays and decorating! I have to ask, are all those mostly Dept 56 pieces? I used to work in retail a while back, and remember seeing people's face just light up whenever we had new Christmas houses and villages in stock!
> 
> Seeing your display reminds me of walking through a quiet neighborhood cul-de-sac street during winter where almost ALL the houses had some sort of elaborate Christmas decorations on their property...from reindeers, Santa, nativity scene, popular cartoon character wood cutouts, complete with twinkling lights in the yard and all over the house! One or two also had a Christmas Village display similar to yours in their BIG front picture window! Getting a good photo was hard! The entire neighborhood and others visiting would stroll on through, admiring and enjoying each property's novel theme. It was dubbed, "Christmas Lane" in Hawaii, of all places, lol. No pressure living on _that_ street during the holidays! Despite seeing all that, I've NEVER seen one as HUGE as yours, Lol. I think you'd win 1st place each time! :wink


No there are maybe one or 2 Dept 56 pieces that were gifts, but we have been collecting them from after Christmas sales for 20 Years. Since we only buy stuff on clearance we've had to pass on some pieces that we really liked. 

Times have changed since we first started collecting and now we just don't see much on clearance plus the good ones are usually always gone by Halloween. This year therwas a couple of thing that I wanted, but by the time my wife and both agreed they weren't available.

Talking about outside lights I used to go nuts on outside light when the kids were young. The neighbors used to tease me by saying that their house lights were flickering. And once I heard that our house was in the paper as one of the places to go for Christmas lights. I had Santa and reindeer strung over my driveway. I have some photos, but I can't find them at the moment.

The neighborhood has changed now and I don't do what I use to.


----------



## builder (Sep 2, 2012)

dt8thd said:


> Wow, that's a pretty awesome display! I can only imagine how much time it must take to put everything up! I've put up Christmas lights and two Christmas trees (with _a lot_ of ornaments) so far, and that's probably taken me between 8 and 10 hours over the course of a few days. We still have more to do (front step, fireplace mantle, dining room, and family room), but I can't seeing that take as long as erecting a room-sized Christmas village comprised of tens of thousands of tiny moving parts.
> 
> Hm, tens of thousands of tiny moving parts? I wonder why the cats are so bent on destruction?  Lol!


I spend almost a month setting it up although each year I try to do it so that it is modular and just snaps together, but I keep changing or adding things which make that difficult. I take a week off work every year after thanksgiving to work on it.

Anyway I tried to take a video of Sebastian stalking my trolly car a little bit ago, but he took off as soon as he saw me.


----------



## builder (Sep 2, 2012)

I found a photo of Santa but its not the one that I was looking for.

This is one right after I put it up before I got the rest of it up, but you get the idea.


----------



## cat owner again (Dec 14, 2012)

I am speechless. That is so beautiful. I bet the kids love it.


----------



## TabbCatt (Mar 26, 2014)

builder said:


> Talking about outside lights I used to go nuts on outside light when the kids were young. The neighbors used to tease me by saying that their house lights were flickering. And once I heard that our house was in the paper as one of the places to go for Christmas lights. I had Santa and reindeer strung over my driveway. I have some photos, but I can't find them at the moment.
> 
> The neighborhood has changed now and I don't do what I use to.


I think neighborhoods have changed, yes. We don't like strangers coming into our property for the most part, and value our privacy. But Christmas lights have now become computerized, synched with music and starts as early as Halloween themed songs and decorations, too. The bright flashy lights keeps people admiring from afar, and I don't think all this attention will drive burglars into your home, especially at night, lol.

I enjoyed these two, but there are many, many more on YouTube.
http://youtu.be/BW3OnPVf46U

http://youtu.be/bua18A09xfQ

I think it all started with Ellen's show premiering of someone's elaborate lighting on their house around Halloween a few years ago, using that catchy "Gangnam Style" by Psy.

http://youtu.be/wLcC7PS9CJI


----------



## builder (Sep 2, 2012)

cat owner again said:


> I am speechless. That is so beautiful. I bet the kids love it.


Thanks and yes it was a big hit in the neighborhood except for one “artsy” neighbor who thought blown plastic was tacky. I told her that it wasn’t about her and that it was all about the kids who actually loved it.


----------



## Peabodythegreat (Dec 18, 2014)

YES! What a marvelous Kitty Playground you have built!! Haha. Seriously cool though.


----------



## Jenny bf (Jul 13, 2013)

Wow that is just spectacular. I was mesmerized by the videos. No wonder the cats are so enthralled. I bet your grand kids can't wait to get to your house.


----------



## builder (Sep 2, 2012)

Jenny bf said:


> Wow that is just spectacular. I was mesmerized by the videos. No wonder the cats are so enthralled. I bet your grand kids can't wait to get to your house.


 Yes I think they will be happy. They don’t get to visit that much because they are on the east coast.
I couple of years ago there wasn’t anybody here and I was so desperate to have some kids here for Christmas I was stopping parents walking in the neighborhood with kids to invite them in to see the trains. 

Last year there weren’t even any neighborhood kids around and I didn’t bother putting up the trains so we just had a small Christmas tree for us and the kitties.
I’m pretty excited this year because we not only have the grand kids, but we have coworkers, the wife’s hair dresser and even people we’ve known for years at the stores who have kids coming over. I came from a very large family with about 30 cousins and Christmas was always about kids. It just isn’t Christmas for me without kids running around with excitement. 
Toddlers and small children are my favorite because everything is so amazing to them and you can just see the excitement in their eyes.


----------



## Jetlaya67 (Sep 26, 2012)

Well, you have made my day with the videos and just seeing how excited you are about Christmas! I have had mixed feelings about Christmas for a while, everybody shows up and I get very stressed out. But really I should be grateful. Thank you for reminding me that Christmas is not about me, it is about family, friends, neighbors and naughty kitties that kidnap ice skaters. Have a wonderful Christmas and a very Happy New Years.


----------



## builder (Sep 2, 2012)

Jetlaya67 said:


> Well, you have made my day with the videos and just seeing how excited you are about Christmas! I have had mixed feelings about Christmas for a while, everybody shows up and I get very stressed out. But really I should be grateful. Thank you for reminding me that Christmas is not about me, it is about family, friends, neighbors and naughty kitties that kidnap ice skaters. Have a wonderful Christmas and a very Happy New Years.


Thank you for the kind comments :smile:


----------



## gizmothecat (Jun 26, 2013)

WOW....that is quite the set up....i could look for hours and still see new stuff  god i love christmas!!!!


----------



## builder (Sep 2, 2012)

gizmothecat said:


> WOW....that is quite the set up....i could look for hours and still see new stuff  god i love christmas!!!!


 You know I wish there were more like you coming over to my house, because most adults come in and say “wow that’s really cool” and immediately turn away to talk. They miss all the tiny little details that we spent so much time putting in and that’s exactly why I like showing it to the kids. They look at everything and sometimes they even spot things that I missed. LOL
Years ago, I made a tunnel around the back below the houses so my grandson could climb to the back corner and fix the train when the cats tipped it over. There wasn’t any room to turn around so I continued the tunnel around to the side. Then the rest of the kids made it a game and had so much fun climbing through that I decided to add little lighted scenes along the way like the Grinch’s cave house and a polar bear den using stuffed animals. The lighting provided light so the kids weren’t afraid to climb through and the cats loved it too.
That only lasted two seasons because the cats were hiding in there and throwing up hair balls and I couldn’t get in to clean it up. :sad


----------



## spirite (Jul 31, 2012)

Oh. my. goodness.

:worship

Just wow. That is spectacular! The kind of detail you have in there, and the obvious care that you've put into putting the display together (not to mention the time!), are really something. I could spend hours looking at each little part. 

I spent some time trying to see the skaters and figure out the patterns they were skating in. I think there was a couple, and it looked like there was one skater skating backwards? 

Also loved the little trolley going back and forth as the bigger trains whooshed (or chugged) by above and below. 

I'm so glad you'll be able to share it with your grandchildren and so many others this year!


----------



## vanacat (May 4, 2011)

What an awesome display! My cats would be sitting in there wreaking havoc. It does look so beautiful. ?


----------



## builder (Sep 2, 2012)

Thanks everybody,
Well our order of SSSCAT came in yesterday and we set them up before going to bed. I didn’t hear them go off during the night and forgot about them until I walked by this morning, then I nearly jumped out of my slippers when they went off. Good thing I have a good heart or I don’t know what might have happened.


Nothing was touched since yesterday and all cats were in the other rooms. So I guess it worked


Yesterday I caught Sebastian trying to kidnap some more village people, but I couldn’t get my camera fast enough.


I can't get the video to work again maybe because I just uploaded it. I'll try again later


----------



## gizmothecat (Jun 26, 2013)

builder said:


> You know I wish there were more like you coming over to my house, because most adults come in and say “wow that’s really cool” and immediately turn away to talk. They miss all the tiny little details that we spent so much time putting in and that’s exactly why I like showing it to the kids.


HA!.....well i am a big kid at heart  and Christmas is my FAVORITE holiday:xmasstree


----------



## builder (Sep 2, 2012)

Well my Granddaughter Loves the Train


----------



## Jetlaya67 (Sep 26, 2012)

Aww, adorable! What a beautiful baby!


----------



## Arianwen (Jun 3, 2012)

It would be in a worse state in my house.....

It's gorgeous but none of mine would be able to resist.


----------



## builder (Sep 2, 2012)

Well the SSSCAT seems to only be working on me and making me a nervous wreck every morning when I go into the room. Yesterday they turned a whole porcelain house upside down narrowly knocking it onto the floor. So far nothing has broken and it’s only a matter of setting up the trees and people.


----------

