Cat repellent?

I've been reading up on ways to keep all those stray cats from making gross toxic dump piles in my new garden. Lots of websites list smelly things they might not like.
Mothballs, which are actually as toxic as the poo, so no, I won't use that.
Cayenne pepper, okay, I have some left over from a yellow jacket nest project of about 4 yrs ago.
Lemon juice/peel, they don't grow on the trees up here, this would get kinda pricey, and have to be replaced on a regular basis, and I'm not sure it would work.
Ammonia. ??
Half filled water bottles; this sounds like a fly repellent from the southwest. I doubt if it would work on cats.

Okay so I was in a store, and found lemon scented ammonia, a huge bottle for a buck nineteen. I'm not sure what gives it the lemony scent, but ammonia is organic, breaks down readily into nitrogen which is actually like fertilizer, so how bad can it be? I squirted it around the perimeter of the garden yesterday, and it's been about 24 hrs., and no new piles! Yay! To me it's already a success, compared to two or three piles a day I've had to scoop out recently. I realize that after it rains again (tomorrow?) I'll have to repeat the application, but it's cheap, and only takes a couple minutes to go squirt around the edges out there, so it's definitely something that would be easy to maintain.

Knock on wood!

Traveling Minds

I just read an article in the Bellingham Herald, which quotes Shelley Muzzy: “Every minute feels like it’s really full and long. I’m really present; I’m not waiting to go somewhere or wishing I’m somewhere else. Every second I’m there I’m thinking I’m really lucky.”

This makes me think of how I feel living here, with my nice little house, garden, neighborhood, short walk to the bay, fresh air (except for the penta but that's another story), friendly people, good food... living alone and being able to learn to play guitar, cook up a nice dish, go hiking with friends, etc.

Her quote, though, starts with this: “I feel alive every minute when I’m traveling,” which changes the meaning quite a lot! I wonder how many other 'travel addicts' out there only feel that special way when they're away from home? It's all a mind shift, that feeling. If you live your life like you're on vacation, you can enjoy your life more, instead of spending most of your time waiting for the next trip outta town. Even on vacation you have to deal with clean clothes, or mending a lost button. How about appreciating what you already have, and being nice and friendly to other people on a regular basis, instead of only doing it when you're a guest in a foreign country? It might change the way others treat you too.

I'm all for traveling, and have done a lot of it myself. I think people really miss a lot if they never go somewhere far away. There's a lot to learn by it.

You can also learn how to catch the mindset of being there, when you're at home. It's a good way to truly appreciate your own home. To some people visiting here, this is a foreign country!

When you move to a new town...

You know when you're starting to settle into a new town, when you go to a public event and you see somebody you've met before.

You know you're really starting to settle into it, when you meet someone you've met before and you start up a conversation.

You know you've settled down, when you see someone at a public event, and ignore them so you won't get stuck in a conversation with them.

You know you've Really settled down when you go out of your way to avoid meeting up with someone that you really don't ever want to see again!