Not So Simple Ladder Success

So yesterday I had a half-brained idea about making a ladder with hose and scrap PVC for rungs. I made the mouths of the cuts too large for the PVC I intended to use so it didn't turn out to be the snug-fit, fastener-less end product I had envisioned.

Today I tried just cutting a slit. If only it was that easy.

A Simple Ladder

I had an idea for more climbing structures so I cut a bunch of bird's mouths along a length of hose and inserted some scrap PVC in them. Old broom handles would work too. They still slid back and forth but I'm sure with some tweaking of the cut there's a way to make sure the rubber has enough friction the keep the bars in place. I bet I cut them too tall and that thinner, deeper cuts would keep more vertical pressure to make this a fastener-less piece of furniture. For now I'll just go outside and look for fatter branches. Can't win them all.

Resurfacing A Plastic Enrichment Ball

Boomer Balls, Jolly Balls, Wildlife Toy Box Balls - wherever you get them and whatever they call them they're the same basic thing; giant, hollow, plastic balls for our animals to use and abuse until they're too compromised to use as enrichment and then handed off to our education departments for docents to use as talking props.

Fire Hose Hammock 2.0

The traditional zookeeper hammock is woven with perpendicular lengths of hose with their ends fastened by nuts, bolts, and washers. Being made of two layers of industrial hose and lots of metal hardware means heavy furniture that never gets taken down for cleaning or repair. Here's another way that's just as strong.