A few months ago, we were given a new cat. Our old cat went to kitty heaven and he was missed.

We adopted a 14-month-old cat; an all black, longhaired, spayed female. My guess is that the cat was a cross between a Black Bombay and a Main Coon.  The cat weighed well over 12 pounds.

Our new cat immediately decided that our couch and love seats made great scratching posts.

This distressed my wife and I have to admit that I was not all that happy either.
I have always been good at giving other people advice. I would tell others: "You always need to buy a good scratching post. That way you can save your furniture. After all, cats need to sharpen their claws."

I mentioned this to my wife and we agreed to purchase a fancy cat tree/scratching post.
After extensive shopping, we settled on one that cost about $100 and was supposed to be suited for a large cat.

I ordered it by mail and about a week later it arrived.

The cat appeared to be as excited as we were with the boxes and was quick to try and "Help" us assemble her toy.

The directions were fairly easy to follow and all went well until I discovered that a bolt was about a ¼ inch too short. I drove down to the local hardware store to see if I could find a suitable replacement. For some reason they seemed unable to match the bolts threading. I shrugged my shoulders and decided that I didn't need that bolt, that I could buy another one, drill the holes and still put the structure together my way.
I returned home only to discover that my cordless drill's battery needed a charge.
"No problem," I thought, "I have two batteries."

The other battery also needed a charge. I stuck it in the charger.

It was not too long until it became evident that the batteries were okay but the charger no longer worked.

There is nothing worse than a cordless drill with a dead battery.

I finally managed to find an old corded drill and complete my task.

I assembled the structure and it looked great. It was high, covered with fake fur and appeared to be very Kitty friendly.
Our cat, at first, was suspicious of it but it did not take long for her to start climbing on the cat tree and eventually make it her new home.

Both my wife and I congratulated each other. We had done something right. We had purchased something that made our pet happy and saved our furniture in the process.
"Hey kitty" said I. "That tree makes a pretty nice toy doesn't it?"

Kitty looked at me, wagged her tail, gave what appeared to be a feline sneer and strutted over to our love seat and once again began working at her very special job…furniture shredding.

All I can say is so much for my advice to others, and my ability to easily solve problems.
At least my cat is great at using the cat box.