Mikayla

@mikaylamic

Electrical and automation engineer. (Industrial machine automation, not AI!) Posts likely found here: fibre crafts, cat photos, occasional rants about machine design Aromantic, asexual, and non-binary. They/them Lunenburg County, Nova Scotia, Canada

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Mikayla@mikaylamic· 3d

I didn't expect "Practical Law of Architecture, Engineering, and Geoscience" to turn me into a lawyer, but I also didn't expect it to say that doing so would ruin us.

This text is not intended to do the following:
a) Make lawyers out of and thereby ruin perfectly good architects, engineers, and geoscientists

Mikayla@mikaylamic· 14d

Section 2 is complete! 🧶

A brioche knit shawl that’s slightly more than a half circle. The foreground is light blue and has an intricate pattern of lines that branch out from the centre and intersect with each other. The inner pattern looks kind of like the tree of life, and then there’s a section surrounding it that kind of look like petals of a flower. From each “petal” it turns into a complicate braid. The background of the shawl is dark blue.

Mikayla@mikaylamic· 26d

My yard used to have wildflowers. At least the lilacs were spared. I'd be so angry/devastated if they were killed after I've spent so much time (and money) getting them established this year

A backyard with extremely short cut plants and bare dirt patches. No flowers to be seen anywhere. At the back there’s an old abandoned fire pit that needs to be dismantled, and two rows of lilac trees of various sizes. There’s also a green bucket upside down over the remains an invasive rosebush I’m trying to kill

Mikayla@mikaylamic· 26d

My poor hostas

A small hosta that is mostly now just stitch’s with a couple partially intact leaves

A hosta which is now just three sticks with one shred of leaf on one of the sticks

Mikayla@mikaylamic· Jul 1

I haven't touched my shawl for a while, so I got it out today and reminded myself of how to do all the weird brioche stitches that combine a two stitch increase and a two stitch decrease in the same stitch. 🧶

A two colour brioche knit shawl in progress. It’s slightly more than a half circle shawl, with a light blue foreground and dark blue background. The foreground pattern is lots of branching and overlapping lines starting from the centre point of the circle, and kind of reminds me of a stylized tree. The shawl is spread out on my lap, and is currently almost big enough across to cover both my legs

Mikayla@mikaylamic· Jun 28

I must confess my failings as a cat parent. Even after Stitch clearly communicated that he did not like the thunderstorm and would like it to stop, I failed to do anything to change the weather.

A grey and white cat in an enclosed catio, standing on a shelf that puts him roughly eye level with me. He’s staring at me and has been loudly demanding that I fix the problem. The problem is the thunderstorm. He does have access to inside if he would prefer not to be out in the storm.

Mikayla@mikaylamic· Jun 23

A beaver eating leaves in a pond is graphic media?

Screenshot of the previous post showing that a Graphic Media tag has been added to my video and the video itself is hidden

Mikayla@mikaylamic· Jun 23

Beaver snack time

Mikayla@mikaylamic· Jun 21

Stitch found a new way to get to the top shelf. Why take the jumping path when you can just climb up directly?

Mikayla@mikaylamic· Jun 19

Purl is relaxing in the catio! Up until now she's been on alert when outside.

A tabby cat lying on the floor of a deck enclosed with a wire mesh fence. She’s relaxed and has her head down, and is almost asleep

Mikayla@mikaylamic· Jun 17

Purl has discovered a new spot for watching the road

A brown tabby cat standing upright on a railing height shelf in a catio with her front feet on the wire mesh, looking forward. The photo is taken from behind her, and she looks like she’s standing up balanced on her back legs

Mikayla@mikaylamic· Jun 17

Purl has cautiously started joining us on the catio, but apparently had to be a bit dramatic about her confidence in her ability to jump onto the shelf.

Mikayla@mikaylamic· Jun 13

Meanwhile, Stitch doesn't care about the rain at all

A grey and white cat standing on a small wooden shelf in a catio, and trying to walk along the railing it’s attached to. The railing is just too narrow for this to be successful

Mikayla@mikaylamic· Jun 13

Purl considered following Stitch out the cat flap until the rain startled her

Mikayla@mikaylamic· Jun 11

Stitch approves! Purl is currently hiding in my bedroom and will probably wait three weeks before deciding that the catio was all her idea and is great.

Stitch, a grey and white cat sitting on a small shelf at the front of the catio and looking out at the street. The shelf is level with the top of the railing of the original deck

Stitch sitting on the middle shelf that is just taller than me. And looking out at the trees outside

Stitch on the same shelf as in the previous photo, but this time looking down at the inside of the catio

Mikayla@mikaylamic· Jun 11

My parents arrived last week on Friday. And the great catio build began on Saturday. Today, it is complete!

View from one end of the catio, looking at the inside. A roof has been added to the deck and wire mesh fencing encloses the walls. There are three shelves at different heights for the cats to walk on, one at the top of the original railing, one just over my head, and one right close to the roof. A screen door with a cat flap has been added to the original exterior doorway

View of the catio from the street side. It starts a bit past where the stairs go down to the backyard yard, and has a screen door with a lever handle to enter from the outside. The screen has been reenforced with a plastic mesh so the cats can’t get through it.

View of the catio from the bottom of the deck stairs. It’s looking up at the catio, and shows the shelves, and the frame that was added to support the roof

Mikayla@mikaylamic· Jun 11

So I have this narrow deck on the side of my house. Sometimes I eat out there, but often I don't because I've been at work all day and I feel guilty not spending any time with the cats

A narrow wooden deck that runs along the side of a white sided house. There’s a door opening onto the deck from the house halfway, and there are steps leading to the back yard from the deck. The house is on a steep slope, so the deck is ground level at the front of the house and one story above the ground for most of the rest of it.

There is a chop saw sitting on the deck by the stairs, and an extension cord hanging on the railing

Mikayla@mikaylamic· Jun 11

He hasn't figured out the cat flap yet

Looking at screen door with a wooden frame and base from the outside. There’s a cat flap in the door, and Stitch, a grey and white cat, is peering over the top of the wood and through the screen at the outside world like he wants to be let out.

Mikayla@mikaylamic· Jun 2

This is a cat check point. Relinquish your most recent cat picture on your phone

A grey tabby cat with white belly, face, and legs is lying at my feet while I sit at the bottom of the stairs to put my shoes on. He’s lying on his side, with his head resting on one of my feet and one of his back feet on the other foot, and is sticking out his tongue a bit. (He was trying for the opportunity to chew on my shoelaces.)

Mikayla@mikaylamic· May 30

Sad kitten who wants to destroy my couch has been defeated by aluminum foil

A one year old grey cat looking at the bottom of my couch, which has been covered by aluminum foil below the cushions. It’s held on my painter’s tape and looks horrendous, but I hope this will deter him enough to break the habit

Mikayla@mikaylamic· May 20

Grocery bag or cat house?

A reusable grocery bag is on its side on the kitchen floor, and Stitch, a grey and white cat is lying inside of it and peering out of the opening

Mikayla@mikaylamic· May 17

I am trapped forever

Stitch, a grey tabby cat, is curled up in a ball sleeping on the couch. He’s between my legs and using one of my feet as a pillow

Mikayla@mikaylamic· May 15

The busier my hands are, the more Purl wants me to pet her. If I offer to pet her, I am turned down, but pick up something to keep my hands busy and suddenly she wants all the attention. So of course working on the crocheted steek reinforcement for my sweater has summoned her.

A brown tabby cat sitting beside me and half on my leg, looking back at me demandingly because I’m not petting her. Beside her is a grey knit sweater with a colourwork yoke that I’m crocheting a line of stitches down the front to reinforce where it will be cut open to become a cardigan

Mikayla@mikaylamic· May 4

Stitch has a nice blanket fort

A grey and white cat lying on the couch with me, so that he’s behind the bend in my knee. A large fleece blanket is draped over both of us so that just his face and one ear is visible

Mikayla@mikaylamic· May 2

I went for a walk at the duck pond

Mikayla@mikaylamic· May 2

Somehow, I don't think I'm going to Halifax tomorrow

Special Weather Statement

Effective May 03, 2026 at 7:35 AMExpires at May 03, 2026 at 7:51 AM

Significant rainfall and strong winds are expected to develop on Sunday.

Locations: Mainland Nova Scotia.

Potential rainfall: 25 to 40 mm, with possibly more in heaviest showers.

Potential wind gusts: easterly 60 to 80 km/h becoming northerly Sunday night. Strong southwesterly winds are also expected along parts of the Eastern Shore Sunday night.

Time span: Sunday until early Monday morning.

Remarks: A low pressure system is forecast to track over eastern Nova Scotia Sunday night, and is expected to bring another period of significant rainfall and gusty winds to Central and Western Nova Scotia. Wet snow may mix in at times over higher elevations but is not expected to accumulate.

Mikayla@mikaylamic· Apr 29

This is what it looks like. It draws air from below the basement floor and sends it outside so that the radon gas doesn't get a chance to enter the basement

A radon mitigation system installed in the corner of an unfinished basement. It’s a vertical tube that extends into the basement floor and goes to a fan that sends the air outside.

Mikayla@mikaylamic· Apr 29

So radon mitigation systems really work

A graph of the radon levels detected by an AranetRn+ sensor for today. At midnight they were around 1200, peaked around 1300ish, and then dipped down to 800 around 6am (when the ducted heat pump turned on and distributed the air to the rest of the house). Around 11am the radon levels start dropping rapidly, and the current level is 6 Bq/m3. (Target is less than 100.)

Mikayla@mikaylamic· Apr 29

I don't think Stitch approves of all the noise (contractor cutting a hole in the concrete wall for installing radon remediation)

A grey tabby and white cat standing on the stairs halfway up and looking through the railing. His ears are too the sides and he looks very concerned

Mikayla@mikaylamic· Apr 28

It did finally stop increasing