Twist'ems

You know those little plastic-covered wire ties used to keep bread bags and other such things closed? Pudge, the "young" cat, LOVES them. If she has one, she can entertain herself for hours - batting it about, wrestling with it, picking it up in her mouth to carry to some other better location (frequently, the water bowl). But we have observed that if more than 1 or 2 are available, she's just not that interested in them - too much to deal with, perhaps.

She does lose them - under the white chest in the living room, under the stove or refrigerator, under recliners, under the sofa, etc. - but if she gets them in the pantry or front closet, she has learned to open those doors so she can retrieve them. Which is why we have been finding them open in the morning - she was looking for her twist'ems.

GolfGuy found a bunch this afternoon. We have decided to take the carpet cleaner into the fixit shop for repair (the carpet is approaching nasty state), and he went to the front closet where it lives with the vacuum cleaner to get it and load it in the belovedRav4 for the trip to the BigTown tomorrow. Later he showed me what he found under the carpet cleaner - a HUGE handful of Pudge's twist'ems. She KNEW they were in there, that's why she keeps opening the door, but she hates both the carpet cleaner and the vacuum and won't get close enough to either to try to fish out her toys. GolfGuy gave her one (the one she had been playing with is currently residing in the water bowl and she usually doesn't fish them out of there); the others went into the drawer where we store "her" twist'ems, to be doled out as needed. Believe me, she knows where they are and WILL let us know when she thinks she needs one.