Susan C. Daffron

Award-winning fiction & nonfiction author

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March 13, 2004 By Susan Daffron

Gifts for the Stove God

When we get packages, the cats take them very seriously. If there’s a box, they mill around and make nuisances of themselves until you put the box on the floor for them to play with. As I’ve written before, as long as you have garbage or pests, you have cat toys. Bags, boxes, and bugs are all fair game.

Given that we have animals that are not exactly particular about what they eat, I’m always really careful not to drop any packing peanuts when we receive packages. Packing peanuts are evil and nasty for any number of reasons, but the worst one is that they fly everywhere. It can be difficult to extract the artifact within the box when it’s packed with peanuts without causing a polyethylene hailstorm. The static in our dry-air environment can leave you looking like some half-melted snowman.

This week I got a package from a client. I thought I had successfully extracted all the items and took the box of evil peanuts downstairs. Unfortunately, I apparently missed one peanut.

As I sat quietly at my computer, I heard lots of rattling and clanking upstairs. This type of noise usually means one or more cats are up to no good. It turned out that Troi had found the wayward peanut and was endlessly obsessing on it.

Unfortunately, Troi loses almost every toy she has because she boots them ALL under the stove. When Troi spends hours staring at the stove, it’s usually not a good thing. It means she’s undoubtedly lost something under there. So we have to take out the stove drawer and figure out what lurks amidst the dust and dog hair. Getting the stove drawer out and properly back on its tracks is as frustrating as trying to figure out one of those iron blacksmith puzzles.

As it turned out, the obnoxious noises and clanking were her collar and tags hitting the floor as she reached and reached under the stove to extract the peanut. Eventually, she was successful and punted it down the stairs.

That’s when I took it away and foiled her fun. But not for long. I’m sure it’s only a matter of time before she finds more garbage to bat under the stove.

Filed Under: Furry Thoughts, Pet Tails Tagged With: box, collar, drawer, peanut, puzzle, stove, tag, toy

About Susan Daffron

Susan Daffron is the author of the Alpine Grove Romantic Comedies, the Jennings & O'Shea mysteries, and multiple award-winning nonfiction books, including several about pets and animal rescue. Check out all her books on her Amazon Author page.

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