In her third year of life, Francine Doomsdottir has taken on two new
hobbies.
 
1. She's always had a fad for paper--taking pieces and stashing them under
the radiator or the bed and sleeping with them.  Recently, she's started
tearing paper into neat little strips and carefully making nests.  She seems
utterly serious about this venture, and spends many minutes at a time on the
activity.  It's very cute and funny when she does it with scratch paper and
newspaper.  It's not quite so cute and funny when she does it with bills and
manuscript.
 
2. Since the guest room is now closed to ferrets (we have actual guests),
I've been leaving the newly ferret-proofed bathroom open for them.  I'd
noticed that litle piles of wood pellets started appearing in the bathroom--
I assumed that we humans had tracked them in our shoes.  I would sigh and
get the Dustbuster.
 
Today, I came back home after seeing a client, and saw Francine run into
the bathroom with something in her mouth, then run back to her cage, and
run back to the bathroom.  She did this a few times while I settled in and
changed clothes.  I finally went into the bathroom to see what she was up
to.  There was a large pile of pellets in a corner.  Francine came in with
another load of pellets, put them in the corner with the others ... and
then backed up and pooped in them.
 
I picked up the poop but left the pellets.  For now.
 
-- Lee
   _______________________________
   We must imagine Sisyphus happy.
                          -- Camus
[Posted in FML issue 2367]