Tonight on the way home I stopped by WalMart to get a new insert for
the turbo scratcher. After having the thing for years, I finally have
a cat, Spotty, who actually uses the thing for scratching. She
actually wore out the cardboard insert over the weekend, and has been
leaving pieces of cardboard all over the apartment as she rips it
apart.

While I was picking it up the "Twirl and Whirl" toy by Hart caught my
eye. For those who might not have seen it, it's a little stand which
has four wands which stick out with toys hanging from them begging to
be batted around. Actually looked like something that might interest
LB, who doesn't get too excited about toys that require a lot of
running around. This looked like her kind of toy, just lay there and
bat at the toys. Not too expensive (around $6 with tax), so I picked
up one.

When I got home I found that some simple assembly was required. First
I put in the new trubo scratch pad, and sprinkled the top with 'nip -
hoping to distract Spotty long enough to give LB first go at the new
toy. Sammy, my resident construction supervisor, was close on hand to
supervise putting the T&W together. She had to perform a quality
control inspection once I had it assembled, which attracted Spotty
because one of the dangling toys is a ball with a bell inside.

There went my idea of letting LB giving it a try before Spot. I went
in to the kitchen to tryout another WalMart purchase, this one
strictly for the resident hoomin - Blue Bell Peanut Butter Cup
icecream. The whole time I was in dishing up icecream I could hear
that jingle ball ringing, so someone was really giving the T&W a
workout. So, I thought it was a success, even if LB doesn't like it
Sammy and Spot will enjoy it.

I discovered when I got back to the living room that, while they
enjoyed it, it hadn't taken them anytime to partially dismantle it.
Spotty had broken the elastic string which connected the jingle ball,
and she was batting it around on one side of the room while Sammy was
busy dismantling one the the other toys - a green ball. I managed to
rescue the jingle ball and reattach it, but  my guess is they'll have
it ripped apart again long before LB gives it a try.