Mystery Solved

When we go out of town, my friend Jenn usually takes care of Plié and Popeye. We traveled twice this summer, first to Nashville in June and then to Tulsa in July. On one occasion in June, Jenn arrived at the house to find the garage door open after she was sure she had shut it the day prior. The discovery was unnerving, but there were no signs of foul play so we chalked it up to some kind of electrical glitch.

Fast forward a month. Because of the incident in June, this time around Jenn was particularly intentional about not just closing the garage but also not driving away until the door was all the way down and no longer moving. And yet, on one of the days, she arrived to find the garage door open again.

None of us could figure out what was going on, and it was unsettling.

Also unsettling for Jenn (and us) was Plié's relatively new fascination with opening drawers and cabinets. Plié is both incredibly intelligent and ridiculously stubborn, so when she learned that I keep my hair rubber bands - her FAVORITE toy - in a drawer in my bathroom, she figured out how to open that drawer. Every day she goes into that bathroom, jumps on the counter, opens the drawer, scoops out the rubber band she wants (and tosses the rubber bands she doesn't want on the floor), and takes her rubber band with her to the living room or kitchen, where she plays with it for a little while before depositing it in her food dish.

When Plié was no longer satisfied with opening just the rubber band drawer, she started opening other drawers and cabinets in the bathroom...and then she moved on to the kitchen drawers and cabinets. She doesn't seem to be looking for anything in particular (other than the rubber bands); rather it's like she just wants to show off this skill. Whatever her reasoning, it's weird and uncomfortable to walk into your or someone else's kitchen and find drawers and cabinets open, especially when you know they were all closed the last time you left the house.

Fast forward to two weeks ago: Tom and I were laughing about how a specific drawer in the kitchen - the one where we keep our keys and sunglasses - always gets left open, but we never know if it's one of us or Plié who's opened it. 

Almost immediately after that, Will arrived home from soccer practice, "announcing" his arrival with the sound of the garage door. The conversation Tom and I had just finished and the sound of the garage door opening started triggered something in both of our brains. He pondered aloud, "could Plié have opened the garage door?!" at almost the same time I asked, "is there a garage door opener in that drawer?!" We ran to the drawer, and yes, in fact, there is a garage door opener - one that was laying flat with a VERY easy to push button - in the drawer.

Plié had been opening our garage, messing with Jenn and messing with us. We think she might be trying to escape, and if that's the case, it won't be long before she's successful given that she's gotten really close to being able to consistently open actual doors (she's done it accidentally before) by herself...

~

The day after I wrote this post, I pulled into the garage to find Plié waiting for me...in the doorway...with the door open. Will later confirmed that he had not opened the door for her, so it seems she's closer to escape than ever before. 

Mystery solved, adventure loading.