When I lived with my parents I used to put jigsaw puzzles together with my Dad. Pippin was always very polite and we never found any pieces on the floor or found pieces swept aside on the puzzle table to indicate he was playing with them.
Now, after I got Pippin, it did seem to me after a while that my puzzles were taking me longer than usual. Sometimes I would swear that I put those pieces in just yesterday. But since puzzles are like that, and I didn't bother memorizing pieces or taking photos of them (back then I had a film camera so, really no point), I didn't think much of it.
There came a puzzle where I just knew I'd been putting these same pieces in for days now. Really.
It never occurred to me to blame Pippin. Just what would a cat be doing to make me put pieces in repeatedly? I mean, cats just play soccer with puzzle pieces, right?
Yeah, um, no. I saw this with my own two eyes, or I wouldn't have believed it. I came in the room one day unexpectedly and found Pippin on the puzzle table. He was very carefully and cautiously picking out pieces from the edge of the hole (I put the outside together first and work my way inward on puzzles) and then very gently scooting the newly liberated piece to one side, just a little. Once that was done, he'd go to work on a second piece, again lifting it carefully out of its place by perseverance with a paw, and scooting that one aside to join the first.
Apparently, he had decided that since I had such fun putting the puzzle together (as evidenced by the amount of time I spent on it) that he would extend my fun by helping me take longer to put the puzzle together!
I don't remember my reaction, aside from astonishment, but I think I must have said something, probably mildly annoyed combined with laughter, because after that my puzzle pieces stayed where I put them and didn't "undo themselves".
Silly Pippin!
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