i have a smallish laundry room with the washer facing out on the right and the dryer facing out on the left. i've dubbed the space in between them "No Nan's Land," because that is where the cat box resides. when transferring clothes from the washer (on the right) to the dryer (on the left), it is physically impossible not to cross over No Man's Land. you can see how this puts my clothes in a perilous situation. to drop an item in No Man's Land is the undoing of all goodness just done in the washer. the tainted item would most likely be forced to return to the laundry queue (wet cotton is not easily purified once it has come into contact with cat litter).

and there's always that one sock (or bra) that tries to commit suicide (Sockicide?) during the journey – it will just leap out of the pile! sometimes it lands safely on the outskirts of No Man’s Land and can be resuscitated, but other times it successfully lodges itself in the middle of that gravel road. and there’s no turning back once you're on that road.

i suppose i could relocate the cat box, but that's highly impractical considering the floor plan. i guess i will just have to deal with the occasional contaminated sock until i 1) move (somewhat likely), 2) get rid of the cat (not very likely), or 3) potty train the cat (not a snowball's chance...).