Mystery solved....or at least half a mystery solved.  I was missing a couple of my dryer balls, and I found one!  Ripley and Jessie both get stuck in the garage, and one of them seemed to have found one.  I walked out this weekend and saw something on the floor....

I followed the trail of fuzz...

Aha!!!

I don't think it will work well as a dryer ball anymore, but at least I know what happened to it.  Now to find the other one....