Out of Plumb

Going around the house tonight taping off all of our ‘vintage’ windows. It is not as bad as it sounds; most of them are painted closed anyway. Should help with the heating and also with the train noise. Speaking of that there was a huge coal train derailment above Trout Creek. As a result the main line has been silent all day. Watched a work train with 2 or 3 big RR cranes chug through earlier today and now I can hear we have trains stacked up on every siding. I just know that line will open up and they will roll non-stop around 2 AM. I thought the extra RR commotion was why the dog was so agitated while I was working in the kitchen. I let her out and she heads straight for the cat feeder. I feed the cats outside, inside this box so the dog can’t get at their food. Pestering the cats while they eat is a hobby of hers so charging for the feeder was not in itself a big deal. The scratching and hissing from the box was new, my cats just ignore her. I caught a glimpse of a tail and it was bushy, big and black. Ah, not one of my cats, some neighbor’s critter is sneaking a meal on my dime. I was on the verge of telling the dog to “go get it”; in essence you have my permission to chase that when I caught a flash of white in the black tail. Black bushy tail with a white stripe… oh shit. I yelled, “NO, COME” just as she clamped down. It could have ended much worse. Pepe Le Pew must have been quite surprised because he spun around inside the box with a shower of tuna flavored kitty nuggets and poked his head out snarling. I was fortunate because by that point the dog had started to obey and was heading back to me. The strange snarling head was a little much for a puppy to ignore and despite our reluctant obedience we couldn’t resist a pounce and bark. The combination of which proved a little much for the kitty nugget nibbler and Le Pew, le spewed. Thank god for the cat feeder, talk about taking one for the team. I hauled the dog back inside and ran for one of the guns determined to give my new friend a permanent Paris vacation. It took me a while to track down the beater 22 as it was still in the camper. Pepe is lucky I didn’t feel like cleaning one of the other guns, the delay gave him time to waddle off and recharge. I held his flight itinerary for him it’s leaning up next to the back door. I just know I will hear a crash one night and Pepe will be out trying to rip the door off the rabbit hutch. Oh that’s right, I haven’t mentioned “our” new rabbit. Well as it turns out I’m a damn softhearted moron…