Barn Quilt

Around 7:30 p.m. Whip and I went out for our last walk - our nightly constitutional.  It was truncated a bit because Whip doesn't like to get her head wet and it was very windy and raining.  She got far enough from the house to feel comfortable in 'doing her business' and then turned tail (literally)  back to the house, opened the front door, and waited for me inside.  OK by me.  8 p.m. PBS was broadcasting the last part of 'Julius Caesar: The Making of a Dictator.'  As a kid my grandmother would let me read her old school books and one was 'The Story of the Romans'.  It was a fantastic read for a pre-teen: adventure, war, gods/goddesses, and debauchery of every kind.   Roman history has been an interest of mine since.  I settled myself in front of the TV.   As the show began I savoured remembered names - Cicero, Cato, Cassius, Brutus.  I didn't agree w/ all of the conclusions of the show's featured historians but that just added to my enjoyment.  The final credits flashed on the screen.    I should check if the towels in the dryer were done.  Got up and walked toward the laundry room.  There in the foyer was quite the tableau.  Whip was looking out an open front door.  Blitzen was hacking up blades of grass.  Dunder was crouched, reaching out one front paw to tentatively prod an obviously dead shrew.   They all noticed me at once.  Dunder took off past me closely followed by Blitz.  Whip's tail went into a slow metronome.  The shrew did nothing.   While I had been totally engrossed in the TV show, the wind must have blown open the door.  It's done that before if it's strong enough and from the right direction.  The cats ventured out to explore.  They had caught the shrew and brought it back inside where they could be dry and show it off.  Blitz had supplemented her diet w/ greens.  Whip, who usually chases the cats if they make a break out the door, was so loathe to get wet again she just stayed put and watched.  I cleaned up the vomited grass, the tiny dead creature, and shut the door as tightly as I could.   Probably not a good thing to be so oblivious to my surroundings.