Steve`s Country
For a smile as wide as a country sunrise
Coffee On Wednesday. #7
Good morning to all of you on this beautiful Wednesday! Time for a cup of coffee to enjoy with our Wednesday chat. Speaking of chatting, there is a lot of chattering going on outside right now. Several chipmunks are chattering because the neighbors cat showed up about a minute ago and they are not too happy about that. That is quite understandable.
He is a lot bigger than they are, though if all the chipmunks got together I think the cat would be in trouble. I know those chipmunks. And what they can do to the squirrels. Poor Jasmine. She was out here eating and Pocket showed up. He came up the side of the deck and just sat there. He did not move and Jasmine kept eating. Then she stopped, so I knew she had spotted Pocket.
But Pocket remained motionless. Jasmine stared. Then off she went! Pocket moved out of the way at the last second. Too late for Jasmine to change course and…off the edge of the deck she went, landing among the raspberry bushes. Pocket came over quickly and managed to get two peanuts before Jasmine came back up. She spotted Pocket and jumped! And the chase was on.
Pocket was down over the side in plenty of time but Jasmine was moving too fast and had to jump…right into the raspberry bushes. Pocket had climbed down the side of the deck, avoiding those prickly raspberry bushes. Yesterday Jasmine was chasing all the chipmunks as usual and at one point there were 4 chipmunks going this way and that way, really confusing Jasmine. Finally Pocket jumped since Jasmine was a little too close behind him.
Jasmine also jumped right after him and both landed in a clump of daylilies. Pocket came out one side and went on his way home. Jasmine came out a different side and stood up looking all around, trying to see which way Pocket went. But she was too late. She looked around a bit but gave up and came back. Meanwhile the other 3 chipmunks got their peanuts and left before Jasmine returned.
She looked all around on the deck to see if any were hiding on her. Satisfied there were no chipmunks she came back to the peanuts, all 2 of them. She just sat there looking at those 2 peanuts. It was quite funny really, she must have wondered what happened to all the rest of “her” peanuts. Perhaps she will learn eventually. Perhaps not.
It is fun watching anyway. This week has seen the most action on the deck in quite a while. Today’s pics are a selection of different birds from this and other years. Well, I hope you have enjoyed our coffee time this morning. Have a wonderful day and God bless!
Steve and Muffin.
©2022 Steve McLeod.
The Investigators, Inc. Back To Iceland. Chapter 10. What next?
Well, that was certainly not an enjoyable time in Iceland. We are back home again, finally out of the clinic but still recovering. But at least we are home. And I am not in jail, which is very nice indeed. Kristina and Salka are doing well, they were wearing something new from one of Baldwin’s companies. The vests now have arm protection too, though not as good as the vest since it needs to be thinner so as not to restrict movement. But the arm protection is still very good.
There are also leggings of the same material which helped to protect them from serious injury. Every little bit helps sometimes. A bigger explosion however, would still be a problem. I am going to need a bit more time to fully recover. Jennifer, Carine, Annelie and Rock delivered the books from The Company to Rossana and the police rounded up most of the 4,000 people mentioned in the books. All from across Europe, N. America and Australia, even a few from S. America.
They also managed to arrest 9 of the 10 directors on the list, but one just seemed to vanish completely. That is not so good. His name is Vance McKay, I imagine he will be quite angry with us for what we did to The Company. So I am quite sure we will likely meet this director at some point in the future. Hopefully it will not be too soon however.
As for Harmon, well, his body was found in an alley somewhere in London. He had been shot at close range apparently. And John disappeared again, just like he usually does. I am very sure we will meet him again in the future. But will it be as friends, or foes? He can be a very hard man to figure out sometimes. I still do not understand why he helped me the way he did. And not wanting any payment for it, that is not like John at all.
Perhaps he has truly changed now. Guess we will just have to wait and see. Jake has gone back home, though he did promise Muffin he would definitely think about joining our team. He has a lot of knowledge that could be a real benefit to us. Plus he knows how these criminal types work, which would be a real help as well. However, I have my doubts that he will accept our invitation. Sometimes people get stuck in a rut and changing course is a tough decision for them to make.
Sigurbjorn is a full member of our team now and has passed all tests quite easily. She has a great ability to memorize things very quickly, plus she knows 10 languages fluently, something that can be very handy in our business. We have begun new training for our team members too. Right now each team member has a special talent, but now I want them to teach at least one other team member so that at least 2 will know how to do these things.
MC and I are the bomb specialists, but we are teaching Jenny and Kristina as well. MC is also our lock picker and he is teaching Jenny and Carine how to do that. Annelie is teaching Carine her job of finding information. But most team members also have certain abilities special to themselves, like Sigurbjorn. Galyna has a real ability to calm people down when they get too stressed, plus she is great with a massage, as is Nyura our nurse and Sigurbjorn.
Chung is also teaching Mriya and Nyura all he knows about herbs and stuff, just in case something should happen to him. And he is our oldest team member so he just thought it would be a good idea. I certainly hope nothing happens to him any time soon however. Oh yes, Muffin is training Galyna and Angel the art of picking pockets. Which reminds me. “Okay, who has my wallet this time?”, I asked. Angel laughed, “that would be me Steve.”
She gives it back to me. “Why am I always the target?”, I ask. Meow,meow.=You nice and easy for first practice. Everyone laughs. Sigh. “Well, I wonder what will be next for us?”, I ask. “Hopefully a longer break,” said Baldwin. “Time for your medicine Steve,” said Kat. “What is this one?”, I ask. “I don’t know, but Chung sent it over so take it,” she said firmly.
“It is big enough for football practice,” I said. “Do I need to get Rock to hold you?”, she asked. “No, no, I will take it,” I said, though it sure was not easy. Yes indeed, what will be next for us, I thought as I drifted off to sleep that night.
The End of Back to Iceland. A new story begins tomorrow.
©2022 Steve McLeod.
Steve`s Country 