Steve`s Country
For a smile as wide as a country sunrise
Coffee On Wednesday. #3
Good morning to all of you on this sunny Wednesday! Time for a cup of coffee and sit with me on the deck this morning to relax for a few minutes. At the moment a flock of Canada geese is flying overhead, really kind of split into two flocks totaling about 80 individual birds. It is nice and warm sitting here in the sun right now and it is beautiful looking around at all the new green leaves on the trees and bushes.
Plus some of the flowering shrubs and trees are now in bloom as well. Lilacs are not quite in bloom yet but likely will be by next week. They are later than normal this year. But then, everything is late. The neighbors mock cherry is fully in bloom now and looks beautiful this year, so it should have a good crop of berries on it this year which will be good for the birds this coming winter.
There are still lots of dandelions blooming yet providing their sunny blooms around the yard. Aside from being healthy to eat as I mentioned before, they are also a good food source for bees and early butterflies and, of course, for hummingbirds. Violas are out but not as plentiful as last year, however violets are doing great. The yellow violets have been in bloom for a while now and the purple violets have begun now as well. Plus the forget-me-nots are blooming everywhere.
They have gone wild in the area and provide a sea of blue around the neighborhood, though they too are not as plentiful this year as normal. Perhaps the late season has affected them. I have not seen any of the pink forget-me-nots yet either. The squirrels, mainly Jasmine, Jasper and Slim, are around each day. Jasmine is up there on a branch of the walnut tree having a rest. Only Pocket, Choco and Skitter, the chipmunks, have been around lately.
I am sure the others are just too scared to come around now. I do not blame them. I just hope none of them have been killed by the new cat and dog team. I can still feed the chipmunks, squirrels and blue jays, I just have to be outside to do so, that way I do not leave any peanuts around for the bear if he comes. He was not here yesterday, so that was nice. Well, guess it is time to go for another day, there will be some changes to my blog coming up, I am just not sure what that will be at the moment. Have a wonderful Wednesday everyone and God bless!
Steve and Muffin.
©2022 Steve McLeod.
The Investigators, Inc. The Icelandic Mystery. Chapter 2. PI, Go Home.
Sigurbjorn and I got up quickly to check on the screaming but just as we left the kitchen and entered the living room, the lights went out. Next thing I knew a fist was in my stomach and a fight began! Fortunately it was just beginning to get daylight, though the dark drapes were closed so it was still quite dark in the room. I could make out 3 people, one after me and two after Sigurbjorn.
She is certainly a competent fighter, more than I could say for myself as I was quickly knocked out. Muffin sounded her alarm to wake everyone and let them know I was in trouble. All the girls, and cats, came into the hall with guns ready and ran down the stairs. Muffin was jumping up and down, Meow,meow!=Out back door, out back door! Everyone went out the door but saw no one. Meow,meow!=People take my human and human guide follow!
“Okay cats, get her scent, fast!,” said Kat. Meow!=Here is, this way! All 3 cats ran ahead while the girls followed. They caught up with Sigurbjorn and I with no one else in sight. “They went that way down the path,” said Sigurbjorn, “but you will not find anyone.” The girls and cats followed the path for a distance anyway, just in case. But Muffin, Kat and Nyura stayed behind with Sigurbjorn and I. Finally I came to back in the living room.
The girls had found no one, not any trace at all. Even their scent disappeared said the cats. Meow,meow!=They ghosts! That why scent disappearing. We go home now. “You do not want to leave us in danger, do you Muffin?”, asked Sigurbjorn. Then she looked at Muffin, then at us. “That is cool,” she said, “which one of you did that?” “Did what?”, asked Jennifer. Meow,meow.=They not do something, it me that talk, they not venting twisters.
“She means ventriloquist,” said Kat. Sigurbjorn just looks at Muffin, then at us again. Meow,meow.=You not crazy, we special cats, we all can talk and understand people talk. Sigurbjorn just stares at them. “That is incredible,” she said, “are you sure that you do not try to make fun of me?” Meow,meow.=Me sure, I not make fun of you, you very nice human people, that why you can understand me. And you help my human. And I just can tell you nice, very nice.
Sigurbjorn just shook her head and laughed. “My friends would think I am totally crazy,” she said, then turned serious and added quietly, “if I had some.” Now the owners came into the living room to see what was happening. “We heard your wife scream,” I said and were coming to check on you when Sigurbjorn and I were attacked. “My wife just had another of her weird nightmares!”, growled Mikkael, “something she is doing more often lately.”
“It is just because of all the strange things happening here,” she said, “you cannot blame me for that.” “I am not blaming you!”, he yelled, “this stuff is getting on my nerves too but I do not scream every night!” “Excuse me,” I said loudly, “but none of this helps us, we need to know what is going on around here if we are to help you.” “Yes, you are right, I am sorry,” he said, “my wife keeps seeing a picture of our son on his 10th birthday, which was 5 years ago. He died that same day.
We lived on a street corner, he and his friend were playing outside and he ran onto the street to get something and a car suddenly came around the corner very fast and hit him and just kept going. The police never found out who did it. The car had been stolen. One of the boys said there was a man and woman in the car and they were laughing. He gave a good description to the police but they still never found him. That boy was killed two days later.”
“Are you involved in something that you are not telling us?”, I asked, “like some illegal activity? Or are you being blackmailed perhaps? Maybe you have a large debt that you are behind in payments?” “No, nothing like that at all,” said Mikkael, “hey, did you just say that someone attacked you? Who was it, where are they?” “They got away,” said Sigurbjorn, “I never got to see their faces clearly, they had something over them.” Just then a hollow sounding voice echoed through the large room so we could not tell where it was coming from. “PI, go home, PI, go home, PI, go home”.
To Be Continued.
©2022 Steve McLeod.
Steve`s Country 