Steve`s Country
For a smile as wide as a country sunrise
Coffee And Chatting. #14
Good morning on this cloudy and wet Tuesday! Time for coffee and a short chat, though today it is best to stay indoors. There is no rain out there however, it is just wet from previous rain. Yesterday we had some thunderstorms move through the area but they mostly missed us. We did get some rain however, especially from one storm, but only about 1/4 inch (6mm).
But because it stayed cloudy and very humid then things did not dry much afterward. And it is still wet. It is not stopping the chipmunks however, they are still busy as ever knowing they only have a short time left for gathering their winter food supply. Hard to believe that most of them will be gone in one month. There is usually one or two that will stay around longer, maybe an extra week or two.
Just depends on what the weather is like this fall. Looks like the clouds are breaking up and blue sky is showing so hopefully the sun will soon be shining too. That will warm things up a bit but likely make things very humid again too, like yesterday. If it stays sunny perhaps I can head down to the river again. If not I should be able to make a trip down there later this week when it is supposed to be sunny and a bit cooler.
Although the water level on the river is going down I doubt it will get back to normal before winter. But it might, if it stays dry enough. It does have at least 8 feet to drop yet, that is a lot. Amazing that it stayed so high all summer. And of course it meant I was unable to get to my favorite spot again this summer because of the path being under water. Oh well. Oh, I see Baxter is out here, I must give him some peanuts.
There we go, he came down right away. Oddly he has been by himself the last few days. Normally when he returns in late summer he brings his whole family with him. I hope nothing happened to them. Likely Betty, his mate, is keeping them hidden for a while yet. They must have had a late nesting this year. Hmm, I see the chipmunks are out of peanuts now too. I will fix that right away.
The food was all gone and so were the chipmunks, so I put out more and started to call them and five were there around my feet before I finished calling their names! So I put peanuts under their box for them and several small piles of sunflower seeds and soon they were all busy and happy once again. I am using more sunflower seeds for them right now since I cannot get them their peanuts right now. Only one place in town is selling them at the moment and it is quite a bit more expensive at that store.
The chipmunks like the sunflower seeds too so it is working out okay. The peanuts I have will only last until the end of the month. I had stocked up on peanuts to last the summer but did not quite start early enough. I will start in January to stock up on peanuts this time, just to make sure I have enough to last the summer next year. Well, guess it is time to try for more pictures. I hope you all have a wonderful day and God bless!
Steve and Muffin.
©2022 Steve McLeod.
The Investigators, Inc. Mystery of Avina. Chapter 16. Run!
We had our headlamps on as we went inside, but we did not meet anyone in the hallway. We stopped at a large room which appeared to be the command center of this operation. As soon as I entered the room a recording began… “Hello Steve, did you really think I would be here waiting for your arrival?” That is as far as it got when MC meowed=Me smell bomb, run now! I sounded the alarm and yelled to run outside.
We all ran hard! I remember hearing a loud roar, then everything went black. I woke up in our room at the clinic without knowing how I managed to get there. Muffin saw me open my eyes and quickly pressed the buzzer. Chung came running in. “Ah, you have rejoined us at last,” he said, “now you are getting your much needed rest.” He was smiling as he said it. “Why cannot I move my legs?”, I asked in a quiet voice.
“Oh, not to worry,” he said, “some tissue damage, but they will be fine.” I had been here 2 days already. Kat was still here too, in the bed next to me. This was our designated room and we had it decorated the way we liked to make it more of a cozy room, not a typical hospital room. “How did we all get back here?,” I asked Chung.
“Oh, Jennifer and her team were still outside so they were not hurt in the blast. She contacted Baldwin who sent in his rescue team to get you out quickly,” he answered. Apparently they were already in Norway since Baldwin was expecting we might need help, since we often do. I am sure glad he planned ahead on this one. I just made it out when the first blast occurred which knocked me flat onto the ground.
Sigurbjorn ran back to get me and dragged me away from the building just in time before the second blast which would have killed me for sure. I think she kind of disobeyed orders on that one, but I am glad she did. Laying in that bed day after day I had not much to do but think about things. For example, how did Avina know we were coming?
Did she see us that far in advance that she had time to leave? It is possible. She may have had people watching all along those fjords just in case. I am sure she knew I would chase her down. But someone could have warned her ahead of time from a more distant location. But who would have done that? Not many people outside our team knew what we were doing.
But people working for Baldwin have sold information to our enemies before so it could have happened again. Only one person was not found from our team, that was John. That is all the information I could get from Chung. Finally I had a good talk with Baldwin, I needed to know if any of our team were killed or hurt. “Well, you should not be thinking about other things right now,” Baldwin said, “just concentrate on getting better.”
“No, I need to know what happened up there,” I said. “Okay, Jenny, Carine and Kristina were outside, so they are fine,” he began, “Sigurbjorn was just ahead of you and did not realize she had gotten that far ahead, so she turned, saw you down and came back for you, or you would not be here right now. She did get hurt from the second blast, but not seriously. John simply was not found, but if he was still inside that building there likely would not be anything to find.
Jake was seriously hurt but will be okay, Tracy had some minor injuries but she is fine. Benson is in rough shape, we are not sure if he will make it, Bellamy died. Galyna, Rossana and Sovia were also injured, but not too bad, they will be on their feet quicker than you.” “Well, that certainly knocks down our team quite a bit,” I said, “and Avina wins a second time.
We cannot let her win a third time or there might not be anyone left in our team. What about MC?” Right then MC and Muffin jump on my bed. Meow!=Me fine and okay too human boss! I chuckled at the way he said that. Meow,meow.=Yep, still have us 3 cats for next operation. “And we will need all 3 of you too,” I said, “so stay in shape, once enough of us are back to health we will be going after Avina again.
But this time Avina will lose, I promise that.” Just then Storm jumped onto the bed too. Meowr.=That good, we need to stop her quick, she bad. “Yes Storm, we will stop her as quick as we can,” I said seriously. “Well, right now you need to concentrate on getting out of here Steve,” said Baldwin. “You know,” I said, then that headache began again…
To Be Continued.
©2022 Steve McLeod.
