Steve`s Country
For a smile as wide as a country sunrise
Solitude On My Deck. #4
Good morning and Happy Saturday to all of you! Grab a cup of coffee and relax for a few minutes. It was cloudy earlier and felt quite cool, especially with that wind. But, it seems to have cleared nicely now with lovely deep blue sky above the green of the trees. There are still a few clouds here and there, but nothing serious. Yesterday I went down to the river.
It was sunny and very little wind, a perfect combination for a walk. The wettest areas had mostly dried up, just a little water to walk through in two spots. Mostly those wet areas were now just soft, wet mud. Even though it was sunny, it was still a cool day with a high of only 70F (21C), so I wore a light jacket. So glad I did. The mosquitoes were out in large numbers along most of the path. I regularly had 20 on my hands at a time, plus more on my face and neck.
I guess they were quite happy to have a new “restaurant” walk into their neighborhood. Oh well. They need to eat too I suppose. I do not use mosquito repellant of any kind, that stuff is worse than the mosquitoes. Just my opinion. The worst part was when I stopped to take pics of something. Then those critters would really attack, and there would be dozens of them flying all around me.
But it was a beautiful walk and I managed to get some nice pics at the river, some I am showing today. Plus I was able to get some nice insect pics too. Also missed quite a few insects because they would not cooperate and land where I could get a picture of them. Oh well. Perhaps next time. I got to see a female blackburnian warbler and a male Canada warbler, both in the same area where they were nesting last summer. And both were out gathering insects to take back to the nest and hungry babies.
Unfortunately I was unable to get pictures of them, but there is still time. It would be nice to get the male blackburnian warbler as well. I did get the female last year. It is hard to get pics of warblers with all the leaves out now. They are small birds and like to stay hidden among the leaves. There were other warblers along the way too, but those species stay high in the trees, too high for pics. Chickadees and nuthatches, woodpeckers and pelicans, lots of different birds were around.
And the hermit thrush also. I love their song. They are especially active in singing early in the morning and late evening after the sun has set. But they sing anytime. They are a bird that is heard a lot but seldom seen. I certainly miss having that bench at the river, especially since all the rocks that I would normally sit on are now underwater. Part of the path which last time was under about 2 inches of water, is now flooded with about 2 feet of water for about 40 feet of the path.
Another part of the path is getting dangerously close to the edge of a collapsed embankment, and more will be collapsing soon, large cracks are developing on that embankment. Fortunately it is easy to walk further back from the edge. Well, I will have more to say and more pics to share from that walk, but that is all for today. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and God bless!
Steve and Muffin.
©2022 Steve McLeod.
The Investigators, Inc. The Icelandic Mystery. Chapter 10. Tunnels.
“Well, it should not be much longer Steve,” said Sigurbjorn, “how are you doing?” “I’m in a lot of pain and getting very stiff,” I told her, “and I am getting very cold. That is why they took my shirt, to make things as hard as possible for me and hopefully give me hypothermia.” “We must do something about that,” she answered, “though I am not sure what at the moment. But it is only a little further and we can stand up.” “That will be nice anyway,” I said slowly.
I was also trying not to show that I was shivering now. If we do not get out of here soon I will not make it. Sigurbjorn was right, it was only another 10 minutes and we were in a larger tunnel again so we could stand up. However, by this time it was hard to get myself standing but I had to try so Sigurbjorn would not worry about me.
“I know you are having a lot of trouble Steve,” she said, “so do not pretend. We have to get these cuffs off of us somehow. I wonder if it is still daylight enough. Come, let us try to walk a little down this tunnel.” I put all my strength into it and we made fairly good time to another “room” down this tunnel…and it had light in it! “There is a small hole that goes to the surface, right up there,” said Sigurbjorn, “it is nice to have a little light again.”
She was right, it was nice to be out of that darkness. That hole looked very tiny but the light it provided lit up that whole big room very nicely. “There it is,” she said, and we walked over to one of the walls. There was a very sharp rock protruding from the wall so we tried using it to cut these heavy rubber handcuffs off our wrists. Unfortunately it slipped a couple of times cutting both of us.
It did take a while but it worked and we were free again. “Oh my,” said Sigurbjorn, “the whole side of your arm is bleeding from being scraped as we crawled through that tunnel.” She was right. I was so cold that I did not even notice it. Then I really started shivering uncontrollably. “No, this is no time to go into shock,” she said and she began rubbing me to try and generate heat in my body.
She also ripped a sleeve off her shirt and got some water nearby to clean my wounds. She tried hard to get me to stop shivering and finally I settled down. “Perhaps we can call for help,” I suggested. “Unfortunately they would not hear anything, we are a long ways from where your team is likely standing,” she said. “I do not think I will be able to walk much more,” I said, “you might have to go on without me, you will be able to go faster. How much farther is it anyway?”
“Well, walking in the dark is slow, and there is a bad section where we could fall into another hole,” she began, “but if all goes well, even by myself, it would take another day to get out of here.” That is not really what I wanted to hear. That means if I go with her it would take at least twice that long, perhaps longer, since I will get weaker as time goes by. She looked at me.
“Yes, I know what you are thinking,” she said, “but I do not want to leave you here alone. It would be too dangerous, you would get hypothermia for sure.” “Yes, you do have a point,” I admitted, “but if I go with you, then you might have to carry me.” “Then I will carry you,” she said smiling, “we will rest a bit longer, then we will start walking again.”
She definitely will make a good addition to our team. Soon we were on our way again and it was not long before we were at the place she had mentioned. We had brought the handcuffs with us, even though they were cut we both held on to one end loop. She said if I fell then she could hold onto me and pull me back up again.
Somehow I doubted that, but it did give a certain sense of safety anyway. It seemed like such a long time crossing that spot but we finally made it and I collapsed onto the tunnel floor. “Yes, we can rest a bit here,” she said, “but not for long.” “C, can you describe w, where the other e, end of the t, tunnel is located,” I said shivering again. “Sure, but that does not help us,” she said rubbing me again. “Yes, I, I can send a message, in c, code,” I said, “press here, I, I will t, tell you how.”
To Be Continued.
©2022 Steve McLeod.
Steve`s Country 