Steve`s Country
For a smile as wide as a country sunrise
Fabulous Friday. #19
Good morning on this bright, sunshiny Friday! We had a few thunderstorms come through here last night, with lots of lightning that just lit up the night sky and huge rolls and cracks of thunder. Poor Muffin, she was not impressed at all. She decided the bathroom was definitely the best place to ride out the storms. So I made a nice soft bed in there for her to sleep on which she was very happy about and lay down on it right away. I do not think she did any sleeping however.
She is sleeping nicely on my bed at the moment, and I imagine she will stay there for quite a while to catch up on lost sleep. The storms were rather loud and the bathroom was the least noisy area in the apartment. My bedroom was the noisiest place as the wind beat against that wall constantly. The wind was very strong during those storms and is still quite strong this morning. But the wind is warm, which is nice.
It turned out to be a nice sunny day yesterday so I was out in the afternoon trying to get pictures of the birds, but it was not working so well for some reason. The birds seemed very nervous. Perhaps it is because the neighbors cat is around so much now. He almost caught Crunchy, our new chipmunk, a couple of times now. Fortunately there are some old pieces of drain pipe under the deck and one over by the fence, and both times Crunchy was able to get in one of those pipes just in time.
I ran out and scared the cat away both times, but I cannot always be watching. That cat just might be responsible for the disappearance of Skamper and Coffee. Anyway, I was out trying for pictures and finally decided to come inside. Just after getting in Muffin ran up to the window, but crouched and was scared. I knew what that meant and I looked out the window. Sure enough, a bear was on the deck!
That meant he was not very far away while I was still outside. That is not so good, this was at 3pm, that is mid afternoon and this bear was quite large, not one of the biggest but big enough in the 250 to 300 pound range. I opened the door to scare him away and hopefully get a picture and I did get a couple. He has a bit of brown in his fur on one side and looks like some small lumps on his back. He was certainly grunting a lot as he left, I do not think he was too happy.
Those rose-breasted grosbeaks, males, are still here and I am still trying to get pictures, but they fly away as soon as I go outside, I tried taking pictures through the window but it does not work. These are old windows and it is impossible to get a clear picture through them. But at least I have something until I can get a better one. I am showing one of the pictures I took through the window. I am tired this morning and the day has just begun. Thank you for reading today, have a truly fabulous Friday and God bless!
Steve and Muffin. (Praying for the people of Ukraine)
©2022 Steve McLeod.
The Investigators, Inc. Ghost Town Mystery. Chapter 2. Questions.
We all got together in our bedroom which was the largest. This time we brought scramblers to use in every room just to be safe. And these new ones are battery operated and will last 1 week on a battery, plus we brought extra batteries to use as well. We also brought along our own special locking devices for our rooms when we are not there so we will be alerted if anyone goes into our rooms. There is no electricity, no internet capability, not even a landline phone out here.
We are totally cut off from the outside world. And it would seem that old bus is there only vehicle too, which is not very reassuring, it is amazing that it even runs. “Well cats, what do you think so far?”, I ask them. Meow,meow.=Me not sense danger, look like nice place and human old people seem nice too. Meow.=Me agree, look like it will be fun place to explore.
Meowr.=Yep, me too agree too, but, something not seem right, but not sure what. I new so maybe it just me think that. “Being new does not mean anything Storm,” said Kat, “we always want to know how you feel about things.” “Yes, that is right,” I said, “sometimes only one person will pick up on some danger, so always say what you feel.” Meowr.=Okay, me do that, but still not know why I feel that way. “It seems like an odd place to open a tourist site,” said Kristina, “but sometimes that can work out okay.”
“So true,” added Jennifer, “but it will take a lot of work to get this place ready for tourists. And that road will sure have to be fixed, people will wreck their vehicles on that road.” “I wonder why they seem so nervous and scared?”, asked Galyna, “it seems to peaceful out here.” Just then we heard the old metal triangle being clanked telling us that dinner was ready.
Down we went and found out another couple were there too, some old friends of the owners had dropped in unexpectedly. That is kind of interesting. Coincidence or deliberate? I guess we will find out. I tried to ask some questions but Sam did not want to talk “business” at dinner, he suggested waiting until morning. Hmm, that is rather odd. While we were eating another vehicle drove in, though by all the noise it was making it did not sound like they would be driving back out very soon.
They said their truck was just fine until about half way down the road, then it started making weird noises and barely made the remainder of the trip. Sam looked at me rather worried. They introduced themselves as Mark and Melinda Carter. They are from England and on vacation here in Australia. Their story seemed logical and yet they are sure off the normal tourist agenda. The owners friends are Mike and Val Peterson. They seem to be very cold, unfriendly people that look at us like we should not be there.
I think it is the other way around, I do not trust them. After dinner I tried again to talk with Sam but he wanted to wait until the morning when we could be alone. I reminded him we came a long way and we still do not know what the problem is and how we can help, or even if we can help. I also asked him if it had anything to do with the person who wanted to buy the place from him.
“I do not think so,” he said, “the man was very pleasant and when I said no, we did not want to sell, he was still very kind and apologized for taking up our time and thanked me for listening to his offer. But about a month before he showed up some strange things started to happen, like one of our dogs suddenly died and he was only 3 years old. I do not know what happened to him.” “Did you not take him to a vet to find out?”, I asked.
“The nearest one is 120 miles away,” he said, “so I did not bother since he was already dead. And then things like what happened to the people tonight with their truck. We had a nice truck too, only 6 months and it suddenly stopped working about 2/3 along that road. Plus some other things, like one of our sheds burned down. And then the next day that man showed up.” “What is his name?”, I asked. “An odd name,” he said, “Horner Debra.
When I came to pick you up I stopped in at the library to use their computers to look him up and that his real name, his picture was there too. Apparently he is quite wealthy, but there really was not much information about him.” “Well, that is a good place to start,” I said, “I will check into that.” He looked at me rather puzzled since he had told me there is no outside connection here. I then said we would continue our conversation in the morning and went back to the hotel to join the others. The other guests were also staying in the hotel so we would have to pay attention to people listening at our doors.
To Be Continued.
©2022 Steve McLeod.
Steve`s Country 