Steve`s Country
For a smile as wide as a country sunrise
Wandering Through Wednesday. #16
Good morning to all of you on this milder Wednesday! Yes indeed, the temperature is up a bit at 30F (-1C). This is one of our milder mornings so far and it felt nice going out to feed the birds. It is a bit windy though which makes it feel a bit cooler, but it still is not bad. The birds are busy this morning, still quite a few redpolls, though counting them has not been easy since they have been flying back and forth so much this morning.
It only takes one bird to scare the whole flock and it happens a lot. But there is around 40 of them. There are over 100 juncos. All the others are about the same in numbers. Still just one grackle out there, normally there should be flocks of them back now. A red-winged blackbird showed up this morning too, which is not unusual for this time of year. But what is unusual is having all this snow on the ground when the blackbirds show up.
I have never seen so much snow on the ground when the red-winged blackbirds come back, and there should be a lot of them back this time of the year. There should be a lot of other birds too, but they are nowhere to be seen yet. There will be a big rush of birds when they finally do start returning, and those that just move through the area will not stay around long this year. That makes it harder to get pictures of birds that I am trying to add to my collection.
I am going to miss some ducks this year too since I am unable to get down to the river right now. Still way too much snow and ice for safe walking. By the looks of things it will be May before I can walk to the river again. I was outside for a while yesterday trying to get some pictures, which I will show today. Anyway, there were some female purple finches around and I got some nice photos of them, but none of the males were in sight.
Finally I had to come inside, took my boots and jacket off, put my camera down and looked out the window. There were 4 bright red, male purple finches out there. Four of them. So I decide to go back out and get ready. I look out the window to make sure they are still there and… not a bird in sight anywhere. Then I saw the hawk flying away over the trees next door. Sigh.
Take jacket and boots off, put camera away and look out the window. Still nothing out there, they never came back again. But they are here this morning. However it is cloudy, they look much brighter in the sunshine. Oh well. No more sun in the forecast until next week. Hopefully they will stay around. It is fun watching the birds each morning. Time for another coffee, there is lots for everyone. Have a most wonderful Wednesday and God bless!
Steve and Muffin.
©2022 Steve McLeod.
The Investigators, Inc. The Sniper Mystery. Chapter 2. John?
Baldwin’s men went out looking right away for the sniper, but all they found was his rifle and signature note “The Sting Of Death”. How does this guy know our every move? Someone inside is telling him, but who? The two most likely are Baldwin and Shirley, but that does not make any sense to me. The ambulance came to pick up Kristina’s body. This seems more like it must be a dream, yet it is real. We must find Stinger before he gets anyone else!
Rock, the cats, Benjamin (one of the new pilots), Joshua (the other new pilot) and myself decided on going to town and look around. It is a small town with only 2 hotels. I showed the photo of the Stinger around but no one had seen him. So then we headed off to the next town which was larger. At one hotel the manager said that Stinger had stayed there, but left a day ago to go hiking and camping. Okay, that is how he is keeping track of the chateau, he is camping somewhere not far away.
Now it is time for some helicopter rides around the area to see if we can find him. We did find 2 campers but neither was our man and the people in both cases had not seen him around, even though they had seen each other. How does this guy stay so well hidden and yet stay open enough to see us? Carine is next on the list and she is definitely not going outside.
Back at the chateau we are all in the library before dinner talking when Jake called Annelie. She left the room so she could talk to him privately. Hmm, that does not sound good, what did Jake find out? “Hey girl, more bad news for you,” he said quietly, “I feel terrible that I cannot help much in this one, I just do not understand what is going on.” “That is okay Jake,” said Annelie, “you are helping, what is the news now?”
“There is a slight change in the list,” he said, “it is now like this, Carine, Kat, Aurela, Angel, you, Lajla and Jenny.” “Hmm, I wonder why the change in the order?”, asked Annelie. “No idea, I am trying to find out,” said Jake, “but I will say again, look inside, that is the only thing that makes sense, otherwise I would know about it.” “And how would he know about Aurela, unless someone in here told him,” said Annelie, “we have some new girls coming in too, watch out for their names Jake, Brigetta, Mriya, Galyna, and Nyura.”
“Okay, I will do that,” said Jake, “one more thing, remember the name John?” “How can I forget him,” she said, then paused, “but he is dead.” “Maybe, or maybe not,” said Jake, “but the name is out there again, seems someone saw a man named John talking with this Stinger guy not long ago. John was a big man, right?” “Yes, he was a big man,” said Annelie with a bit of a shiver just thinking about him.
“Be careful girl, this Stinger guy, he is cold,” said Jake, “he enjoys what he does, make sure you, and the other girls, do not take chances.” Then he hung up and Annelie came out and told us what he had said about the list. Then she took me aside to fill me in completely. Meowr?=Why human Stinger man want to kill all girls? Meow,meow.=We not know, someone pay him to do it. Meow.=Yep, it a job to him, he like doing it.
Meowr.=He coward human, he not come in open, always hide long distance away. Meow,meow.=Yep, that true, now it time for another test. Meowr.=Okay, I ready for it. The cats disappear outside. Good thing they are not on the list. Tomorrow comes and we decide to go check another town for Stinger, though it is further away. But he must be staying somewhere.
Baldwin stays back to look after things and I leave the cats home this time too, just us 4 men go. But we came up empty once again so headed back to the chateau. Could John be still alive? I was sure he was dead, Kristina shot him 3 times. It just does not make sense. But none of this is making sense. It still seems like Baldwin or Shirley is responsible for hiring this guy, but why? We got back by mid afternoon.
It was a nice hot day and the girls wanted to go for a swim in the pool. It has a high wall around it and we have an underground passage to the pool. Seems safe enough, so I said okay. Rock and I go too, just to watch the surrounding area carefully. Not even Stinger could do anything here. “Hold this helicopter steady,” said the man. “Doing the best I can sir,” said the pilot. He aimed, and shot.
Carine just came out of the pool and fell back in. “NO!”, I yelled. Everyone went back inside through our tunnel. Rock and I retrieved Carine from the water. I failed once again. Then I thought, a helicopter, he used a helicopter. I checked the airport and off we went. Sure enough, he had rented a helicopter, but how did he know? How? He left the rifle behind with his note, but something different this time. He also left an envelope with my name on it…
To Be Continued.
©2022 Steve McLeod.
