For a smile as wide as a country sunrise
Well, I’m back again with Part 2 of yesterday’s story, if you missed Part 1 then just click on Saturday and it will take you to it. Hopefully that link will work, I’m still not very good with these things. I used to love driving down country roads to look for wildlife and abandoned farms, or just a house that was abandoned many years ago.
They give an interesting glimpse into the history of the area, so…let’s see, where was I? Oh right, the bear had just looked in the cellar. Not a joyful thought, really it wasn’t. It didn’t look like a large bear. But if it fell into the cellar even a small bear could be rather dangerous. Especially since there is no way out of here.

And if it was a young bear with a mother around, well, I didn’t even want to think about that possibility. Baby would fall in and start to cry for his mother and the mother would jump in to help her baby. She would see me and I would become dinner for the two of them and…wait, I wasn’t thinking about this. But the bear decided to wander off, with boards creaking and cracking with every step he took. Whew.
That was really too close. Now, back to the problem of getting out of here. The sun is set and it’s starting to get darker all the time. Good thing we still have about an hour after the sun sets before it gets dark. I checked the shelves that the canning jars were sitting on. I moved them. Another dusty crash as they fell apart. So much for using that as a ladder.

Hmm. Those boxes. I wonder if they are solid enough? I went over to that corner and moved one box. My heart started beating so fast, I think I could have jumped out of that cellar right then! Bones! Did I mention a skeleton last time? That was supposed to be a joke. But I saw bones behind those boxes. I really did not want to see this. I moved the rest of the boxes. An entire skeleton!
I told my legs it was time to move. They didn’t get the message. What would a skeleton be doing down here??! This is not really fun. It looked complete, about the size of a young child. I really did not want to stay there. However, how to get out? I almost wanted to touch it to see if it was real, but that’s not a good idea. Especially if it is real. Sigh.

It’s getting darker all the time so I had to do something quickly. I took the boxes over to the cellar door opening. There is only 3 boxes. Not quite enough. I moved part of the broken stairs over first. Then I stacked the boxes on top. I used another board to steady myself so I could climb onto the boxes. Not too bad. Working good. I’m on the top box. The whole stack wobbles.
Then down I go once again! Ooh, that hurt! I got up and moved things around a bit and tried again. This time I was able to grab the frame of the door opening and pull myself out. I quickly moved off that old floor. What a relief to be on solid ground again! It was nearly dark by this time. I drove to the police station to report what I had found. I told them I wasn’t sure if it was real or not since I didn’t touch it.
They were glad I hadn’t disturbed it though. After investigating it they discovered it turned out to be a teaching aid, used by a doctor that had once lived there, apparently. That was good to know however. That was actually my first time finding a skeleton in all of my exploring. But not the only time. However, that’s another story. Well, I hope you enjoyed this little adventure. Take care everyone and God bless!
Steve and Muffin. ©2025 Steve McLeod.
Hello everyone! It is another very smoky day here, however, it is warmer than it has been, so that part is nice.
The number of forest fires continues to grow across western Canada burning up enormous amounts of land and causing tens of thousands of people to evacuate their homes.

Clintonia
Some return only to evacuate again 2 or 3 weeks later. The smoke from those fires affects millions of people across the country and beyond.

Fireweed.
Anyway, here we are on another Sunday to enjoy the beauty of some wonderful wildflowers!

Ox-eye Daisy
These are more that we found on our last two highway day trips this summer. Hopefully we will go on another trip soon once we get a good day for it.

Meadow Goat’s Beard, also known as Jack-go-to-bed-at-noon.
Have a great Sunday everyone and God bless!
Steve and Muffin. ©2025 Steve McLeod.