Steve`s Country
For a smile as wide as a country sunrise
The Investigators, Inc. The Game. Chapter 2.
Well, it didn’t take long and we were packed and on our way back to Canada for our next case. This is a slightly different case than most. Apparently the police didn’t find any wrong doing and so didn’t pursue the matter any further. But the older couple still maintain their sun stole their whole life savings and they don’t know where he is now. It was a long trip on that plane but finally we have arrived. The older couple met us at the airport with their tiny car, it’s amazing we got everything stuffed into that car. But soon we were on our way along a highway and then down a gravel road for about 2 hours. Finally we turned onto another road which seemed to be more mud than anything.
We drove for another hour and then turned onto their road which led into their farm. This time it’s mostly grass and we drove another long distance and finally it opened up to their yard and a big old farmhouse. It was 2 stories with a large wrap around porch, which has seen better days. Actually it looks like the whole house needs a bit of work. But once we got inside it looked very nice. “I hope you don’t mind sleeping in the bedroom in the basement,” said the woman, “but the upstairs rooms are a mess right now with renovations going on.” “That’s fine,” said Kat, “we don’t mind at all.” So the man took us down to the bedroom, which was large and very nice. He said that dinner would be ready in about an hour and then left.
I brought out one of my chargers and plugged in a scrambler so we could talk. “There, now it’s safe,” I said. “There’s an outlet over there,” said Kat, “doesn’t it work?” “It might right now, but electricity can be turned off,” I said, “this way I know we’re safe all the time.” “Hmm, good point,” replied Kat. The cats were busy sniffing around for anything that shouldn’t be there but the place had no hidden items that might be a problem for us. We relaxed a bit while the cats were doing that. “This is a nice room,” I said, “but it needs a window.” “I agree,” answered Kat, “even though the room is large I get a closed in feeling when I can’t see out.”
But soon we were called for dinner and there was even two spots set for the cats at the table. It was a delicious meal and afterward they told us more about what happened with their son. Apparently they signed some papers that they didn’t understand which gave their son power of attorney, which meant he had control of their money and property. So he took their money and put it in his account and now has sold their farm as well, and they have only 6 weeks to move out. But with no money, where would they go?
So they want us to look into this and try to get their son to see reason and give them at least some money to get another place to live. So far he has said no to this and just laughed at them. The cats growled when they heard he laughed at his parents. “We will definitely look into this for you,” I said, “and we will get started first thing tomorrow.” They were going to let us use their car since he also had another older vehicle to use. Then we went back to our bedroom and decided on getting to bed early so we would be well rested for tomorrow. “Something’s wrong here,” I said, “what’s with the renovations upstairs? They didn’t say their son was doing that, or the new owner.” “Yes, I thought about that too,” said Kat. But soon we were asleep.
Half way through the night we woke up to the cats jumping on the bed so hard it was shaking it terribly. “What are you two doing?”, I asked sleepily. “Steve, the place is shaking!”, said Kat. Meow,meow=It not us shaking, whole house shaking! Meow!=Yep, room moving in circles it feel like. I jumped up quickly but by then the movement stopped and everything was quiet. “Do they get earthquakes around here Steve?”, asked Kat. “It’s possible, I guess, but it shouldn’t be that bad,” I answered. But I decided to get dressed and check things out anyway. “Not without me!”, said Kat. I picked up my backpack and charger and Kat strapped on the cat’s backpacks. I opened the door and…
To Be Continued.
©2021 Steve McLeod.
Tuesday’s Tails #14.
Good morning everyone on this beautiful Tuesday! The gulls were here early, but only Sir George and Ricky showed up today. The chickadee family were out here for a short while too. And the chipmunks have been busy. Good thing those chipmunks are around or it would be kind of dull here these days. Sure makes a difference not feeding the birds during the summer. Usually it is so active with different species of birds during the summer months. I still have to check with my new landlord and see if I can keep feeding the birds this winter. That will be a very dull winter if he says no to that.
I finally have a good picture of Choco to share this morning. And another one of Scooter. Now you can see just how cute these two little chipmunks are. Summers are so short it seems. August is here already and that’s our last month of summer, and sometimes there is a big difference in temperature that happens around mid August, which means that fall has begun. But I’m hoping that will not be the case this year. I’m actually hoping for another mild winter like this past winter. That would be very nice indeed. We have had 2 nice winters in a row before. But it doesn’t happen too often, so we’ll just have to wait and see.
Sir Henry just showed up for his breakfast. It is just beautiful sitting on the deck this morning. It’s warm, there’s no wind, the sun is somewhat shining through the smoke, a white-throated sparrow is singing across the street, the only bird I can hear right now. I saw Slim yesterday, looks like he has moved across the street. He’s carrying his stock of peanuts across the street now. Maybe he found himself a girlfriend over there and he wants to be closer to her. He better watch those cars or he’ll end up being raven food.
The number of fires is going down, but that is not all good news. Some smaller fires have been put out, but other fires have merged together creating larger fires. So instead of 2 or 3 smaller fires, they merge together to make one fire, so it looks like there are less fires, but things are indeed worse. The largest fire is now 465,141 acres, the next largest is 397,000 acres. That makes over 800,000 acres with just 2 fires. There are now 110 fires burning, 90 are not under control, 7 are being held, 13 are under control. And smoke is everywhere. But it’s still a beautiful summer morning, a red-eyed vireo is now singing, and it’s calm. Have a wonderful day everyone and God bless!
Steve and Muffin.
©2021 Steve McLeod.
