For a smile as wide as a country sunrise
Hi everyone! It is a beautiful sunny and warm day here with a south wind blowing. We did have some rain early this morning and the humidity is very high today which makes it feel even warmer. Anyway, today we continue our look at some oddities in nature that can be quite beautiful if we take a close look at them.
Mostly we overlook a lot of things in nature because we look for something that is big and spectacular. But a lot of interesting and beautiful things are quite small. And in some cases, like today, many people would rather not look at them.

These I like to call “pollen cones” because they look somewhat like a pine cone, if you have a good imagination. Unfortunately they do cause a lot of problems for many people who suffer from pollen allergies.

But they are definitely an oddity in nature. Hopefully you won’t be too upset with me for showing these photos today. Have a wonderful weekend everyone and God bless!
Steve and Muffin. ©2025 Steve McLeod.
Things were not looking good for Aari and the others in that old building. Apparently a rival gang had come along to fight with Luna and Brielle to hopefully stop them from teaming together with Aari and the Black Wolves. “We can go out through this side door,” said Luna and she went over to open it. But, it had been locked on the outside.
They and their men turned around, but Aari and his group had disappeared, quite literally, though no one saw them do it. They were too intent on getting out that side door to notice anything else. Then they heard the sirens from the police as they came driving up. It seems someone tipped them off that a gang war was about to erupt at that spot tonight.
Once the other gang was inside the building, Aari and his team made it to their van and quickly drove away. Rock and Bear did have to knock out 4 of the gang members who were hanging around the van. And as they drove away, Sky tossed one of her lightning balls at the door of the building, preventing anyone from coming back outside until the police arrived.
Those lightning balls have many varied uses. The police managed to round up most of the gang that had attacked, plus all but 3 of Luna’s group. Those 3 had been killed by the rival gang already. As the police brought Luna and Brielle out, along with the leader of the rival gang, two shots rang out. The leader of the rival gang and Luna fell to the ground, dead.
The police found where the shots had come from, but there was no sign of anyone in that building, or anywhere else in the area. Aari was planning to kill both Luna and Brielle, but that other gang interrupted his plans, or I should say, our plans. But, Luna, or Medina which is her real name, will not be bothering us anymore.
Obviously someone else wanted her dead, and succeeded where we had failed many times. However, there is still Brielle, though she has been arrested by the police and there are many charges against her, including 3 counts of murder, though the murder charges may be hard to prove. She likely had someone else do the killing, she was just present when they did it.
But, she should end up in prison for several years anyway, unless her lawyer can get her off on a technicality. Or she manages to escape before getting to trial, a very real possibility. The teams were called back home and Sienna got her lawyers looking into Lily’s bank account. Bad news came back about that one though, the account did not exist anymore.
It seems that Lily claimed that money 4 years ago and had it transferred to another account down in Brazil. It was actually one of Lily’s sisters that played the part of Lily, with all the right documentation needed and her mother with her for added verification. What happened to the money after that is anyone’s guess, there was only a little over $100 left in the account when we checked on it.
Somebody spent a lot of money. Lily wasn’t too worried about that though, she said there wasn’t any point in worrying about something she never had. She was saddened by the fact that her whole family had turned bad. Both parents had been found dead in their home, 4 of her brothers were killed, her remaining brother, his wife, her 3 sisters and their husbands will all be heading to prison.
Only Lily decided to follow a law abiding path, and Sienna probably had some influence in that. They had been friends since high school days even though Sienna is a bit older. Well, we are all back at the chateau now and relaxing a bit. Misty and Cristy just came walking into the library with a plate full of donuts. Fresh donuts.
“What are you two doing?” asked Jennifer. “Munching on donuts,” they said together with a smile. “Why are you not working?” Jennifer asked again. They looked at each other, then at Jennifer. “You were given a discharge from the clinic Misty,” said Jennifer, “that means you are fit for work. That means you should be working, not munching on donuts. Now, no more donuts, go look at the work list and get busy.”
She turned and went into the kitchen. Cristy laughed, loud…and not so long. “Why are you laughing Cristy?” said Jennifer, “You should be back at work too.” “But Steve gave me a special whatever it’s called,” she said with a worried look. “That was only while Misty and the cats were in the clinic,” she reminded her, “they are not in the clinic anymore.
And don’t look at Steve, he is back on inactive duty now that the case is over. Kat and I are back being Leader 1. Now, leave the donuts with me and get to work.” She put the donuts on Jennifer’s lap, then saluted. “Yes, commander Jennifer,” she said and went back to her computer. Misty could be heard laughing in the kitchen.
A short time later Misty and Cristy were cleaning a bathroom. “You just had to salute, didn’t you,” said Misty. “I’m sure it was your laughing that did it,” said Cristy. “There are 30 bathrooms in this place,” said Misty. “Actually it’s 33, and they all need to be cleaned today,” sighed Cristy. “If these bathrooms weren’t so big, we could have bigger bedrooms,” said Misty.
“If they were smaller it would take 2 hours to get a turn in one,” said Cristy. “So much for that idea,” said Misty. Then Misty scooped some water from a toilet and poured it down Cristy’s back, making her screech. “What’s with the screeching?” asked Kat as she stood in the doorway. “That wasn’t screeching,” said Misty, “this is screeching…”
A little later. “You just had to give her an example of a loud screech,” said Cristy, “now, instead of one week of bathroom duty, we have a whole month of bathroom duty, plus regular duties!” “Yeah, she didn’t really see the comedy of it,” said Misty sighing.
Meanwhile, back to Jennifer and I. “Great way to get this plate of fresh donuts,” I said. “I thought so too,” Jennifer replied smiling. Meow, meow.= Me too, burp. Meowy.= Me too too, burp. Meowr.= Me too three, BURP! Well, another rather odd case is over, and I’m thankful for that.
I kind of like having Kat and Jennifer as Leader 1, though it sounds kind of strange saying Leader 1 when there are two of them. Oh well. Trixie has asked to stay with us and I, or rather, Kat and Jennifer, said yes to that right away. Trixie also asked about her best friend, Candy, who had been disowned by her family for being involved in porn.
Actually, she had been kidnapped and forced into porn, a little different than what her family was saying. Candy had escaped and had been living in an abandoned house for 8 months, with Trixie helping her out with food when she could. They have already begun taking our tests and are doing very well. I hope our next case is a bit more normal than this one, they seem to be getting worse all the time. Guess we will have to wait and see.
The End. A new case will be here soon! ©2025 Steve McLeod.