Steve`s Country
For a smile as wide as a country sunrise
It’s Coffee Time #109! Tuesday’s Tales.
Good morning to everyone on this very beautiful spring morning! Coffee is ready, Muffin has the cups lined up so nicely just waiting for all of you. It’s sunny with a clear blue sky. Oops, I see a couple of leftover clouds out there. But it will be sunny all day and the birds are busy this morning again too. But the numbers of juncos have certainly gone down again. I guess they are starting to spread out and head further north as well. I didn’t see any fox sparrows this morning either, or hear them, so maybe the last of them have gone now too. There is a flicker out there again, I can hear him laughing away from a tree in the distance. They have an easy to identify call even though it is similar to that of other woodpeckers. They are much more vocal than other woodpeckers and will do a lot of calling, especially in spring.
The evening grosbeaks were here earlier but something scared them and they haven’t returned yet. But I’m sure they will be back. I see a couple of them sitting in the tree right now. There was 2 pine siskins here as well. We had some in winter, but they disappeared, likely moving further north. Then we get some summer pine siskins every year, that’s what these are. There will likely be more show up soon. And goldfinches are not usually far behind them. I put sunflower seeds in 6 places this morning because there are so many grosbeaks and it didn’t take them long to find all 6 spots, and fill them. There was still as many waiting in the trees as there were feeding.
Then Jasper showed up, and instead of going to the squirrel feeder he decided to go to the birds biggest feeder. So I went outside and convinced him to return to his feeder. I think he was just jealous because the birds have a bigger feeder. I’m back again. I wanted to go out and see if I could get a pic of the grosbeaks using a new “feeder” I made. I like to recycle things. I get a lot of these plastic jugs that cat litter comes in now. I reuse them to store bird seed in them. But I was thinking one day about the feeders and bears. So I decided to cut out the sides of one of these jugs and hang it up for the birds. The grosbeaks love it, but it is a bit lightweight so it swings around a lot.
That doesn’t seem to bother them much, but it would be hard to focus in and get a good picture. So I’m going to attach a piece of wood to the bottom for a little extra weight. I figure if the bears destroy it, there is no big loss, I have more to use and they are free, unlike the $20 feeders that Bert has been destroying. So today I will make another one. This will work until I’m able to extend the feeders out far enough that Bert won’t be able to reach them. I hope. Thank you everyone for your concern for my safety. I will try to stay safe, I will not be taking chances. Hmm, it has become cloudy, that wasn’t supposed to happen. It’s still a beautiful spring morning. Have a wonderful day everyone and God bless!
Steve and Muffin.
©2021 Steve McLeod.
The Investigators, Inc. Nowhere. Chapter 15.
Baldwin was able to get word to the President about a security breach, so they postponed our little celebration for 2 weeks. That’s good, it gives us more time to think things over. We know approximately where that house is that they used, but would they still be there? Most likely they moved to a different location. Apparently Pete and Coral don’t like staying in one place too long. But it’s our only lead so we should check it out. Well, it’s been 6 days now since the attack at the chateau. Lena is still recovering in the hospital, but she is going to be fine. Muffin came home this morning, but she has orders not to move around too much. Mr. Cat is watching over her real good, bringing her whatever she wants, except toys, they are not allowed yet.
Mr. Cat, myself and some of Baldwin’s men went to find that burned out house and see if Pete and the others were still there. Mr. Cat identified the house, but he and I stayed in the car while Baldwin’s men went in. They found the tunnel and rooms in the cellar quite quickly, but they had obviously moved out of there a while back, probably after working on me. If I could just remember more, but things seem to be worse again. They tell me I was remembering a lot about Muffin, now I remember nothing. What is happening to me? Baldwin flew me up to Paris to see a specialist there. He concluded that Pete had done damage to a certain part of my brain, likely so I would follow some plan they had for me.
The fact that I had been starting to remember things and now have forgotten again was a troubling thing to the doctor. It could mean I was given more drugs somehow. He was afraid that if I got too much it could destroy that part of my brain and I would never remember, perhaps not even more recent things. He did some tests and confirmed what drugs had been used. It was an unusual combination of 3 different drugs, and I had recently been given another dose of them. He said that was too much and didn’t hold out any hope for me to regain my memory. But how could I have been given more? He said it would have to be given through an injection.
Back at the chateau, I mentioned the injection. Meow,meow.=Remember when you pick me up at animal hospital, the doctor drop needle and accident give it to you instead of me? “That’s right,” I said, “I had forgotten about that.” We went back to the animal hospital and found out that vet had only been there that one day. They were expecting a new vet to join them that day, but it turned out this was the wrong woman, the other woman had come down sick and wasn’t able to make it. “Great, one of Pete’s workers,” I said to Baldwin. “Certainly looks that way,” he admitted, “I’m sure sorry this happened. But we’re going to get you the best doctors to figure this out Steve, your memory must come back.”
It’s getting close to when Lena will be back at the chateau again, should arrive this afternoon. It will be nice to have her around again. Meow,meow=Oh, I just remember something from when we in cellar. Bad Pete ask if generators all in place, he not want to live in dark way out in forest. His men say all set and they have lots of food. Meow.=Hey, maybe that mean they in house we in, back in forest. “Hmm, you might be right, good going Muffin and Mr. Cat,” I said, “now we need to check this out.” “Let me send my men in there Steve,” said Baldwin, “remember you can’t use a gun.” “Yes, that’s a point, but, let’s try something,” I said, and we all went outside.
I asked one of the guards to show me how to work his gun, seemed easy enough. Looking at it had no effect on me, and now the test. “Get ready Mr. Cat,” I said, “you will need to be fast, this gun is different than a hand gun.” Meow.=Okay, I not like to, but I do it. “Wow, that was a big sigh,” I said. Everyone stood behind me. The guard gave me the gun and I shot, blasting apart a big urn outside. “My urn,” lamented Calanthe. “Don’t worry Calanthe,” said Baldwin, “I’ll get you another one. This worked Steve, which means you are only programmed to use a hand gun.” “Yes,” I said, “now we can go in and hopefully put a stop to this…and hopefully…I won’t end up staying…nowhere.”
To Be Continued.
Pictures of Mr. Cat are kindly supplied by his human, Nina.
Previous chapters of this story, and other stories, can be found on my home page under “The Investigators, Inc.” and “20/20 Investigations, Inc.”
©2021 Steve McLeod.
Steve`s Country 