Steve`s Country
For a smile as wide as a country sunrise
Coffee At Steve’s Country #21.
Good morning on this very cold Thursday here at Steve’s Country! However, we have a nice warm atmosphere and plenty of hot coffee and tea to share with you today! It is around 2F (-17C) with a very strong wind that makes the temp feel like -19F (-28C). That’s getting too cold for me, even though I know it can get colder, much colder. But it doesn’t look like we will get into that severe cold this winter, and that’s nice when we get winters like that. And it happens now and then, nothing unusual about a milder winter, or a bitterly cold winter. We can get both kinds here.
The poor birds this morning, they certainly look cold. It’s that kind of temp where the birds “lose” their legs and feet. By that I mean, they are hiding their legs and feet under their feathers all the time, so it looks like they are bouncing around on their tummies. Well, today we begin our new coffee posts by looking at some of our wild friends. I won’t be doing this every day, but perhaps 2 or 3 days a week. Today we look at Theodore, or the eastern wild turkey specifically.
The male is called a ‘Tom’ or ‘gobbler’, the female a hen. A young male is a ‘Jake’, a young female is a ‘Jennie’, the babies are ‘poults’. Wild turkeys can run up to 25mph (40kph) and can fly at speeds of 55mph (about 82kph). They have around 5500 feathers! Males can weigh 16 to 25 lbs (7.25 kg to 11.34 kg), females about half of those weights. Only males gobble and both sexes make other sounds as well, which I have discovered. They were completely gone from the Canadian landscape by the early 1900s, but have been introduced again in many areas. They were introduced into our neighboring province of Manitoba back in 1958 and have done well and expanded their range a great deal and that is likely where our wild turkeys have come from.
Now, is Theodore a Tom or a Hen? Is Theodore one or two? I am including pics of heads today, they don’t have very thrilling heads to look at, but it does show something, those heads don’t look the same. Also Theodore’s tail which I thought was looking better and now it’s not, yet it is, just depends on the day. Do I have more than one Theodore coming to my feeder? Yep, I do, check the pics closely. Then there is the tail. And yesterday I heard Theodore gobbling loudly walking down the side street out here, then I heard another one. Sure enough, a second was coming down the street. The first Theodore turned and came chasing the second one. They really can run fast! So there is two, at least. I need to pay more attention now to these amazing birds. Oh, these birds will eat almost anything, grain, buds, berries, insects, even small reptiles. Well, that’s it for today, I hope you all have a wonderful day and God bless!
Steve and Muffin.
©2021 Steve McLeod.
The Investigators, Inc. The Missing Cat. Chapter 9.
The police were out front, how did they find us here? Mr. Cat watched from outside and let us know when they went in the front door. We were already outside and ran over to the big octagonal building that looked somewhat like a silo. Yep, that’s what it was alright, but this certainly didn’t look like a farm. It was more solid looking than the house however. We went up to the second level and there was a ladder that went up to a trap door in the ceiling. Up we went and I pulled the ladder up after us. The police did come in and look around but left quickly. Meow,meow.=My tummy still hurt sometimes. Hmm, that’s not good, I thought to myself. I started to rub her tummy, hmm. It was hard to see up there. “Sniff here Mr. Cat,” I said. Meow!=Something inside.
“Probably a tracking device of some kind,” I said, “that’s why they can find us so fast.” We go back down to the main level where we had some light. “I need to remove this Muffin,” I said to her gently, “but I have something that will dull the pain.” Meow,meow=That okay, get it out, I not like this inside me. Mr. Cat gently rubbed his head against Muffin’s while I gave her a needle. Then to the operation. The little transmitter, actually not so little, is out and Muffin is sewn up once more. “You’ll be okay Muffin,” I said, “but it might hurt for a day or two.” Meow,meow=That okay, now it gone so I feel better. “How far will that transmit?”, asked Lena. “Not too far,” I answered, “which means the police are never too far away.” “It also means they know we are here,” said Lena nervously, “let’s break that thing.”
“No,” I said, “if we do that they will know we have found it. For some reason they are waiting for something before moving in on us.” “They want us to contact the jewel thieves first perhaps,” said Lena, still nervous. “No, that’s not it,” I said, “the regular police don’t know what we are doing. Only the special unit of undercover police, and only a few of them.” “Then what are they doing?”, asked Lena. “I wish I knew the answer to that,” I said, “and…that’s it!” “What is it?”, asked Lena. “Sorry,” I said, “but this idea must remain a secret, with me only. It can be dangerous to know too much sometimes and I want to try and keep you safe.” I’m not sure if she believed me or not, but it has to be this way for now. “Okay, let’s go,” I said, and I picked up the tracking device. “You’re not taking that with us, are you?”, asked Lena. Meow?=Why not leave it here, then they not know we leave.
“I want to know we left,” I said, “it’s part of my plan to get rid of them for awhile. Just watch.” Off we drove back to the main highway and after about half an hour we came to another highway heading west. Right there was a place to pick up gas, well, they say petrol around here. And I noticed another truck very similar to ours sitting there. I pulled in close to that truck and stopped. The driver was obviously inside so I hid the tracking device on his truck. Then we sat and waited. It didn’t take long and the driver came out and drove away on that highway heading west. “Hey, that’s great,” said Lena, “now they should follow him.” And in a few minutes a police car came by and turned down that same highway undoubtedly following that tracking device.
“It worked!”, exclaimed Lena. “Yep, now we head back to that old building,” I said, “doubtful that they would look for us there tonight, so we’ll be safe.” The big door on that building opened just enough that I could drive the truck inside to keep it hidden. The night passed uneventful, except I didn’t get much sleep. I was too busy thinking about all that was going on. And although I did have a couple blankets to lay on, that floor was still rather hard. Before Lena woke up I went over to the cats who were watching out the window and whispered to them. Their ears went straight up! Pieces are beginning to fall into place. When I was talking to the jewel thieves, Sabine was called the ‘boss’ and Gaston was ‘doc’. That tracking device was inserted by a professional, perhaps Gaston. And their voices, now I know…
To Be Continued.
Pictures of Mr. Cat are kindly supplied by his human, Nina.
Previous chapters can be found on my home page under “The Investigators, Inc.” And other stories in this series can also be found on my home page under “20/20 Investigations, Inc.”
©2021 Steve McLeod.
Steve`s Country 