Steve`s Country
For a smile as wide as a country sunrise
Morning Coffee At Steve’s Country #19.
Good morning on this very cold Saturday! The coffee is hot and ready to go, so please help yourself and relax with us for a few minutes. I guess it’s not really that cold this morning, -5F (-20C), but it feels colder in the wind. It was nice and red in the eastern sky this morning too, would have made a beautiful picture but this big hill here beside me prevents that. I don’t get to see the east very well from here. The pic I would have gotten wouldn’t look like much and all those hydro wires out there really mess up the pic anyway. From the top of that hill it must look quite nice though. Poor Jasper yesterday. After I told him about Jenny, then about an hour later another squirrel showed up. It was a male though so Jasper had his first big fight protecting his territory. Squirrels can really fight it out at times. But finally the other squirrel decided it was enough and ran off with Jasper chasing him until they were both out of sight.
Jasper was back a little while later, victorious! But he didn’t come over, I was ready to give him a nice very large peanut. He’ll get it next time though. Then shortly after that Baxter and Betty, the blue jays, were out here by themselves and suddenly a third blue jay came along and went after Betty, quite viciously. Then I realized it was a shrike! Baxter was after it in a flash, but shrikes are much more aggressive than blue jays even though the same size. Amazing that it would attack a blue jay though, he must have been getting hungry to do that. Poor Baxter was all alone in his fight though, I think the shrike knew that too. Other winters there have been 10 blue jays around, which gives 5 males to fight any enemies, they work together at times like that, which also protects the smaller birds. No other birds were in sight, the small birds had gone into hiding.
Finally 2 more blue jays came along, the must have heard the calls for help. In all 10 other blue jays came, obviously pairs, and the 5 males took turns going after the shrike and finally chasing it away from the area. Baxter and Betty were okay, and the other 3 regular blue jays stayed around too. I put out more peanuts for them. Generally the females won’t fight the shrike, unless there are no other jays around beside their mate, then they join in. Hopefully that shrike will stay away now. The blue jays work together to help each other, and with that they help the other birds in the area too. A good lesson there for people too. As is typical for Saturday, I have a couple more scenery pics from down at the river, though they don’t show the river, but rather a couple of spots that I really like. I hope you have a very enjoyable weekend and God bless!
Steve and Muffin (presently sleeping on my lap)
©2020 Steve McLeod
20/20 Investigations, Inc. The Wilderness Staircase. Chapter 9.
While I was watching over Lena as she woke up, the cats were on the other side of the bedroom by the fireplace talking quietly together. Hmm, I need to find out what they are talking about, but without Lena around. That won’t be easy. “What happened?,” asked Lena, “my head is pounding.” “That’s because you were hit on the head, likely by David, so the cats killed him,” I told her. She just sat there, I don’t think she’s fully recovered just yet. The cats came over finally and we all started talking about the latest note which I had just shown to Lena. “So that’s why this is going on,” said Lena, “there’s a treasure that John is after. But why include me in this treasure hunt?” “Probably to ensure that I will help look for these hidden jewels, I explained, “John knows the cats and I are good at finding hidden treasures and he knows I won’t just step up and offer to help him.”
After about an hour Lena was feeling fine again and hungry. “I’ll go make us something to eat,” she said. And as she left added, “David and Diane seemed like such a nice couple, hard to believe they would join up with that John character.” “So true,” I agreed, “Muffin, you go with Lena and don’t let anyone get near her. And call out if anything at all happens. Mr. Cat and I are going to look around for a bit, but we won’t be far away.” Meow,meow.=Okay, I watch real close and call for help if something happen. “Good girl,” I said as she quickly caught up to Lena. Since my scrambler was still working it was safe to talk in our room. Hmm, John could be using a scrambler just like this, only a little bigger to block us from calling out from here. I just need to find it. “Okay, Mr. Cat, what were you and Muffin talking about?,” I asked.
Meow.=Just talk about case, very confusing. Not think that David and Diane would be part of this, they hire us to find out what going on out here. “Yes, that’s true,” I said, “but it could have just been a way to get us here to help look for the treasure.” Meow.=Not seem like that kind of human people, Muffin agree. “Did you hear what Lena said about David and Diane just now?”, I asked him. Meow.=Yep, not strange thing to say. “But it is strange,” I told him, ” she was knocked unconscious at her home and she knew nothing until she woke up here. At least that’s what she told us. So where did she have a chance to meet David and Diane?” Meow.=Oh, that right, I miss that one, so she lie somewhere, why she do that? “That’s what I would like to know,” I said, “now, what else did you talk about?” Meow.=The notes, they not written by John, not same handwriting, not even close. We say it written by human woman. We say it written by….
Right then Muffin screamed loudly and we took off running to the kitchen! Lena was gone and Muffin was lying on the floor bleeding. I picked her up gently while Mr. Cat watched carefully and we went back to the bedroom. I put Muffin down on a blanket and examined her wound. She had obviously been sliced with a knife on her side up near her shoulder. It wasn’t deep though so she will be okay, but she’s also unconscious which is odd. Meow!=Look here! I looked on her back and there was a tiny dart. It must have had something to knock out Muffin. The slash on her was a warning of what they could have done, had they wanted to. They went too far now, forget the hidden jewels, it’s time to fight! “Okay Mr. Cat,” I said, “what about those notes? You said they were not written by John, that’s what I figured too, but I couldn’t think of who might have written them.” Meow.=Muffin and I think they written by human woman named Candy from ‘Country Estate’ case, twin of Jessica. “Hmm, I knew the notes were not written by John, and John doesn’t seem like he would be smart enough to do all this,” I said, “Candy is someone who could do it however, except she is supposed to be dead.”
To Be Continued.
Picture of Mr. Cat kindly supplied by his human, Nina.
Previous chapters of this story, and other stories in this series, can be found on my home page under 20/20 Investigations, Inc. Thank you for reading.
©2020 Steve McLeod.
Steve`s Country 