Steve`s Country
For a smile as wide as a country sunrise
Morning Coffee At Steve’s Country #22.
Good morning everyone on this mild, foggy morning! Please help yourself to some coffee, sit back and relax with us for a few minutes. Muffin is waiting to greet everyone that stops by today! As I mentioned, it’s mild again this morning, 16F (-9C), and foggy. The fog is a bit odd for this time of year, the heavy clouds are normal, making it quite dark inside so my lights are still on. The birds are slow waking up this morning it seems, so far I have only seen 1 chickadee and 2 blue jays. That is also odd. Just a few houses in both directions from me there are people feeding birds this year, plus another person on the next street I have been told. That could have a lot to do with the lack of birds this winter.
Theodore was back again yesterday, I hope he will be back again today as well. There is a snowstorm coming our way, should be here this afternoon and continue all night and into tomorrow. It will make things look very nice for Christmas. Personally I think a green Christmas would be nice. Just for a change. I doubt it will ever happen though. But we did come close one year. After that it started getting colder again each winter. Oh well, this is the north, we kind of expect cold and snow around here. I see all 5 blue jays are here now and several chickadees, the 2 nuthatches, still haven’t seen the woodpeckers though. I also haven’t seen Jasper this morning. I’m sure he will be here soon looking for his breakfast.
This snow that is coming might make it hard to walk down to the river, unless some other people use the path too. Not a bird in sight right now, everything is so very quiet. This is also very odd. Birds usually are very busy at feeders prior to a snowstorm, eating as much as possible. I will need to be out early tomorrow morning before it gets light making sure the feeders are clear of snow and well stocked for the birds. All part of feeding the birds in winter. A chickadee has returned I see, oh, and a few more have come with it. That’s what I like to see. And today, some warmer looking bird pics from early summer, still going through a few of my favorites from this year and we will continue with favorites until the end of the year. But favorite flower pics I will keep until January. I hope you all have a wonderful day and God bless!
Steve and Muffin.
©2020 Steve McLeod.
20/20 Investigations, Inc. The Wilderness Staircase. Chapter 10.
It was about an hour before Muffin began to wake up slowly. Meow?=Muffin, what happen to you? We worried. “Take it slow Muffin, and don’t move around yet,” I told her. Meow,meow.=Shoulder sore, like it got cut. “It did get cut Muffin, but I stitched it back up again, so you’ll be fine, but you might have a scar,” I said quietly. Meow,meow=I okay, where is Lena? She save me, she stand in way and try to stop Diane and Diane hit Lena with knife! Lena hit Diane with big fry pan, Diane fall to floor, then Muffin fall asleep, not see anymore. Meow?=Lena help you? Meow, meow.=Yep, she sure did, I hope she is okay. Well, this certainly makes things a bit different, I thought to myself. “There was no one around when we got there Muffin,” I said. Meow,meow.=Oh, that too bad, not sound good for Lena, maybe she get hurt bad.
“Well, for now we stay put and have something to eat, you need to rest tonight Muffin and then tomorrow we go looking and see what we can find,” I told them both. Meow!=Yep, and when we find them, then it fight time! Meow,meow!=I agree, it time for us to fight. I also not sure if notes written by Candy, maybe written by Diane. Also, just remember, there was man behind Diane, big man, but not John, we see him before though, but can’t remember name. “That’s okay Muffin, don’t worry about it right now, just eat and rest for tonight,” I said. We all slept well that night, with Mr. Cat and I taking turns watching. But nothing happened and Muffin slept right through the night which was good.
Morning arrives, the sun is shining in our window so brightly, looked beautiful, it was hard to think of the dangers of this place. We ate some breakfast and then went back to that odd little round room upstairs. I measured it and it seemed like there should be another door in that room and all 3 doors would then be equally spaced apart. Hmm, how to make this room turn the opposite way to open that other door, if there is one. I paced off the distance to where the door should be and as I stepped on a certain stone the room started to turn again finally opening another door leading to another tunnel. We went in slowly. It was a narrow tunnel compared to the others, just wide enough to walk through. Mr. Cat stayed just ahead of me and Muffin sat on my shoulder looking backward, that way no one could sneak up behind us.
The tunnel went in a spiral shape and constantly going downward, which I figured it would do. Then we came to a wood door, but the tunnel kept going. The door wasn’t locked so I opened it. There was another round room with nothing in it whatever. So we kept going down this tunnel and again another door and another round room that was also empty. Very strange. And it’s obvious that no one has been in this tunnel for a long, long time, but, there is fresh air getting in which is nice. Finally the tunnel ends…in a small room with 3 doors, beside the one we came in. I try the one on the left and there was a metal box which I opened. I couldn’t believe it, full of jewels! I showed the cats. Meow,meow!=Oh, they beautiful! I quickly put them in my backpack and then I tried the next door.
Hmm, nothing except a little room. Mr. Cat started to go in and I grabbed him, pulling him back. A large rock fell from the ceiling! It would have crushed Mr. Cat, or anyone else going in there. I tried the third door, standing off to the side, and several curved knives came flying out and across the room. Glad I wasn’t standing in front of the door. Odd there was nothing guarding the actual door to the jewels. Or perhaps it just didn’t work. I don’t think I will go back to check. We head back up through the tunnel and were back upstairs in no time and then down to our bedroom. Lena was sitting there waiting for us! And Muffin was so glad to see her again! She did have a long slice on her arm from that knife attack. But she couldn’t remember anything much except right at the beginning when Diane went after Muffin and she tried to stop her. It’s so hard to know whether to believe her or not right now.
To Be Continued.
Previous chapters of this story, and other stories, can be found on my home page under 20/20 Investigations, Inc.
©2020 Steve McLeod.
