Steve`s Country
For a smile as wide as a country sunrise
Morning Coffee At Steve’s Country #5.
Good morning to all of you, and Happy Saturday! The coffee is hot and fresh, so please help yourself and relax with us for a few minutes. There are heavy clouds out there again today with a little very light snow falling at the moment. Occasionally there are some larger snowflakes gently falling to the ground as well. Certainly makes it dark inside though, so it’s necessary to have lights on. Providing I want to see properly and not trip over something. Of course I shouldn’t have so much ‘stuff’ all over the floor, but where else can I put it while I’m sorting things? Oh well. I’m almost at the end of that part. It’s been rather slow going I must admit.
There were 6 blue jays this morning, plus 4 redpolls, 6 chickadees and a downy woodpecker. Plus Jasper is playing out in the trees. He did come and get a couple peanuts for his breakfast, then off to play! He is really having fun running through the trees, jumping from branch to branch. Jasper loves jumping and can easily make an 8 foot jump. I measured before. That’s a straight across jump. And considering his small size 8 feet is quite a jump! Then he will run from the bottom of a tree straight to the top without stopping, then he jumps to another tree and runs straight down! And he just keeps doing this. There is a couple trees that he really likes more than the others, he will spend a lot of time running and jumping in those two trees. One is a black ash, about 80 feet tall, the other is a Manitoba maple, not as tall but it does have some very long branches.
Hmm, I don’t see him now, maybe he’s here getting another peanut. Actually, right now I don’t see anything out there. Even the branches are still, no movement at all. The only thing moving are the snowflakes that are falling a bit faster now, and a bit more numerous too. There is only supposed to be a few flurries today though. I remember one time they said that, a couple years ago, and we got 10 inches (25cm) of snow. That’s a lot of flurries. Today I thought I would share a couple summer pics from along the river. It’s so nice to remember the beauty of summer. Help yourself to another cup of coffee before you go. I hope you all have a most wonderful day and God bless!
Steve and Muffin.
©2020 Steve McLeod.
20/20 Investigations, Inc. The Wilderness Staircase. Chapter 2.
Well, after we had a most delicious dinner we decided to go to our room to do some planning and get to bed early. It’s going to be a busy day tomorrow. David will be taking us to the old staircase after breakfast, then we will be on our own until we find out what is going on out there. Diane is preparing food for us to take along, plus candles, matches and blankets. It’s a dark place, even during the day, so we will need a lot of candles, depending how long we will be out there. Plus we will have a propane camp stove to use for cooking and most importantly, for making coffee. Really, all we need to do is prove that there is nothing to this legend and find out who is scaring people away from that old hotel and why. There is likely some illegal activity going on which is why they, whoever they are, want a quiet out of the way place to work.
David and Diane have a nice lodge here, made from logs, giving it a nice rustic look. At least this part was mainly finished before the workers left. And the workers will be back once we put an end to that legend. Diane had a huge breakfast ready for us which was very nice indeed. We won’t have such nice meals over the next few days. Oh well. There will be lots of exploring coming up anyway which should be great fun. David took us to the staircase and was going to leave us right away, but I managed to convince him to help carry our supplies to the top. But he wouldn’t go up to the hotel, he left us at the top of the hill and took off rather fast. Meow.=Human David scared, leave really fast. Meow, meow.=Me scared too, maybe we should leave fast.
“Don’t worry you two, this will be fun exploring a wonderful old stone hotel,” I said, “it would have been called an “inn” 300 years ago.” Meow?=Wonder why it called ‘inn’? Meow,meow.=Because once you in you not get out. Meow.=Oh, that not good. “Okay, let’s get our stuff up there and pick out a bedroom to use,” I told them. Meow,meow?=Who need bedroom? Not going to sleep in this creepy place. “It’s a beautiful place Muffin,” I said, “just look at how well made it is, I mean, it has been around a long time.” Meow.=So it can capture more people. Meow,meow!=And more cats! “Sigh, it’s not going to be easy to convince you both,” I said.
The place was 3 stories high in the central part, but only one story on either side. Since there were no beds in this place we decided to sleep in the main entry hall, which was a huge room. Next to this room was a large kitchen that had a stone table and a wood bench on either side, a good place for us to eat. There was a large library to the right side of the entry hall which had floor to ceiling shelves with a large wood table. There was even some dusty old books here and there on the shelves. It certainly didn’t look like anyone else was living out here, there was a thick layer of dust that lay undisturbed on everything. We went outside and checked all around the hotel and walked back to the staircase. Meow,meow?=Why you got puzzled look? Meow.=Yes, there nothing out here.
“That’s exactly right, there is nothing here,” I told them, “if people have been here then there should be evidence of people. David and Diane were out here and looked through most of the hotel, but there is no evidence that they were here either.” Meow.=Oh, I understand, if humans David and Diane here, then should be evidence they here. “That’s it,” I said, “but there is no evidence at all.” Meow,meow?=That mean they not out here? “I’m not sure just yet Muffin,” I said, “I mean, why would they lie about that?” We get back to the hotel and suddenly both cats yell, “MOUSE!”, and off they go. Oh well, guess it’s time for a break. So I sat on the stone steps and watched as they bumped into each other time after time. That mouse should have no trouble getting away! After a bit the cats came back to the steps. Meow?=Hey, where your human go? Meow,meow.=Door open, maybe he go back inside. So the cats went in and the door closed behind them. Muffin looked in the library and shrieked, EEEEEEEEEE!!!
To Be Continued.
Picture of Mr. Cat kindly supplied by his human, Nina.
Previous chapters of this story, and other stories can be found on my home page under 20/20 Investigations, Inc.
©2020 Steve McLeod.
