Steve`s Country
For a smile as wide as a country sunrise
Daily Pics #119.
Good morning everyone on this beautiful Tuesday! Well, it is a bit wet out there with some light showers, but that just brings out the wonderful spring freshness that everyone loves so much. Except maybe Muffin. She doesn’t really like rain any more than snow since it means she can’t have the door open. Otherwise she’s okay with a light rain, but heavy rains and thunderstorms she does not like at all. The biggest problem, for me, with rainy or cloudy days, is the fact they are not the best for photos. Although some rainy day pics can look nice, I much prefer a sunny day pic. It just has a much more cheery look to it. Found out yesterday that tick season has begun once more. Didn’t think it had been warm enough for them yet, or dry enough, but such is not the case. So now I need to check myself thoroughly every time I come back from a walk to make sure I haven’t brought any unwelcome guests home with me. We have lots of deer ticks in this area and that means Lyme disease, which is not a pleasant experience. And many people here have had it over the years.
But right now let’s take a look at something much nicer than ticks, from my spring walks to the river…
In the photo above we have a trio of happy mergansers swimming fast and cheerful on the river. The female is in the middle of the two males, possibly trying to decide which one would make the best mate.
And in the above photo a beautiful mourning cloak butterfly sunning itself on a rock. These butterflies hibernate here and come out early in the spring. This one nearly landed on my hand but finally decided the rock was a better spot.
Well, that’s it for today’s pics, please stay safe everyone, have a wonderful day and God bless!
Steve and Muffin.
© 2020 Steve McLeod.
20/20 Investigations, Inc…Stone House, Chapter 9.
Time to wake up Steve, there is much to do and not much time. You did well in finding me, now it’s time to follow me. My head is still pounding, but that voice, I know that voice! Everything is still a bit blurry, but I sit up on the edge of the bed and look around. I look around, but no one is there. Muffin is still sleeping. Finally I can see properly again so I get up and look around. It’s a small room and not much in it. I see a note on the table which gives me directions for what to do next. I am to convince the police that I am giving up the case so they will let me go. That shouldn’t be hard, I would like to give up this crazy case. There is a private plane at the airport waiting to take us to Spain. Once there we will get to meet JR. Also, the leather case which I had put in my backpack is now in the wall safe in this room. I am to let the police have that.
Hopefully once the police have the leather case and it’s contents that will convince them to let me go. Now why would JR give up the contents of that leather case? That doesn’t make sense. Though perhaps JR is getting too scared and just wants to get out of this. I’m tempted to keep that leather case myself, except I can’t open the safe. Apparently the plane will only wait until noon tomorrow. That gives us almost 24 hours. Muffin is awake now and sitting on the bed looking at me. I tell her what has been going on and what we need to do. I also tell her about the voice. Meow, meow?=You hear voice of JR? Well, it must have been JR. Meow?=Who it is? I whisper to her. MEOW!?=WHAT!? Okay now, let’s go, we have work to do.
Meow.=Okay. Once back in the house we get things ready and go over our plans. Then I call the police. They arrived fairly quickly. I explained to them what happened after finding the door to this passage. They asked me how I found the opening. Meow, meow!=It was in painting! That’s right Muffin, it was shown in a painting which I showed to the police. Um, did you just talk to your cat? She just reminded me about the painting in case I forgot. Oh, was all he said and looked over at his partner. Anyway, they were satisfied with the painting explanation. Meow, meow.=Tell about the hole and the gas. I’m getting to that Muffin. Yes, we fell down this hole here, which I pointed out as we walked down the passage and some kind of gas came in and put us to sleep. They checked the hole and found a canister of gas behind the wall. That was a relief, wasn’t sure if they would find anything.
Once in the room I showed them the wall safe that I found behind the bed but was unable to open. Meow!=I found safe! Oh, that’s right, Muffin found the safe. The officers looked at each other again, kind of puzzled. I explained that Muffin is my partner and she talks to me and helps me out with my cases. The officers just looked at each other again. I could tell what they were thinking. It was hard not to laugh at that point. They brought someone in who was able to open the safe quite easily. Meow, meow.=Look like fun, need to learn that. Did your cat just talk to you again? Yes, she said opening the safe looked like fun and she would like to learn how to do that. All 3 of them looked at each other that time. They were thinking, “this guy has lost a few too many brain cells”. They took the leather case and looked at the contents.
To be continued.
Steve and Muffin.
© 2020 Steve McLeod.
Steve`s Country 