Steve`s Country
For a smile as wide as a country sunrise
Daily Pics #154.
Good morning everyone! I hope you are having a good day so far. It is a fabulous morning here with the sun shining so brightly, the sky is a brilliant blue, the birds are singing their usual morning songs and it’s just perfect so sitting outside on the deck. The flower petals on the apple tree and the neighbors mock cherry tree are beginning to fall already. They don’t last long. So many of our flowers are like that, especially the flowering shrubs and trees. The lilacs are in full bloom now, my favorite flowering shrub. I just love the scent of lilacs, so beautiful. They also don’t last long. But since they are blooming I knew that the eastern tiger swallowtail butterfly would be here soon, and they are, lots of them.
Trying to get a picture of them however, is next to impossible. They do love lilacs and that is a good place to catch them sitting still. Except there are no lilacs close by, so that presents a problem. There are two other butterflies around now too, all I can say for sure is that they are orange and black. They also don’t like to sit still. The one could be a monarch butterfly or it could be a viceroy butterfly. We have both around here though the monarch doesn’t show up much so it’s likely a viceroy. Either way I would like to get a picture of it. At least these bigger butterflies will sit with their wings spread open, the small ones never seem to do that. Oh well. But these butterflies won’t be around long so I need to get pictures soon.
And now for some more wildflower pics to share with you…
The first wildflower in the pic above is the dainty “starflower”. They are small but abundant flowers this time of year and found normally in a well forested area. They generally seem to prefer shady spots to sunny spots.
And in the above picture we have the “pale corydalis”, a very beautiful and colorful flower. It is about an inch (2.5cm) long and these flowers like to grow on rocky areas where there is very little soil. They thrive, it seems, in a very dry environment, though they will sometimes grow in other places too. The smell of smoke is in the air this morning, forest fire smoke. The color of the sun shows it too. Not likely something close though. I hope you all have a wonderful day and God bless!
Steve and Muffin.
©2020 Steve McLeod.
20/20 Investigations, Inc…Country Estate, Chapter 4.
How could this happen? Does she walk in her sleep? But still, those squeaky hinges would have awakened the cats. Meow!=I find something, says Mr. Cat. He is on the floor by my feet. He brings a small bottle up for me to look at and I notice a needle on the floor and a piece of paper. Mr. Cat gets the paper for me too. I look at the paper, a note in Jessica’s handwriting. “I just couldn’t take it anymore Steve, first the hotel, and now here, it’s just too much. I’m sorry Steve, I love you.” There was more but I couldn’t read it just now. I look at the bottle, if she injected herself with this, she’s dead without getting her to the hospital and that’s nearly 3 hours from here. We have no way to communicate, no vehicle and we heard on the radio last night that the bridge we had crossed earlier had fallen down. It’s a small bridge and the police had said it was suspicious. The police had called Jessica to warn her about the bridge as well.
Could that be related to what is happening here? That bridge is an hour away from here, we are at the end of the road and there are no other houses on this side of the bridge. None of this makes sense, especially Jessica killing herself, not after the way she was talking last night. And yet, the evidence is right before me. Looking at the note again, it says to take her car and leave quickly. No chance of that now. It also says to take the money in the top dresser drawer. I’ll check on that later. There’s only one thing that might help Jessica. I tell Muffin to take her little pouch from her backpack and go to the bathroom and take all the medicine and bring it to me. Meow!=Okay, Mr. Cat, you help me! Off they run quickly. She uses that little leather pouch to carry things we might find in our investigations. I only hope Jessica has that medicine we need or there is nothing I can do to save her life.
Mr. Cat comes running with the pouch and empties in on the bed. Meow=I go for more. She certainly has a lot of different medicines, but nothing here that will help. I check the drawer in the bedside table, empty. It seems like an hour has passed, it’s only been a few minutes. Muffin comes back with the last of the medicine. Meow, meow=Mr. Cat go look in other bathroom. Go with him Muffin, I want you two to stick together all the time. Meow!=Okay! And off she runs. There is nothing in all this that will help and time is running out. The cats come running back with one bottle. That’s it! But I need a clean needle. I quickly grab the needle on the floor and go to the bathroom, that will work to clean the needle, peroxide, not the best, but it will work anyway.
But how much of this medicine should I use? I took a course in these things, thought it might be helpful, but if I don’t use the right amount…I need to work fast so I just have to guess and give it to her. Now we wait. I keep on with the CPR, soon there is a weak pulse and heartbeat. She just might make it now. After awhile everything seems normal with her heart, good pulse, but she’s not waking up. I leave the cats with Jessica and go out to the living room to think. It must be Anna and Dave that are behind this, but why? What did they find out about this house that would cause them to turn on a good friend? And if they want us to leave, why did they make it impossible to leave? I go to the kitchen to make some coffee. It’s a nice large old style kitchen, gives a nice comfortable feeling. I just get in through the doorway and…
To be continued.
Steve and Muffin.
©2020 Steve McLeod.
