For a smile as wide as a country sunrise
Hi everyone! How is your day going so far? Hopefully you are having a good healthy day. There is so much sickness going around these days, at least in this area. In this apartment building many people are sick, coughing, sneezing, and worse. It seems that mild winters are worse for sickness than cold winters.
We now have some snow on the ground, about 3 or 4 inches. Not very much, but it does make things white anyway. Personally I prefer no snow, however, in this area we need snow, and lots of it, otherwise it will be a very dry spring and summer. It would take a lot of spring rain to make up for little snow cover. And dryness means lots of forest fires, something we do not want.

American Goldfinch looking at me.
Normal snowfall for us is about 6 feet per winter. We have a long way to go for catching up to that amount. Speaking of dry, it is very dry in this building. Even with a humidifier going it is still very dry. I should probably get a second one for the bedroom, and maybe one for the hall too. Although boiling water for a while each day is supposed to help a lot too.

Red-breasted Nuthatch.
I will try that one first. I have a lot of real wood furniture, and this kind of dryness is not good for it. Muffin does not like the dryness either. Whenever I pet her the sparks really fly. Then a different kind of sparks fly, meaning her claws meeting with my hands. Sigh. We had some fog again last night so the trees are nice and frosty again today.
It is still cloudy though which dampens the beauty of those frosted branches just a bit. It still looks nice in real life, but pictures are dull so the beauty doesn’t shine like it should. It would look better from outside I guess, but then I would not be able to see much from the ground level. Oh well.

White-breasted Nuthatch.
I will be showing some pics of my bird friends taken over the last couple of years. I do miss them, they always brightened up the winter. I notice SAD bothering me a lot more this winter because I am not feeding the birds. That always helped through the winter months. It gave me a reason to spend time outside.
Now I do not go outside much, which is not good. We have had a lot of ice this winter too which keeps me indoors as well. Oh well, spring is coming, in a few months, it should be here by the end of April. Well, I hope you all have a fabulous Tuesday and God bless!
Steve and Muffin.
©2024 Steve McLeod.
It was nice and clear out at the cabin and not too cold. They should be able to call in an ambulance helicopter to get the injured girls out. They made a call to me and I called for help and let them know ahead of time what to expect. The ambulance was soon taking off, but those large blades quickly flew off and the helicopter crashed.
It was the only one in the area too. The next nearest one was 4 hours away. Our own chopper was not equipped for ambulance work, however, it would only take about 2 hours to outfit the chopper so it can be used. So they began work on it right away. Unfortunately another storm was headed toward the cabin, though it was not supposed to be as big as the last one.
I never like to trust forecasts, they can change suddenly. And change it did, with very strong wind arriving with the snow, just as they were completing work on the chopper. They called me to let me know. This is not good. I told them to try anyway, but if the storm was too bad, then they should turn around. No point in endangering more people.
My stress level was rising by the hour. Sky managed to call me before the storm got too bad and we talked things over. Aari had told them about Lauren and Sky was worried about me. ”She is a dangerous woman Steve,” she said, “please do not fool around with her. And you better keep Aasta safe! That woman wanted Aasta before, I am sure she would be happy to take her now too.
If you do not keep Aasta safe, I will slap you so hard your head will be permanently turned around! And I mean it! You stay with her all the time!” ”Hey, I understand Sky,” I said, “I will keep her safe, that is why she is staying with me in our bedroom at night, no one can get in there, you know that.” ”Okay, that is better,” she said, “and promise you will get Beryan to give you more massages than usual, a lot more.”
“I will check into that,” I said. ”No! I want a promise!” ”Okay, I promise,” I said, “and Galyna is here, she heard me.” ”Good,” said Sky, “and get those two brothers dealt with too.” ”That will be done tonight,” I said. Sky hung up and went back inside. Crystal was groaning, but not moving. She cannot move, which is not good at all.
“I had a friend once,” said Alfred, “similar thing happened to him, it broke his back, he died a few months later, he just kind of gave up. He was a good friend. Crystal needs a doctor’s attention, and a hospital.” Crystal was Sky’s remaining relative, that would talk with her anyway. Sky, Crystal and Angel were cousins, but looked like triplets.
Angel died a while back, if Crystal dies too that will be amazingly hard on Sky. That night while Ginger was watching out the window, the ghost appeared! She yelled and the team was awake with the guys running outside. They shot several times but the ghost just ran off around the house and disappeared. Then an explosion and one of the snowmobiles was in flames!
Meanwhile, back to us at home. The girls went to meet Layne and Lance at their room in the hotel. ”Hey babes,” said Lance, “come in.” ”Want a drink?” asked Layne,” all we have is brandy or whiskey.” ”Brandy,” said Aoife. ”Same,” said Cinnamon. Poor Cinnamon, she had never had a drink of any kind of alcohol in her life. She looked around the room, but there were no plants in the room to dump it in.
She just looked at the glass. Aoife saw her problem and began talking right away. They had brought a small suitcase with them and she opened it for the guys to look at. They checked each jar. ”It is all pure stuff,” said Layne, “how much?” ”We need some help with distribution,” said Cinnamon.
“Right,” said Aoife, “we are willing to cut you in at 40%. We undercut everyone else and put them out of business, then we jump and everyone has to buy from us.” Then there was a knock at the door. ”Expecting someone?” asked Aoife. ”No,” said Layne, “I do not like unexpected visitors.” Cinnamon went over to the door and listened.
“Some guy named Scanner?” asked Cinnamon, looking at Lance. ”Let him in,” said Layne. Both he and Lance had their guns out. Cinnamon opened the door and in came Matt and Mac, but Matt was wearing his Russian colonel’s uniform. ”Put your guns on the table boys,” said Aoife. The girls had their guns out and pointed at them. The brothers did so.
Mac then went over and searched them for more weapons. ”He’s a Russian officer!” said Layne in surprise. ”Yes,” said Matt, “our government is taking over the criminal element in Europe, then we control all of Europe.” ”Our deal still stands,” said Aoife, “if you are interested.” ”Lauren would never go for that,” said Lance. ”Shut up stupid!” said Layne.
“You mean Lauren Barden?” asked Matt, “we know about her, she is a nuisance that will soon be eliminated. We know she is in Paris. Tell us where.” ”Forget it bud,” said Layne. Mac went over and slapped him hard, giving him a bleeding lip. ”Wrong answer,” said Mac. ”Tonight will be painful for you,” said Matt…
To Be Continued.
©2024 Steve McLeod.