Steve`s Country
For a smile as wide as a country sunrise
From The Heights. #9
Good morning on this very beautiful, sunny, fall day! There is some haziness out there, but it does not interfere with the beauty of the morning. I have been sitting here, after playing with Muffin, with my coffee and watching the early dawn change to sunrise. I have not seen much bird activity except for a couple of gulls and a crow.
Yesterday, out behind our building, there were several species of birds, most on their way south. The last of our warbler species, the yellow-rumped warbler, was out there chirping in the trees. There were some blackbirds flying past, a couple of starlings (which stay here all year) and some crossbills in one of the spruce trees.
An Orange-belted Bumble Bee, my favorite little bee.
I was not able to see them well enough to identify which species they were, however, but I think they were the white-winged crossbills. They are an interesting bird that sometimes will show up at feeders. There was also a robin by itself, which is a bit odd this time of year, normally they are in flocks now getting ready to go south.
Our summer robins have gone already, the ones around now are from further north. The weather has been quite nice so far this fall, which a few days that have been rather cool. But this week should be very nice, well above normal for temperatures. I need to get out and take more pictures while it is nice. I also need to repot my geraniums and bring them inside this week while the weather is still nice.
If you look close, there is a green bee on the flower (Yarrow), it is called the Small Carpenter Bee.
I am not planning to keep all of them, but I do want to keep some. Some of my indoor plants did not survive the move too well. Even my aloe vera has decided to give up. Sigh. Guess I will have to buy a new one. The last time I moved my aloe vera died as well. But that one got squashed. Flat. Sigh.
Things are getting done and put in their proper places. A little bit each day. Soon I will be able to take more pics of the apartment so you can see what it looks like when things are normal. Well, sort of normal anyway. About as normal as it gets around here.
My bedroom is still a mess, with 4 boxes that need to be unpacked yet. But I need to get some glass for that one door of my display cabinet before I can unpack those boxes. Maybe I can get that done today. Well, time for more coffee and get back to my ‘work’. Muffin will have her post out a bit later. Have a great day everyone and God bless!
Steve and Muffin.
©2023 Steve McLeod.
The Investigators, Inc. The Hometown Mystery. Chapter 11. Rescued.
After Aari and his team left, and Drake had shot Mike, before his men had time to haul Mike’s body away another visitor entered the casino. “Well, look what we have here,” said Chief Darryl, “it looks like a body to me. I wonder how that happened.” “It was The Fox,” said Drake, “he and his gang were here and stole all the money we had in the safe, then The Fox shot Mike here as a warning to us that he means business.”
“Such a great story,” said Chief Darryl, “amazing what you can come up with on short notice Drake. But surely you do not expect me to believe that. Only 2 vans left here when we were coming and both were from Ken’s Heating Co., which is a well respected business here in town. Plus, the shots happened as we got out of our cars, so it must have been you Drake.”
“I do not even have a gun,” said Drake, “so you cannot blame me for this one.” “It was him alright,” said Brink, “he always carries a gun in his jacket pocket, he never uses a holster.” So Chief Darryl told one of his men to check Drake, and sure enough he had two clips in another pocket for the gun that had been lying on the floor. They also found guns on Brink, Chuck and the other two men.
“Any of you have a license for their gun?” asked Chief Darryl. There was silence. “Okay everyone, let us go to our place of business,” smiled Chief Darryl. Meanwhile, back at the hotel, Meow.=You write down message I give? “Yes,” said Sky, “it is right here.” He jumped onto the table to take a look. Meow.=Um, maybe Muffin read to me in meow, me not read so good like she can.
So Muffin did so and Rusty jumped up and down. Meow!=Oh, oh! We need fast chop chop! Have clue where to find them! Mandar called the airport and had two of his helicopters ready to take off once everyone got there. Rusty and Storm went, plus Tracy, Sigurbjorn, Galyna, Andrej, Miles, Lars and a new girl that came with Mandar named Sunrise.
They were soon on their way flying quickly in an easterly direction. Kat had gone looking around for some shelter since it looked like it was going to rain and she found a large log building, long abandoned and somehow she managed to carry me over there and got me inside. Just after getting me inside the building she heard a helicopter approaching and saw it was coming from the east.
“Hmm, that is not what we want,” Kat thought to herself, “help should be coming from the west.” Then she heard me groaning and came to check on me. I was not awake though, just groaning. The helicopter was very close now and Kat hoped they would land in the clearing. She could handle them if they come out of the helicopter. It did land and she watched for a while as it just sat there. “What are they waiting for?” she wondered.
Finally 2 men came out and started coming toward the building, so she went outside to meet them. “Get your boyfriend and come with us,” said one man. “Get him yourself,” said Kat, “but you have to get past me first.” “You mean nothing to us lady,” said one man and he pointed his gun at her. “Stupid gun won’t work,” he said, “you shoot her Rick.”
He tried to do so, but his gun would not work either. Meantime, Kat was walking toward them. They both shot off to the side without problems, so they tried to shoot Kat again. But still, nothing happened. Now Kat was in range and she went into action, kicking and hitting so fast the men did not have a chance to fight back.
Kat grabbed the men’s guns and began to shoot at the helicopter, but the pilot took off promptly, mainly because he had seen the other two helicopters coming in. The helicopters landed and quickly picked up Kat and I and off we went back to town again. Rusty was so happy to see Kat again! Lars, who is also a good nurse, was checking me and gave me something to hopefully bring down the fever.
It worked, which was a good thing, my temperature was much too high. I was soon in the hospital where Lars and Mandar were telling the doctor in charge all about my “nowhere” disease and the treatment being used. But there was no sign of my medication in my body at all. Sky called home and talked to Li Jing who immediately checked the latest batch of medicine. She discovered it had been replaced with something else!
To Be Continued.
©2023 Steve McLeod.
Steve`s Country 