The big excitement in this little Village began last wednesday afternoon. A young neighbor (he’s in his early 60s I think, but to me that’s young) left about 1000 for a mountain bike ride out in back of the old McCloud Mill to do some maintenance on a bike trail telling his wife he’d be back about 1300, but had not returned home by 1600. Friends told her if he was not home by then to call and report him missing. An adhoc search lasted into dusk/dark without finding any trace.
The next morning a meeting was held, 0800 at the high school including any official or volunteer search personnel. I don’t know which groups were there, but I know it included Sheriffs and the local Fire Company, which has a medical unit, and locals. Among the locals were friends and other McCloud citizens, who know the bike trails in the area where he was thought to have been riding. The locals were assigned to ride out to search all the possible trails. A close friend requested permission to take the missing man’s dog with him hoping the dog would track any scent but the “group” thought that wasn’t a good idea.
The adhoc search lasted into dusk/dark without finding any trace.
He is known to have heart and back problems AND to be sensitive to heat (it was in the 90s the day he went missing, which is HOT for McCloud) and he had not been carrying a lot of water since he planned to be home by 1300.
On friday about 100+ locals and Sheriffs spent all day walking a wide area east of the old mill site with aid from a Sheriff’s helicopter.
Saturday a group of close to a hundred trail bike riders were assigned to specific trails, either alone or in pairs. After a day long search in which a military helicopter with a Red Cross on its side joined the search. His trail bike was located, but no sign of him. A Sheriff came to his home to look for any clues which might help establish his mindset when he left home. The only thing which seemed to be missing was a back pack which had probably carried tools and work clothes for the planned trail repair. He often went fishing to one of the local fishing areas alone or with a friend but always told his wife where he was going and when to expect him home. The Sheriff had been unable to get permission to fly a night search using infrared optics.
Sunday, day five, and further information came to light that he told friends he was headed for the Mud Creek Dam area but still no “permission” for night infrared flights. What appeared to be a pink tape Hansel and Gretal type sign, turned out to be a track made previously for those volunteering to clean up the biking/hiking path.
A family friend was finally able to take the family dog to sniff out her master, but without success. Of course, there had been hundreds in the area so any track of Terry had probably been obliterated.
By monday optimism was waning. It was another quite warm, but not high, temperature day. Forensic personnel were in the area , but no more choppers, and I had learned that when searching for a missing person the first forty eight hours were search and from then on it became retrieval.
Today is blog day, another wednesday, the eighth day since Terry went missing. The sheriff deputy was at Terry’s home twice yesterday. Law enforcement presence has been called off with only periodic routine lookarounds although a Sheriff’s helicopter was overhead just a few minutes ago.
When I asked this morning during our walkabout what she thought, Jenny said the Sheriff asked if she thought Terry disappeared on purpose, but they decided that was unlikely since none of the items usually missing with a runaway were still where she expected them to be and the bank accounts had not been accessed. She thinks a purposeful disappearance is a very distant possibility because of those findings.
But because of heat, his heart and spine problems, as well as the lack of visible preparations for anything other than his stated purpose of clearing one of the trails of winter and recent heavy rain debris, his hiding his trail bike to protect from theft as well as indicating he planned to come get it and return home, his lack of more than one bottle of water and no food, and no phone or other communication device, she thinks he had an “accident” due to his heart or back problems.
Positive affirmations have turned prayers from his physical well being to that for his soul.
It was on the front page of the local paper this morning.
In the Village, chaos has been replaced with quiet sadness.
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On a more pleasant note … there are flowers in bloom all over the place, some of which I have no photos.
Not just the dogwood but scissor plants
and plantain and poppies
and comfrey
and mullein
and Queen Anne’s lace and small daisies and several others …
Oh my ( to paraphrase Dorothy’s lions and tigers and bears on the way to the Emerald City – and if I credited that quote incorrectly, I’m sure someone will correct me).
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If you’ve been following my ramblings for any amount of time, you know about AC. We had our own corps de mouse catchers which lived in the barn. AC, as I eventually named him, was the tiny black kitten I found abandoned. There actually were two kittens not much past first opening their eyes. I heard their mews and found them hidden under a porch deck about noon. When they were still alone at dusk, I collected them, tucked them in my shirt, took them in the house, and fed them from a teeny bottle I had used for teeny animals in the past. The black one survived but the partly grey one didn’t.
We often lost a barn cat to the local wild bobcat population, so since no obviously adult cat came looking for kittens, I kept feeding the little black cat. He grew into a very attractive teenager and would hug my ankles and talk to me, especially whenever we went outdoors.
His name AC was the result of his personality … A for adventurous, amiable, attention seeking, attractive, affectionate, etc. and C (naturally) for cat).
Finally he was ready to go out on his own and join the cadre of cats which waited for George outside the front door every morning when he went to the barn to feed the animals.
AC had begun showing an interest in girls. He continued to come to say hello each time I went out the door, rubbing my ankles and talking. Then one day he failed to show up.
I assumed he either eloped with one of the ladies which caught his eye, or he had failed to learn the lesson about bobcats.
So … the reason for this trip through the back forty (back story as part of storytelling) is by way of prefacing why I was attracted to the black cat which began coming into the open area across the road from me. It never offered to cross the road but I came to watch for it as it came every evening.
I can’t keep a cat as I did AC since I had developed a sensitivity to cat dander. If I were to get a cat it would have to be a house cat because pet animals are not allowed in the Village unless kept on a leash when outdoors, because of the local feral animals, and a rule about not allowing pet animals to annoy neighbors. Besides, can you imagine a cat allowing itself to be leashed?
However, I can watch the current black cat and remember AC.
Last saturday evening, as the black cat arrived, SHE was accompanied by two black kittens. As they returned “home”, she had a small animal (probably one of the local field mice or a small ground squirrel) in her mouth and the kittens fell in line behind her.
I hope they continue to come here to hunt so I can continue as a peeping watcher.
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To end the week … apologies for any grammar or spelling mistakes.
Remember the little things. Some day you’ll appreciate that they were actually the big things.
So, ‘til next week …