AVERTING DISASTER...

This past week started out

 as most weeks do...

with simple ideas to accomplish, 

the usual daily lists of projects

 to start and,

 hopefully, complete...

...a trip to JoAnn's

 for some fabric to make

 sofa pillows...

...an expected visit 

from the kids 

to celebrate

 Father's Day.

Life was good

 and going along

 as planned

 until...

"Don't you dare ever do that to me again"

...we noticed that Lucy,

 one of the two cats we had inherited

 when their drug dealing, wife beating,

 child abusing owner abandoned them,

 was scratching and 

most likely had fleas.

 We thought a good idea 

would be to put a flea collar on her.

  We took her by surprise

 as she was eating

 and slipped the collar over her head.

 Well, you probably get the picture! 

 She was hissing and jerking around,

 trying to shake it off. 

 I swear she jumped six feet up in the air

 and took off running down the sidewalk,

 under the front gate,

 down the middle of the street 

and out of sight.

We spent a few hours

 looking for her in the neighbor's yards and bushes

 but to no avail. 

 We were just sick

 and telling ourselves she would never come back

and we should have foreseen

 how she would react

 and thinking of how innocent and trusting she is

 and how badly she had to have been treated in the past.

We thought she was surely gone

 forever

 but she did come back a few hours later,

 we removed the collar,

 and she was fine.

Two days later,

 she didn't show up in the morning 

for breakfast like she always does,

 nor for dinner or breakfast

 the day after that.

 We looked all over

 and couldn't find her any place.

  That evening we heard mewing

 coming from our neighbor's garage

 and found she had been locked in there

 the whole time.

She has pretty much

 used up two of her nine lives

 so, hopefully, 

she'll have better luck from here on.

Sunday afternoon

 we heard planes flying low

 over our general area

 and knew that was a signal that a fire was close by.

As it turns out,

 one was burning

 just about 1/2 mile

 from our house

 and from town...

as the crow flies...

...fortunately

 we have well trained

 and well staffed firefighters

 in our area and

it was dealt with quickly.

Usually

 the fires are further out from town

 as we are surrounded by

 outlying areas of forests

 but as you can see above,

 as evidence by the pink fire retardant

 on the ground and road,

 every place is vulnerable now

 due to it being so dry.

 FYI: If you can imagine,

 to the first, single, tall tree

 behind the telephone pole, 

at middle right of the picture...

we live about two blocks

 behind there!

We have certainly had 

enough excitement,

 if you want to call it that,

 for awhile 

so now I am just going 

to concentrate on getting those pillows made...

...and helping the Captain

 put together his new

 Father's Day toy.

Hope all the wonderful dads' and husbands' out there had a great Father's Day...

And HAPPY SUMMER.

...Judy...

Sharing this week with:

Roses of Inspiration at The Enchanting Rose

What's It Wednesdays at Ivy and Elephants

Share Your Style Linky Party