Bindings, Bobcats and Bomb Scares...

On a scale of 1-100, yesterday was a 90, and I'm not talking just about the temperature! It was pretty darn eventful! I spent much of the day in the studio creating the binding for the "Charmed" quilt, and photographing the process for what has become a tutorial. I'll be adding photos to the tutorial today to share more of my "how to", and I'll finish that quilt later this morning. Now, I know that doesn't sound really exciting, but bear with me. It gets better.

Tuesday evenings are Books A Million "girls night out" for a group of us who get together to knit, crochet, sit around, drink coffee and chat. We all look forward to it.

I went through the garage to go to my Explorer (parked on the driveway) and saw - at first glance - what I thought was a large cat. It was sitting at the back of my vehicle and watched me punch in our code to close the garage door. It sat there as I walked toward it to get into the car. When I was still about 20 feet away, I said, "Hi Kitty" in a sweet voice. It stood up and just sauntered around my car, away from me, and it was at that point that I saw the short tail that gave away its identity.

Internet photo

It was a bobcat! I'd seen a larger bobcat here last fall, and then a young one this spring (sitting on the top of our mound system), so they're no stranger to our semi-rural neighborhood, or even our yard. I think this one is the young one I saw, now about four months older.

When I got to the car, I walked to the back side to be sure it wasn't under the chasis. I saw her standing about 15 feet from me, looking at me and swishing her tail. I lived with cats as a kid and knew that a swishing tail isn't something I wanted to fool with. I casually got in my car and backed out to go to Books.

When I got into the main part of the drive, there she was again. When she saw the car, she hightailed it back into the brush. I'll be watching for her now, and I understand what seems to grab Kes' attention now when we go out to the mailbox. She must be sniffin' "bobcat"!
I drove to Port Charlotte without incident. I got to the shopping center where Books A Million is locate only to be greeted at all entries to the parking lot by squad cars with lights flashing. The officer just directed traffic to the right as we entered, and then I saw people standing all around and a section of the lot cordoned off with police tape. What the...?

I parked and walked to the entrance to the store, and although the lights were on, all the doors were locked. Hmm? I asked a lady who was passing by what was going on. She told me that there was a car in the lot that had a sign on the windshield saying that there was a bomb inside the car! She was upset because her car was inside the police tape and they wouldn't let her move it and go home. Everything was on lockdown, employees and shoppers were all evacuated and at 6:30 pm - at this shopping center - commerce had come to a standstill.

My cell rang and one of the gals told me they'd all moved across the street to Panera's, so I got back in my Explorer and drove over to join them. I'm still surprised that the officers even let me into the parking lot for Books a Million. We watched the flashing lights on the squad cars all evening. When I left Panera's, it was 10:30 pm (Alright, so I got into a lengthy conversation with my friend, Krisann and we lost track of time.). The police had left the parking lot across the street only a half hour earlier. That shopping center was locked down for over four hours! I can't wait to read today's paper to find out how this all played out. (UPDATE: Here's a link to the story that appeared in Wednesday morning's local paper about the incident.)

So, there you have it. My day of "bindings, bobcats and bomb scares". Who would have thought?



PS. I still haven't found my seam ripper, but I like Rettabug's suggestion to get a magnet wand to look for it! Who knows what I'll come up with! xoxo