Good Day

I had a good day!

1.  Received notice from the County Court that my request to be permanently excused from jury duty was approved.  I feel bad about that in a way, but I just can't sit for hours istening to lawyers argue making bad arguments if I can't be part of the discussion.  And I'm certain most of the people in the waiting room won't wear masks.

2.  Grocery shopping - Peaches and plums are back!  I love those.  Had to laugh recalling the produce staff guy saying they only carried them "in season".  I know thew start getting them from the southern hemisphere about now.  And he did too, but just wanted an excuse to not fulfill the weekly ad.

3.  Cleaned up a lot of mess from The Mews.  They run around a lot and tip stuff over.  That's OK.  Active cats are better than boring ones.  But I did a lot of sweeping and stuff.

4.  Cleaned all the litter boxes as I di every day or two (depends on usage).  The new high-side litterboxes are working well.  Loki likes to pee straight backwards, which went over the sides of the regular ones. 

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5.  Pork stir-fry and 2 shrimp rolls.  Home-made.  I discovered the Safeway has them in small bags in the produce section.  

6.  It snowed a few inches last week, twice.  When it melted I discovered the earliest crocuses were blooming!

There are about a dozen patches of them, but those are the 2 best.  

7.  Replanted a lot of pansies.  They were frost-heaved up before the established new roots. We had unusually low temps a couple weeks ago. Hopefully, there is still time for them get set with new roots and bloom.

8.  Received a new M/W.  The old one was deteriorating at the top where the magnet is.  Seemed dangerous, so I bought a replacement.  Best Consumer Reports rating (that fit my needs) of course.  Out with the old, in with the new!

9.  Took down the Holly branches I trimmed for height and attached to the front door and mailbox as Xmas decorations.  The leaves were heading to "pale", so it was time.

10.  Filled the 2 thistle seed feeders (for the finches) and the black oil sunflower seed feeder (for most of the others.  And replenished the 2 suet feeders.  Counted 6 pairs of cardinals there just an hour later and many other smaller birds too.  Well, male cardinals are easier to count.

11.  Covered much of the raised garden beds in black plastic.  By planting time in May, the weeds should be dead.

12.  Cleaned muddy work shoes.  They got bad enough when I had to bury Laz.  And worse when I had to bury Ayla.  And it was hard, so I just left them in the basement.  But you have to go on, so I cleaned them top to bottom.  After a few days, when they dry, I will polish them and the wipe "boot wax" on them.  They are 20 years old and fit my feet like a glove.  I would hate to have to replace them.

Enough for 1 day, right?  LOL!

Summoned!

To jury duty...  

I was of 2 minds on this.  I wish to do my civic duty.  And I would probably be a good fair fact-based juror.   Not to make a joke, but I've watched '12 Angry Men' several times.  The movie is drama among people, but the content involves facts and perceptions about a trial.

But I've been through the jury selection process before once and that was reality.  I sat in a waiting room on a hard chair.  I had nothing to do unless they called my juror number.  I sat bored to death the entire first day.  

The second day, I was called for jury duty.  After sitting on another hard wooden chair, the judge briefly explained the case and asked if anyone had a difficulty being fair and honest.  I did.  It related closely to a family matter.  I was dismissed, but still subject to some other kind of case.  For 3 more days.  8 Hours each day.

So I finally received another jury summons a week ago.  I didn't want to go through that again for many reasons.

1.  I wasn't going to sit in a crowded room with most people not wearing masks.

2.  Still nothing to do for 8 hours (OK, I could have brought crossword puzzles).

3.  Hard wood chairs in the waiting room..

4.  Hard wood chairs in the jury box.

5.  I "zone out" when people babble away and I can't participate in the discussion.

6.  I need to pee too often.

7.  Just "sitting" drives me nuts.

8.  30 minute drive to the courthouse (farther then I've driven in many years).

9.  Can't feed The Mews for at least 9 hours and 2 need small timed meals.

So I spent some time thinking of ways to get out of jury duty.  Sick cats, "zone-out",  can't just sit, sick people around not wearing masks, etc.  

If chosen, I will sleep through the trial".  I considered "I will roll dice to determine guilt".  I considered  "In the jury room, I will neither speak nor vote".  Anything to avoid sitting around for 8 hours for several days.

I feel horrible about all that, but I just won't sit among unmasked sick people and go bored out of my mind at the same time.

I should have read the entire Summons Form first.  It asked a lot of questions.  Was I a felon?  Was I indicted?  Was I in the military?  Was I out of the US?  

But there, near the bottom of the list, was the "out".  "If you are over 70, do you want to the temporarily or permanently excused from jury duty"?  

PERMANENTLY, YES!  I filled out their online form and it suggests I am free of hard chairs, hours of doing nothing, and possibly sick people.

30-40 years ago, I would gladly have served.