24 April …
This morning … 
and across the upper meadow.
~~~
Well, the jury situation was complicated. Jury selection took more than a week. I was not seated.
The difficulty was that it was a child molestation/pornography case and no one wanted to hear or see the evidence.
This experience reminded me of the time I was called in Los Angeles County and the differences between counties within the same state.
In Los Angeles I had to be “on call”, in the large jury assembly room, for an entire month. A group would be called, and those not seated would return to the assembly room to wait until their month was done or they were called again and possibly again and again. In LA there are multiple cases being heard at any one time so that makes sense.
In Siskiyou County there is usually only one case being heard at a time, other than traffic court which doesn’t require a jury very often. So you are called for a specific case and if not seated you are off the hook, usually for the rest of that year, and you are on the call list only every other year.
I think I will not be called again until 2021.
~~~
One of the nice things about needing to go to Yreka so much last week was that I got to see so many trees in bloom. I think they are most likely non-fruiting trees, but they were glorious. Pink and white … Apples? Pears? Cherries? The parking lot in front of the WalMart looked like an orchard out of a Van Gogh painting.
The front lawn at the Courthouse was a mass of dandelions. I didn’t have anything in which to collect them, maybe because I was leery of getting in trouble for picking them (you know … Stay Off The Grass). Can you imagine being in jail and being asked by another inmate what you were in for and having to answer “Picking dandelions”?
And to top off the week, the car in front of me in the parking area had an interesting license plate (current California plates are a number followed by three letters followed by three numbers for those of you unused to seeing our license plates). This one was centered with YUK.
~~~
Our weather got warmer, then wet again. Between rain runoff clogging the hydro intake (added to by the increased residential usage of land upstream), the hydro had become a bear to manage. It died Easter morning. It was old and the bearings just gave out. Darn thing lasted only forty-two years or so.
California is requiring fire safe areas around houses, so we are having to thin a fair number of trees. That opens up areas for unshaded solar. It is a good thing Mark planned to finish making the switch to solar George started. He thinks it will probably be up and running by the end of the week. In the meantime, we are on a generator.
We are thinking about adding wind later.
~~~
This area (Hammond Ranch, Weed, California) is having water problems, some having to do with roads, some with fire, and some just plain personality problems between residents and between residents and the Watermaster.
Water courses change with time and the new Watermaster is basing her rulings on maps from fifty or sixty years ago ignoring more recent maps authorized by the court. Plus she doesn’t seem to want to work with folks to make optimum use of the water, but insists on the letter of the law. Sort of a “Because I say so” person. California has had water wars in the past. I hope this doesn’t develop into another.
Water which has been available for road maintenance, power production, and fire suppression ever since George and I moved here is now off limits. And those are only the cases of which I am aware. There are some others that I would guess are along the same lines, but I don’t really know.
So, since I am back on the Board of the local landowners’ association, I have become the one charged with seeing if this situation has a remedy. I will meet with the County Supervisor for this district next monday (he’s a busy man) to map out the next move.
Something to keep me busy?
~~~
Last week was taiko-plus-pizza week. Because of Holy Week, Paul and I were the only one’s here for dinner that evening and we managed to eat the whole pizza.
Today is our last lesson for this spring. They will be giving a recital for the middle school students next friday, but it isn’t a public event.
Oh well …
~~~
Our daffodils
and narcissi are beginning to bloom,
as is the red maple. 
While taking pictures of the flowers, I saw moss and lichen shining on rocks and stumps.
That is a Spring show. Later in the year, they are dry and not so visible.
It is a soul-pleasure to see Spring.
Those of you who have been with me for a time should be getting the hang of our seasons by now and able to anticipate developments.
Next up? The blue-green buds on fir trees, aromatic lilacs, and a meadow awash with shooting stars.
~~~
We are still sorting out “stuff” from my forty plus years here. It is a relief as well as a wrench.
Current project is the music … vinyls and cds. So much good music but since I will probably never actually play them again, off they go to someone else. Others can enjoy them and I still have them (mostly) in my head. There is every genre imaginable … classic, rock, jazz, blues, pop, new age, ethnic, Broadway … you name it, I probably have/had it.
Oh well …
~~~
Last reading was “Blackberry Wine” by Joanne Harris who wrote “Chocolat” (which was made into a good movie – Johnny Depp played the guitar). Harris really has a way with words … eye and ear candy. Example? Speaking of wine … “the scent of those imprisoned summers”; and of an abandoned seed storage box … “Remember it’s not what a thing looks like that matters. Every one of them seeds is a goodun. You could plant ‘em right now and they’d grow up champion.”
There are too many more to quote.
Next I plan to reread “Slaughterhouse-Five”. Real change of pace.
~~~
I thought this was interesting … I read it in an article asking if other primates (chimpanzees) had religion.
Frans de Waal (a “noted” philosopher) defined religion as “the shared reverence for the supernatural, sacred, or spiritual as well as the symbols, rituals, and worship that are associated with it; being amazed at things outside yourself”
So … what do you think? Do chimps have religion?
And that’s it ‘til next week …
