4 August …
Last friday I received a Jury summons. I reported for the jury cattle call tuesday after noon. The temperature was in the 90s but it was cool in the courthouse. There were about 75 of us in that group. There had been a similar group in the morning. We sat through the explanations (civil vs criminal cases, duties of jurors, duties of lawyers and the judge, etc.) and the beginnings of questioning. At 1630 we were sent home and told to be back in the courtroom at 0900 wednesday. That’s why there was no blog yesterday.
Wednesday was all day in the jury selection process. It is a boring affair, but you need to pay attention all the time because you might be called next and knowing what has been asked and said could be very useful. It was 1625 when they finally had their twelve jurors and three alternates.
I did have some interesting conversations during the day and a half.
One with a man who works for the railroad as a radio repeater repairman and who obviously has Graves disease (his eye balls seemed to be completely out in front of his bone structure). He was a joker, making jokes about everything and everyone. As we left the courtroom, he wanted a fist bump.
Another was a woman who currently works as a back office nurse (RN) for a doctor I know and who said she remembered me from her shift as a student in the Emergency Department about 20 years ago. She was in the first upgrade class at COS of nurses moving from Licensed Vocational Nurse to Registered Nurse. She had some interesting things to say about the nursing instructors at that time. She was excused from the call because her absence left the office with no back office coverage.
There was a woman who is the manager of a bank in Etna and who desperately wanted to be chosen for the jury because she had been unable to take a vacation and would like the time “off”.
There was a scruffy-looking man who was hoping to be called to questioning because he is involved in a lawsuit against the Sheriff’s Office and another against one of the Superior Court judges and would have liked the chance to sound-off.
And there was a young man who was so far out (hair braided in random direction, not re-done recently corn rows, with acne, but driving an obviously expensive sports car) from whom people were moving away as far as possible. I sat down next to him after lunch yesterday and asked him a question about my emergency cell phone. He was soft-spoken, polite, and seemed pleased to have been asked. If I’d thought of it yesterday, I’d have asked for a ride in his impressive wheels.
And there was a man who when called to questioning opened his identification with “I wouldn’t believe anything a Sheriff or other law enforcement officer said.” He’d been in the jury pool with me two years ago and said the exact same thing.
The case was a criminal one. The defendant is charged with imprisonment, assault with a deadly weapon, and assault with a threat to kill. The weapons involved are claimed to have been a long knife, a fireplace poker, and a piece of fire wood. Might have been interesting, but this is a busy time of year so I’m not sorry I wasn’t chosen.
And that’s the explanation of why this week’s blog is a day late.
A cousin noted that in her county they take you off the list of possible jurors when you turn seventy. Oh well … not in this county.
It has been years since George got a summons. I get one every other year. We haven’t been able to come to any logical reason why.
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It has been HOT !!!
This morning the sun through the trees is bright, but it will be a cooler day.
It has been over 100° here in the past, and I didn’t enjoy it then either. I realize this is not the only place dealing with this situation. However, it is the place where I am.
Sleeping without any cover at all helps. I was still sweating most of the nights until last night.
As a result of having my nose frost-bitten and having had a heat stroke (not at the same time … one in Mt Shasta thirty-some years ago and the other years earlier in Gila Bend, Arizona), my comfort zone is between 55° and 80-85°.
So I try to get an early start on each day during summer weather, “cook” as little as possible, and just veg.
In addition, the days are noticeably shorter in just the month since solstice. I can count on the ladies and the pullets being in by 2030 instead of closer to 2100, and I let them out a bit after 0700. Equinox is about 60 days away.
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Canning report … in spite of the heat …
5 pints of Royal Ann cherries with thyme … 6 half pints of corn relish … 11 pints of apricot jam … 8 pints of peach jam … 2 pints of peach-melba jam … and 2 quart bags of frozen peach pie/cobbler fixin’s
Winter is going to be delicious.
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The Siskiyou Golden (County) Fair will be next week. Mark and at least part of his crew from New York will most likely be here. I had agreed to work the Tobacco Education Council booth for four hours on friday. I am no longer on the Board, but they needed volunteers to help with the facial morphing booth.
I will tell you about the fair and the TEC experience in a couple of weeks..
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We started this week with a Castle Crags bicycle event follow-up meeting last monday.
Good event.
Good follow-up meeting.
They really appreciate us.
They noted that they cleared $17,000 this year even with the bad weather and resulting low registration. That’ll buy a lot of books for kids and fund a good scholarship and who knows what else.
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Cat report …
AC, the little black cat, is always hungry (or at least always wants to eat when I go out), always has a round tummy, and isn’t growing as much as I think he should.
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This morning I need to do some shopping. There is to be a radio club swap meet and potluck on saturday. The swap meet will be George’s event. I’ll take a big salad and some fresh challah and just sit around and watch (or take a book and read).
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Found an interesting Bible quote last week when I was researching Abigail, one of David’s wives. It made me thing of this election.
Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Philippians 2:3-4
So … ’til next week …