Saturday, September 18, 2010

The Little Things That May or May Not Amuse Me..

While on our vacation in Montana, we were driving on a road that was part of open ranch.  Two freezers full of steaks and six smaller milk trucks were blocking the road. I was amused by a young couple going the opposite direction on the road, holding the camera outside their open car window, taking photos. I guess they've never seen livestock.

Snort.

I got another summons for jury duty in my city.  This is traffic court, folks, and my city actually has bored officers and no convenient donut shops so plenty of speeding citations are issued.    I was just called for duty back in May so I called my city to see if they would reschedule me.   I've done this before (at least I thought I had) so I didn't think it would be that big of a deal.  Apparently, it was.  I was asked to fax in the affidavit with my reasons for the request.  The court clerk wasn't rude but she wasn't overly pleasant about it.

It occurred to me that I live on the wrong side of the tracks.  If I lived in the sub-division with the rocket scientists, brain surgeons,  and ex-football stars, maybe I would have been treated differently? 

Hum.....

Fax?  Yeah, right.  I don't have a fax machine and time was a factor so I couldn't wait to send it to work with Hubby the next day.  I live 10 minutes from the court.  I drove it over there.

While I was waiting to see a clerk, a man was yelling at the clerk I spoke with on the phone.  YIKES!  If this is her life, maybe it explains her mood.   He had obviously requested a trial and was furious about his citations.  I think most of the issue was his inability to prepare his case for trial in a timely manner and he was trying to pass the blame to the court clerk.  I tried not to listen and stare but I wanted to make sure he didn't pop a blood vessel.  If he did, I didn't want to get hit by spewing liquids.

Mom had her shoulder surgery.  She is doing ok but is not very comfortable, as expected.  I've been driving her to her doctor visits.    Yesterday, her surgeon's office felt like a morgue.  We waited at least an hour in the cold room with putrid lighting to see the doctor.   I kept leaving the room to walk around looking to see if the doctor was really there.  He was but we found out that he was on call and had to squeeze in several ER patients.  I'm sure these folks broke bones just to inconvenience us, right?

Snicker.

We had a near flood last week.   Fortunately, I did not have water in the house.  My garden is in heaven with a few late summer blooms:

Everything's just peachy.

That little hole under the overgrown shrub is the door to the 
lizard community. I'm afraid to trim these shrubs.  
I don't want to disturb the slithering critters.

Hibiscus and Lantanas:  Hummingbird snacking area.

Have a wonderful weekend!

28 comments:

Anonymous said...

Egads!

Did you get your jury duty rescheduled? Did the clerk chew you out?

Personally, I think evil Twin should have made an appearance...she should have punched the yeller!

Hai-ya!

Hope Mama Geek will continue to heal!

Jean Knee said...

awwww
I wanna see the lizards. we have the sweetest little geckos in our yard

00dozo said...

Jury duty for traffic court? Really?

No worries on trimming the lizard refuge - just leave them the hole! Glad to hear you didn't get flooded out, though.

Best wishes to your moms - hope she gets well soon!

Unknown said...

That's convenient, only living ten minutes from the court house. Makes getting traffic tickets a breeze.

I agree with QL about unleashing Evil Twin at the court house. Especially with the possibility of a gushing artery, she'd really enjoy the experience and get you out of there much faster. Though you'd might have some splaining to do about all the corpses scattered by the front desk.

honeypiehorse said...

Ugh! The only thing worse than jury duty is having to deal with the people who have it!! Your garden is so pretty.

MrsBlogAlot said...

Quirky's right. Evil Twin should have taken that guy out. Could have even been considered a public service if you ask me (-:

http://howtobecomeacatladywithoutthecats.blogspot.com said...

I've been watching the weather reports and wondering how you've been faring. Glad to hear you haven't been washed away. (But, would that have been an excuse for getting out of jury duty?)

Ziva said...

I love your garden. :) And I'm soo happy we don't have jury duty, I would be ridiculously rude to the court clerks, I can just feel it.

ReformingGeek said...

@Quirky - I don't know yet. I hope so. But considering her mood.....

@Jean - The lizards are apparently camera shy.

@00dozo - Thanks. Yeah, traffic court. Zzzzzzz.

@Lauren - I'll have to think about that. I don't think I want a ride to the county jail.

@honeypie - Thanks! Yeah, most people ARE NOT HAPPY about having jury duty.

@MrsBlogalot - Why didn't I think about that? I would have been excused from jury duty right away.

@CatLady - Thanks. It's too bad all the rain has to come at once!

@Ziva - Thanks. No jury duty? Hum..... Never mind. Finland is too cold!

Amy Mullis said...

Enjoyed your reminisces. Yesterday, I saw a man using a leaf blower to chase his chickens away from the road. I guess the "Livestock" couple would have considered it a Kodak Moment, if not an opportunity for a Movie of the Week!

I Wonder Wye said...

My mom ended up in the ER this week - after 6 hrs turned out it was diverticulous. With Excy's ER trip the week before when he went into A-fib for the 2nd time we have seen WAY to many hospitals lately -- and they are always so cold you could hang meat in the rooms - guess to keep germs at bay...this week begins yet another round of dr visits for Excy - I feel like we are in our 80s!

Deb said...

Here's the trick for ditching jury duty: Dress up as crazy cat lady carrying a big sign that says "hang 'em high!" and turn in your summons.

ReformingGeek said...

@Amy - Thanks. A leaf blower? That's funny!

@Wonder Wye - I'm sorry about your mom. I know what you mean about too many hospitals, doctors, and all that goes with it!

@Deb - They might send for the nice men with the white jackets...

Anonymous said...

Back in the day (when I had a life AND a job) jury duty never bothered me cuz I'd just have my Fire Chief call the other powers-that-be and "poof", jury duty disappeared like a rainbow in the drought.

Now? I pray for jury duty! But if you want to know a secret: when you're being interviewed for jury duty, no matter what they ask, just answer: "I believe in the death penalty" (this works especially well for minor traffic violation trials)

Diane J. said...

I hope your mom starts feeling better soon, shoulder surgery must suck...well, any surgery sucks, poor gal.

I love your garden!

And, I hope you got out of jury duty.

MikeWJ at Too Many Mornings said...

I love jury duty. Once, I managed to free a totally guilty durnk driver by arguing with my fellow jurors for two hours about the sloppy police work on the case. He had a public defender and it felt great to stick it to the man. I figure the guy left, went to bar to celebrate and then drove his car into a group of school kids touring the local zoo. Justice is so ugly.

Anonymous said...

Glad to hear your Mom is okay. Hope you got your jury duty rescheduled and that dude's brains didn't explode all over you. What a bummer that would have been!

The Old Silly said...

Thanks for sharing the little things - in your own inimitable style, lol.

Unknown said...

Lizards? Yuck! Your garden looks lovely! Hope you enjoyed your weekend!

The Constant Complainer said...

Have fun at jury duty. Blahwahahahwwhaaha. Sorry, was that too sarcastic or what!

Sorry to hear about her shoulder. Those are always delicate recoveries.

Happy Friday!

The Constant Complainer said...

Are you on Twitter yet!

ReformingGeek said...

@Dana - I hope I never see you on my jury (if I ever need one!)

@Diane J - Thanks. Yeah, surgery sucks.

@MikeWJ - Hum....I want you on my jury.

@Random - Thanks. Yeah, spewing is not good.

@Old Silly - Thanks, Marvin.

@AmkyLK - Thanks. Ah, lizards are cute!

@Constant - Thanks. Happy Friday to you. Sorry, no tweeting for me!

K A B L O O E Y said...

Sorry to hear about your mom; mine's had two rotator cuff surgeries. We've got to keep these senior citizens out of the pitching rotation. As for jury duty, you just had it in May: what kind of records are they keeping down there? So you have a door to the lizard underworld. Maybe Animal Planet and HBO could team up for a reptilian Sopranos.

Meadowlark said...

I would LOVE jury duty, but no go. :( They seem to think as a cop's wife that I'm biased, but the fact is, as a cop's wife I'm hyper-aware of justice and fairness and BOTH sides would hate me equally.

Alas. Won't happen. Now go do your civic duty (again). :)

Suzanne said...

I have Jury Duty too! I'm hoping to be seqestered for about a month, I could use a break.

Anonymous said...

YOUR post gave ME a post too! And I've got a link-back to you....cuz I'm nice that way.

ReformingGeek said...

@Kablooey - Sometimes I think the lizards just let me live here. Yeah, poor Mom. She just wants to be able to use her arm again!

@Meadowlark - Ha! I'll be happy to go in a few months.

@Sue - Sequestered? Um....you might want to rethink that one. ;-)

@dana - Beau's sweetness has worn off on you?

Ivy said...

I first read this post this morning pre-coffee and it was just too much to take in. I'm better suited for evening. :)

Jury duty in traffic court... I'm pretty sure that is considered a form of torture in some countries. Yikes!

So jealous of the landscape! We're already frosting over, not that I actually planted anything... But you know what I mean.


"1.00s, 1.50s, 1.75s for the short arms. If you know what I'm talking about, you're probably old, too."

"Boomer brain fog: What was the last, middle, and first part of what you just said to me?"