Musing and Meandering on Jury Duty

Today I have jury duty. I’m looking forward to seeing what there is to see, but I can’t get over the fact that to go and fulfill my civic duty, my basic human rights will be thrown out–that is, no firearms, metal detector search, no pocket knives, for heaven’s sake!  Is it not counter-intuitive that to participate in this high process of civilization, they force us back to the technological level of the apes?  What did I do to earn your mistrust, o court of the land?


…and now I wonder what they’d do if I showed up wearing rose-tinted sunglasses, an unbuttoned shirt (all the way down), and a tie die bandana, and had something like Practical Home Explosives… for Fun AND Profit! as reading material for the wait…

Anyways, we’ll see what happens.

String Beans

From the garden

to the grill

Delish!

Monitors

It wasn’t that hard. All it took was mentioning that I saw some inexpensive LCD monitors on the internet, and my boss (who is an ebay addict) promptly went and found a 22 inch display for just over $100. It’s on its way, and soon I’ll have something than early 90′s CRT technology… then, THE WORLD!

You. Will. Need. Eyebleach.

Varmint Count

My varmint count is not as impressive as JayG’s Dead Goblin Count, which is rapidly approaching 200, but it is still climbing.

Anyway, it now stands at 4 skunks, 5 raccoons, and 1 squirrel. And I’m getting awfully tired of getting up in the morning and digging holes… but those raccoons need to step up their game if they want to keep in the lead. I know there’s still a big one out there, I’ve seen its tracks in the garden… and these tracks are big enough to make me wonder if I need a bigger trap.

A bluesun-y PSA

School is starting people, and as my commute in any form and direction involves going through at least one school zone, I am noticing small children going to/coming from school. Be careful out there–no condition white for ANY drivers, right? Even you heartless conservatives… even if you don’t have any compassion, just think of the massive inconvenience you’ll have on your hands.

Look at that guy… he’s such a poser.

Been looking for some new shorts over the course of the summer, and at Cabela’s yesterday I found some on sale that looked pretty nice–nice big pockets all over, good fabric, and they actually go down to my knees, which is usually impossible to find as I have a 37 inch inseam. I generally go around looking like a goofy british safari tourist with those ridiculously short shorts (who likes short shorts? Not me…). So there were the pluses. The downside? They’re camo. Actually, they’re stupid camo–three shades of barely distinguishable green that wouldn’t work as camouflage even if you were trying to hide in the jungle. I mean, they hardly work as a fashion statement. And why the heck would you want camo shorts? You’ve got the Irish-white legs sticking out below and a Hawaiian shirt on top–you are not hiding anything.

I bought them, and I think I like them, but I can’t help but feel kinda stupid. “Huh huh, look at that guy with the stupid camo shorts. WHAT ARE YOU TRYING TO HIDE FROM, POSER?”

*hangs head in shame*

Wha… jus… happened?

Alarm went off at 5:45–I remember hearing it, then rolling over and getting up. Getting up at 6:30. I just lost 45 minutes of my life and I have no idea where to start looking for them.

Blech. Must me Monday.

Here, some psych up music:

Aren’t you proud of me? My first song posted first thing in the morning in like a week!

Salsa-maker’s motto

When chopping chillies and peppers: “I will not rub my eyes! I will not rub my nose! Will not rub my eyes! I will not rub my nose!” etc.

Unless you like that burning sensation…

And now a song for all you east coasters

I know, I’m not original, but there’s enough versions of Goodnight, Irene out there that I don’t feel too guilty.

What a depressing song, by the way.

R.I.P.

That is, Raisins in Progress:

Gardening

We just collected about 5 gallons of grapes off our grape vine; soon to be dried into raisins. It took 45 minutes and both me and my mother to de-stim them all–that’s a lot of grapes!

The weather

Today: High of 95 with 20% chance of afternoon thunderstorms. A month or so back the newspaper ran an article that rated good ol’ Happy Valley as the place in the nation with the smallest chance of any natural disasters. So basically all you east coasters have to deal with worse weather, higher humidity, and you’re a lot closer to Washington D.C.

Innocent (or not) bystander

There was no change in the trap this morning, so I left it set up during the day. But it turns out there are more than just raccoons and skunks in the neighborhood. This evening we found a dead squirrel that had trapped itself and died from the heat during the day. Still a varmint, so no big loss, but I should probably think about disarming it during the day so I don’t catch someones stay poodle or something. As it is, the count now stands at 3 skunks, 5 raccoons, and 1 squirrel. And now the trap is set for the night; there are fresh coon tracks in the garden…