Jury Duty

I was called to jury duty for the first time last week. A couple of people have asked me about it. Here it is in a nutshell!

I just barely escaped serving on a jury. The first day I just sat around. I was pretty impressed by the assembly room! It was very comfy. We got a 2 hour lunch break, and I went shopping and walked for the whole 2 hours. I'm not used to sitting around for so long, and it was wonderful to stretch my legs.

At the end of the day they put 117 of us who hadn't yet been assigned to a judge into one pool. I was number 89 and figured I was safe. The next day about half the jurors were thrown back into the general pool, and the rest of us went upstairs to do jury selection. From the questions asked I gathered it was a murder trial involving a homeless guy, murder, crack cocaine, botched or missing evidence, and possibly racist police officers or detectives. The trial would last 2 to 3 weeks. All of the questions posed to the jury and the answers people gave were really fascinating. In that small group of people, 2 uncles, 2 aunts, 2 brothers (same guy), and one friend had been murdered. One guy had been arrested for DUI. One juror said he believed there was racism in law enforcement. The next moment we learned that the guy sitting next to him was a Federal Agent! In general, I was really impressed by everyone's thoughtfulness in the answers they gave. It gave me confidence in the system.

After much deliberation and to-ing and fro-ing of we jury folks, to waiting rooms and back, the lawyers eliminated 20 people and 2 more got to leave because of time conflicts. After they filled the jury box, I was only four spots away from having to serve!

Although I'd like to serve on a jury some day, and a murder trial is about as Law and Order as you can get, I really didn't want to be on a long trial with such heavy duty.

All in all, I found it fascinating and educational! And I got a new purse and new shoes.

Things You Don't Want In Your Mouth

Sometimes when you have eclectic happenings in your life, it's hard to come up with a title that says it all. I think this one does.

There used to be a church in Ballard (well, actually, there are a bazillion, but this is a specific one) called the Church of Divine Man. Eventually it went belly up, and some creative artistic-type renovators bought it. It's been looking very interesting, and we've wondered what's going on inside. Well, today we drove by and noticed signs on the door saying "Come In!" So we did! They were having a yard sale of lots of fantastic stuff. The guys who own the property are obviously inveterate antiquers and thrift shoppers. We came away with some nice glass coasters ... and an antique dental drill! We totally needed one of those!

It was made by the Ritter Company of Rochester, NY. We have the C model. This is an electric drill with a foot pedal that presumably controls speed. The drill arm is wonderfully articulated, and the whole arm moves and is nicely balanced by the big black ball which I assume contains the motor. It looks like it could be from the 1930s or 1940s. I'm not sure at this point.

According to the seller, the engine works! I'd like to refurbish it so it looks nice. The enamel has been drilled off in a few places due to freak drilling accidents. The chrome or nickel plating has corroded a bit. The belt/string that connects the drill to the engine needs to be replaced, and we should probably clean out the engine. I think this will be a fun project!

Well, you may be wondering what else you don't want in your mouth? How about poop! Yes, poop. One of the unpleasant things we learned about rabbits when JoJo came into our lives, is that rabbits "chew their cud." Because they eat difficult to digest fodder, it goes through twice. However, unlike cows, it really goes ALL the way through twice. JoJo seems to really enjoy her cecotropes, and it can be disgustingly fascinating to watch. So I'll let you! Enjoy!

This was my first time using Blogger's new video upload tool. I had to agree that I was not uploading anything obscene. I hope I'm not.

I, Julia

I am in love with the old BBC series I, Claudius. I've seen the whole series many times, and when I met Michael many years ago, I really enjoyed watching them again with him. In fact, I think it's time to do it again! Especially because some clever Centurions have come up with an I, Claudius drinking game! At my age, I may have to drink prune juice, or at least Bud Light (OMG, just kidding! peh! peh! That's not even beer.), but it still sounds like a lot of fun!

Pimp My Litterbox

I decided that since Jo-Jo's upstairs litter box was so picturesquely nestled between a Banana and a pot of Bird of Paradise and Ti, she could use a nice Hawaiian print:
So far she hasn't thanked me for it.

We've had a very cool second half to our summer, but both girls had a nice sun nap the other day. It's so rare for them to snooze so close together that I had to take a picture.

Cereusly Excited!

I'm very excited! My Night-blooming Cereus bloomed!

I've had this plant for 10 years, and this is only the second time it has bloomed. The first time was six years ago, so it's been a long wait. Each time I only got one bloom. The plant itself is a rather squid-like cactus that is tethered to a curtain rod to keep its tentacles and suckers away from our TV. The flower is beautiful, though, and the scent was heavenly. Kind of like plumeria.

I've become a Cereus filmmaker, and I tacked together all of my photos to create a simulated time-lapse of the flower blooming, taken from several points of view.


I also grew this fantastic bunny carrot! Eyes added, nature did the rest. After I took the photo, Jo Jo ate the carrot. That was its destiny.

Brad-O-Meter: Nature Boy

My brother Brady is still on the Appalachian Trail! A few mishaps have befallen his friends, and they've had to drop out and rejoin, but so far Brady has remained pure and steadfast in his continuous trek. His worst mishap has been poison ivy, while others have contracted Lyme disease or sprained their ankles. My Dad and Stepmom, Becky, hiked with him in early July, so I got an update on him when I went home to Maine to visit at the end of July. He had safely passed the halfway point.

Last week I finally heard from the boy himself, and he's heading up into New England. Mt. Katahdin is almost in sight! He checked in from Wingdale, NY, which is about 1440 miles along the trail. 2/3 done!

Since it's been so long since my last Brady reporting, he's gone through several sections of the map!

I think the trail has been good for him. He started off as a squeaky clean Harvard grad who imagined having lots of time to read at camp. Instead he's found great friends, drank beer on cliffs, and generally transformed. Way to go!

Double Tag

A couple of weeks ago Surly Spice tagged me. Since I've already been tagged, and only sorta-complied then, I'll only sorta-comply now. I'm going to take Surly's 8 things, and edit them to make them mine. I'm not gonna tag anyone.

i have four one cats and one rabbit.
i have a sister in law who teaches yoga.
i love think meatball subs are OK, but the ones from Grinders Hot Sands are out of this world.
i do not buy a lot of shoes.
i compulsively pay my bills late on time.
i make a lot of lists. Yes! Me too!
i would rather read the book watch the movie than watch the movie read the book.
i lived in brooklyn and worked in manhattan for nine months seven years.

Wood or Decorative Objects

Michael and I just had our 5th anniversary. You've heard of the silver anniversary, or the golden anniversary? Well, according to a reference book at work, the 5th anniversary is "wood or decorative objects." Whoopee. Some websites list the modern 5th anniversary as the silverware anniversary. It just so happens, we managed to cover both, with this!
Not very decorative you say? But it's wood! And brass! And it holds up silverware! Our silverware drawer broke, and it turns out an awkward plastic thingy which held the drawer slidey-track thing to the wall had shattered. I figured the silverware drawer would sit on the kitchen table for a week or two until I got around to finding a replacement part. But no! My sweet baboo immediately fashioned above pictured bracket, and the two of us managed to install it successfully.

I know this may be hard for many wives to believe, but it was the perfect anniversary gift. Then, after dinner, Michael went to his buddy's house to play Halo. His friends were amazed I let him out. Thus ends a wonderful decoratively wooden silverware-related 5th anniversary.

Attack of the Hendersons

In addition to meeting old and new friends, I also of course spent time with my family. My Dad and I had a nice drive to Skowhegan to see my Grandma H and Aunt V before heading to Harpswell for the rest and relaxation part of my visit. I enjoyed reading on the porch while bird watching. I helped my Dad set up a nice awning on the porch; we can call it an awning because it was white and green, otherwise if it had been blue, it really would have been a good ol' Maine tahp. A quick trip out to the Henderson Mooring at the Orr's-Bailey Yacht Club was a nice interlude, too.

I started out the week in Camden with my Mom, and I helped her get a blog started. She'll be heading to Quito this weekend for her next teaching assignment, and hopefully she can keep us updated through the blog! Earlier in the week I enjoyed visiting with my Grandma R and Aunt C in Camden a few times. I also had some extra family around since my sister-in-law's niece was visiting so she could take sailing lessons at the Camden Yacht Club. We had fun painting our nails and putting jewels on them.

All that fun aside, nothing beats the energy of my nephews! We all trooped out to Fernald's Neck Preserve and Balance Rock and had a swim, and Aaron and the kids tried a little fishing.


On the way back my Mom treed the kids in an old cedar tree.

I was also a Very Bad Aunt and encouraged violent behavior from Julian; but he's soooo cute!

And while we're on the subject of attacking Henderson's, let me close with this link my Dad sent me. It's a mashup from the Prelinger Archives showing the Henderson family protecting themselves from a zombie attack. Enjoy!

[edit: embed removed because it would automatically play, which is annoying. Follow this link to see the video.]

New Friends in Maine

In addition to meeting up with family and old friends in Maine, I made some new friends, too! I went to Rockland last Tuesday night to see Petula Darling, and I finally met her rabbits Morris and Midge. Morris came to see who was in his house, but Midge was very ... retiring. I could only get a good look at her by taking a flash photo under a piece of furniture and then looking at the result. I'm afraid she looks a bit like a Wallace and Gromit were-rabbit from that point of view:


Although he is a famous interwebs personality, Morris was kind enough to grant me an interview

After the visit, Morris and Midge had a wash up. The camera added a few pounds to Morris' physique; he's really quite svelte.I also met Petula Darling's husband Davis. Have you blog readers noticed how she mentions him but never describes him? Now I know why -- he's really handsome and intelligent! She's making sure she keeps him to herself. :> I thoroughly enjoyed blabbing away with Petula and Davis until I had to tear myself away and go home. Just before I left Davis showed me a hawk skull. Under an antique microscope. He really knows how to impress me! I love bones and old science equipment.

For my next visit I hope to get my act together and bring a petticoat-worthy dress, and we can go out on the town.

The next day I went up to my Dad's and finally met his new cat Scout. She's a young whipper-snapper and full of energy. She also agreed to an interview.

So there you have it. I met two rabbits, a cat, and Petula's husband on my trip to Maine. That's pretty good!