Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Jury Duty

To answer the hundreds of emails from the past two weeks to explain why I was MIA, I had back-to-back doctor's depositions and had to get them into my office before April 9, the dreaded day of Jury Duty. I believed I would go in on Monday and be excused for the rest of the week because I had sat in a courtroom for 20 years as a court stenographer and was married to a defense lawyer . . . but noooooo, I was picked for the first jury which was a personal injury case.  That case only lasted two days, so when I went in to be voir dired for the next jury, a criminal DUI case, it was a given that I would not be chosen.  Wrong again!  The solicitor kept giving me the eye and smiling at me, so I knew I was doomed to be a juror yet again.  Of course, I wanted to prove I was not State oriented and went into the jury room believing the "good looking" defendant was innocent.  The jury was divided equally, three men, three women.  The men walked into the jury room saying guilty, guilty, guilty.  No way we were not going to discuss all the facts.  Five hours later, we watched the police officer's video again.  I was starting to lean.  As time went on I started to convince myself and the two other women he was guilty, and we finally delivered that verdict.  It was actually a good experience, and a nice feeling to voice opinions the are being listened to and considered and to be able to actually convince another that your opinion is the right one.  Maybe if I didn't have an anesthesiologist and infectious disease doctor's depos on my mind, I might have enjoyed the experience more.  So today I have one day off before a job tomorrow and yet another doctor's depo on Friday to catch up on laundry and housework that has not been done for weeks!

Tuesday, April 3, 2012

It All Started With Helga!

This is Helga, a shelter drop-off after being a puppy mill mom. She is believed to be two or three years old.  I had a couple of weeks with no jobs and decided to help Mike Chapman of the local chow rescue and went to the animal control shelter to rescue Helga.  She was the sweetest chow I had ever met, but she had kennel cough and was heartworm positive and needed to go to Briarcliff Animal Hospital for treatment.
Well, weeks later, here is Helga in my courtyard.  I wanted to see if she would fit in with my pack.  She has been here only two days and is going on walks with my others and there have been no fights.  Geisha has already warmed up to her, the Wong being so old doesn't care, and Panda can be a little snippy, so as Mike suggested, I am walking them with a big wiffle bat in my hand!
This was Helga the day I picked her up to take her to Mike.  She's in the back of my car still in shock that she was leaving the shelter.
These two little pups were labeled as chows.  It was the best thing that ever happened to them because Julie of Critter Cavalry in Tennessee asked me to find out more about them when I went to pick up Helga. The next week I was down at the shelter rescuing Yogi & Little Bear!  They don't have a bit of chow in them, but it sure was their lucky day.  They both were very sick with kennel cough and had been there over a month and would have soon been put down.
They started to feel better after days on their meds, good food, and walks in the sun.  They couldn't wait for their next walk. They gained some weight in just the 10 days that I had them.  We gave them a bath so they didn't smell like the shelter.  They were so soft and happy.
Saturday we drove them to Jasper, TN, where a friend of Julie's, Richard picked them up for the second leg of their trip.  Julie sent me photos of Yogi & Little Bear as happy as can be in the laps of Julie's little girls. I told her they liked scrambled eggs for breakfast, and she actually made them eggs for their first morning at her home! We will miss these guys, they were a lot of fun, but a lot of work!  So many walks I was exhausted by nightfall.  Helga is a lot easier and slower paced, and she will be a wonderful addition to our pack.