Civic Responsibility

Yesterday I had the joy of partaking in what some (the judge) might call our most important civic responsibility, outside of voting--jury duty.  While I wasn't thrilled with the prospect of a day spent sitting and waiting, I did look view it as an opportunity to spend a day reading or crocheting, even if there chairs weren't exactly comfortable.

Jurors in Massachusetts are summoned from 9 am to 4 pm on they date dictated by the state, but are asked to arrive by 8 am for processing and instructions.  Shortly before 7:30 am I found a place to park in Worcester (not after driving in a circle or two) and made my way to the courthouse.  While walking to the building, another juror who was also confused by the crazy roads was parked randomly on the street and asked me if I knew where the courthouse was.  I told her (right in front of us) and asked, due to the confused look on her face, if she had jury duty.  She confirmed and I pointed her to the lot I used, supposedly for jury pool parking.

Woman: Then where do I go?

Me: Well, I'm going to walk in the front door of the courthouse and see what happens.

I've never been summoned before, so I didn't know exactly what to expect, but anticipated I would just be waiting.  Worst case I would actually be called in for selection and potentially impaneled.  I was hoping that if it got to the point a lawyer would ask me questions to determine my biased, I could tell them I spend all my free time watching Law and Order marathons in every flavor.  This wouldn't be completely inaccurate.

Guess what I learned upon walking in the courthouse?  It's better to crochet than knit!  I had brought a bag of projects to work on and when I went through security (bag scanners and metal detectors, something caught the officer's eye.

Officer: Crochet hooks?

Me: Yes.

Officer: But no knitting needles?

Me: Correct. I didn't even bring scissors.

Officer: Ok, no problem.

Apparently I'm not dangerous with a hook.  (Insert your own conclusions here.)

Upon arriving in the Jury Pool room, I was registered and got my juror number: 80.  I looked at the room with enough chairs for about 120 people.  This did not seem like a good number.

I took a seat, read a case for work, had some snacks and generally just began the waiting process.  What really amazed me was the number of people who were just sitting there.  the vast majority hadn't brought a book, magazine, newspaper or even a cup of coffee to keep themselves occupied.  What's more is that as the day went on, I learned may of them had been summoned before, so it's not like they didn't know the day was spent just sitting in a room.

Between 8 am and 9 am we watched a little video on what it means to be on a jury and the aforementioned judge came to give us a pep talk.  Shortly after 9 am, the first group of jurors (#1-74) were called to go for selection.  That's when the fun began.

Those jurors went to a small room off to the side and were (presumably) lined up and given instruction before walking out of the area and up to one of the courtrooms.  While this group was lining up, another woman summoned for the day came in.  Her name, for all intents and purposes, is Princess.

Apparently Princess had a juror number that fell into the range of the first group.  She didn't understand why Rose, the court officer in charge of the jury pool, wouldn't let her just go with them.  There was some conversation I missed prior to this, but here is where my ears perked up.

Princess: I don't understand.  I belong with that group.

Rose: But you were late.  You were summoned to be here at 8 am and it's after 9:30.  You've received no instruction and the selection is about to get started.  We can't delay it because you were late.

Princess: But I'm here for the morning session, so you should just let me got with them.

Rose: There is no morning session. Our day goes from 9 to 4.  You have to be here for the whole day. If you can't I'd be happy to reschedule you for another day when you can be here all day.

Princess:  I can't reschedule. I took off work to be here today.

Rose: Then you'll have no problem being here until 4 pm.

This little interchange caused the rest of us to snicker, raise our eyebrows and roll our eyes.  From where we were sitting, we couldn't even see Princess, so we were eager to see her come around the corner.  When she did, let's just say I was unimpressed.  She was dressed nicely enough (even though she wore a velvet jacket.  And it was 55 degrees yesterday) but had a sour, annoyed look on her face.  I wanted to shake her and ask what she expected.  Jury duty has a reputation for a reason!  Oh and she was another one of these people who didn't bring anything to do and just sat there wallowing in her bitterness.  At some point I heard a strange noise and looked up to see her rolling her purse-sized lint brush on her outfit.  I must have had a bizarre look on my face because the guy sitting at the other end of my row just started laughing when he saw me.

A few minutes later, she went up again.  Several of us just giggled as we watched her approach Rose's desk.

Princess:  When will the next group be called?

Rose: I don't know.

Princess: Well, I need to know.

Rose: I can't tell you.  It's up to the judge. He may call in 5 minutes, he may call at 2 pm.  I have no idea.

Princess: Well, can't I just go and join that other group now?

Rose: No that's not how it works.

Princess: But my number was in that group.

Rose: That group went to be selected for a trial that is probably going to last 2 and a half weeks.  You said you couldn't even be here all day, but you can be here every day for 2 and a half weeks?  I'd be happy to send you.

Princess must have mumbled something (she didn't strike me as the type to not respond) but I didn't catch it.  And Rose was quickly becoming my hero.  She was probably in her 50s and couldn't even be 5 foot tall, but she was a spitfire (who was very nice to the rest of us) and held her ground firmly.

About an hour and half later, the original group of jurors came back (minus those who were selected).  Rose continued to give us updates about the status of the other jury trials pending for the day, which had been at 4 and were now decreased to 2.  Rose had also mentioned (before Princess arrived) that lunch break was generally an hour long and usually started a 1 pm.

Shortly after the first group of jurors returned, Rose announced that some jurors would be released.  She was very careful with the words she chose.

Rose: Those of you who went to jury selection early can leave now.

She didn't say numbers 1 through 74, and I honestly believe it was because she didn't want Princess to have the opportunity to leave.  Priceless.  There were some more Rose and Princess interchanges and it got to the point that the rest of us didn't even try to conceal our disdain.  We laughed audibly at the exchanges and several people catcalled Princess as she approached Rose's desk.

Rose kept calling to see if the rest of us could be released.  She hoped to let us know by lunch so that we would know to either go to lunch or head home.  Finally at 12:45 pm she announced she was going to go straight to the courtroom and find out.  Now, knowing this was the difference between going to lunch and then returning only to find out I could have gone home, or just going home.  I was more than pleased to sacrifice a few minutes of my lunch time to clarify my overall time commitment.

At 12:59 pm, Princess announced to the rest of us, "I think it's illegal for them to keep us past 1 pm."

I laughed.  Loudly.

One of the guys behind me said, "Yeah, I don't think you have any clue what you're talking about so you might as well just be quiet."  Also said loudly.  And also causing the rest of us to burst out into laughter.  "In fact," he continued, "you should stay later since you weren't here on time."

A few minutes later Rose came and much to our delight announced we were no longer needed.  We all thanked her and I'm pretty sure most of the group considered punching Princess in the face. Outside of the courthouse, of course.  Ok, maybe just I considered it.

I wouldn't say I enjoyed jury duty, AKA sit around and wait day, but at least I can say I appreciated the entertainment.  And I complete 2 1/2 chemo caps for charity.

Crazy Stuff I See

Last week I was walking to the train station after work.  Since it's spring and occasionally the weather wants to pretend it's nice outside, there have been a lot more people walking along Mass Ave in Cambridge lately.  Particularly people with dogs, which typically puts a smile on my face. 

Last summer I enjoyed walking past a shoe store that frequently left the door open so the "Watch Corgi" could see the people going up and down the street.  He would sometimes bring his tennis ball to the door and once he lost it, helplessly watching it roll away from him.  So of course I had to collect it and roll it back to him.

But last week I had to do a double take.  In the distance I saw a guy walking what I thought were two medium sized white dogs.  I could quite tell the breed so I kept looking as I got closer.

They weren't dogs.

They were lambs.

On leashes.

Walking toward Harvard Square.

I apologize because by the time I realized what was happening, I was ill-prepared to take a good photo from the front and ended up with a shot of the sidewalk.  But I was able to procure the following:

Enhance:

Enhance:

I know the picture quality from my phone sucks, but I promise you, they were lambs.

When I shared this with Dave and asked, "Who walks lambs down Mass Ave?," his response was, "Well, you have to exercise them.  And it's illegal to let your livestock wander on Boston Common now."

And now I've spent the last few days wondering and coming up with more questions.  Does the guy have a house or apartment?  Why lambs?  Does he use them for wool?  What other livestock might he have?  How do you train a lamb to walk on a leash?  Why doesn't he live on a farm?  It' all very confusing, but I must say, there is never a lack of interesting things on my walks through the city.

Birthday Celebration Weekend

Cindy's birthday was on Monday.  It was a milestone.  I won't tell you which one, but I will tell you that she and I are no longer the same decade-something.  You may remember last year we celebrated Cindy's birthday with an emergency party since her original plans were thwarted.  And it was awesome.  One would think that since we had ample time to plan and prepare, it would have been easy to be just as awesome as last year's celebration.

One would be wrong.

I didn't want to step on Keith's toes by planning a celebration without consulting him.  After all, he is her fiance.  So I was thrilled when he reached out to me for ideas in mid-February.  We thought of a couple of different options and I said I would explore them.  In January, Cindy and I scheduled an afternoon of manicures and pedicures for this past Saturday, so I knew we had to do something fun to follow in the evening.  I struggled with the idea of hosting a party but thought I could still pull it off even though I'd be with her in the late afternoon and would be crunching time to prepare.  We also considered a big dinner out with friends meeting us at a restaurant or just a bunch of people meeting us for drinks at a local bar.  After much struggling, we decided on just a couples dinner out.

In the meantime, Cindy had planned spa day and invited me to join her.  We decided to go on Monday (the actual birthday).  Mani/pedis on Saturday, and a facials/massages on Monday.  I could love this life.  A plan was coming together.  Now I just needed to add the awesomeness.

I started by making Cherry-Lemon Meringue Mini Pies for my new tradition of "Birthday Baking."  Yes, everyone gets cake on their birthday, but I don't do cakes.  So I pick the birthday boy or girl's favorite recipe (or flavors) of something other than cake and go to town. 

We'll ignore the fact that the picture only shows 11 mini pies and they appear to be stuck in the muffin pan.  For the full story, check out the recipe on the baking blog.  Appearances aside, Cindy was quite happy to receive a stone pan full of tasty lemony goodness at 8:15 am.

Yup, I decided to take them to her at work.  I wanted to kick off her birthday weekend with a bang, so on Saturday morning I arrived at her work and delivered the pies and this mildly obnoxious birthday centerpiece.  And her gift.

Because nothing says "Happy Birthday!  Let's drink!" like a 3 foot floating margarita.  Especially when delivered to your place of employment.  On a Saturday morning.  At 8:15 am.

Later in the afternoon I headed to Cindy's house and we drove to the salon, about a half hour away.  We go to Bella Sante every 6-8 months for some good girl time, and this visit was just as good.  It's a little swanky and far away, so we save it for special occasions.  We had a great time, chatting and generally enjoying ourselves.  Keith and I had decided to keep the dinner plans a secret, so when our nail technicians asked us where we were going afterward, I kept it vague and open.  Afterward, we got in the car and I "suggested" going to a particular restaurant.  My little white lie that is was based on a recommendation from a foodie friend was totally warranted. 

We got the the Beacon Grille and headed to the bar.  The restaurant was great.  It was much bigger than I expected and got pretty busy for the dinner rush while we waited.  I positioned myself facing the door, so I could see Dave and Keith come in and make sure Cindy would have her back to them.  The funny thing was, I kept seeing groups of people who were clearly celebrating birthdays come in.  Multiple groups carrying balloons and gifts kept coming in.  I noticed a balloon with Cindy's milestone come in and said, "oh look--It's somebody else's big birthday too."  Clearly, I'd chosen the right celebration restaurant.

Our bartender, Melissa, was a sweetheart and made great recommendations.  She offered us menus, asking if we'd be eating at the bar.  I casually said, "Oh, maybe in a little while."  She brought us our drinks and eventually we did order an appetizer (the cheese platter which was awesome.  Cindy loves cheese the way I love chocolate, so clearly it was a winner.)  While we were enjoying our cocktails and tasty morsels, Keith showed up behind Cindy and said, "Happy Birthday!"  She was completely surprised.

Dinner was fabulous. The menu wasn't very extensive, but very carefully crafted and everything thoughtfully paired.  True to form, Dave and Cindy--we like to joke that Dave is Cindy's boyfriend, and vice versa--were debating over the same two entrees so each ordered one and they shared.  This is pretty normal behavior.  Our waiter, Ruben, was incredibly attentive and had great recommendations.  He was even successful in recommending a cocktail to Keith that he enjoyed, which was surprising because Keith is generally picky.  They comp'ed Cindy's dessert (and presented it on a huge plate with "Happy Birthday" written in caramel sauce) and we were very pleased with the evening. 

On Monday morning, I picked Cindy up and headed to Essential Therapies Day Spa.  It was a dreary day, but any day is great for pampering.  We were welcomed by the official greeter, Callie.

Isn't she a sweetie?  She's about six months old, super sweet, well trained and has really soft ears.  She loves people so she had no problem when I couldn't keep my hands over her.  We spent some time in the hot tub, eating fruit and drinking mimosas before going off for facials and massages.  I can't even begin to describe the massage other than to say it was positively awesome.  We finished off our morning in the sauna despite the sauna being outside and that it had started to snow.  The snow had nothing to deter us from enjoying the cedar hot house.  We showered, changed and headed out to lunch (yes, that included more cocktails).

After a weekend of fun and much pampering (and some drinking), it was certainly hard to come back to work this week.  I suppose that's the price I pay for celebrating with friends.  I hope Cindy had as much fun as I did.  Now we just need an excuse to do it all again.

Weekend Trip to Maine

Last weekend, our friends Felise and Nick invited us to join them at a friend's condo in Bridgton, Maine.  Since Panda was at her new home, we took advantage of the late season ski conditions, packed up our gear and headed out.

Nick grew up with family friends who bought a condo right across the street from Shawnee Peak, a downhill ski area.  Erica, one of the children in that family, was going up and invited Nick, Felise and any of their friends to come up.  We picked them up on Friday night and drove up to Maine in the rain and fog to meet Erica at the condo.

The next morning, we woke up to sunshine and were expecting temperatures in the mid-40s.  Erica and Nick got ready for downhill skiing at Shawnee Peak, while Dave prepared to snowboard.  Apparently the mountain was doing a theme day to encourage people to go skiing, so Saturday was "Retro Day."  Since Erica's family had the condo since the early 90s, she found the perfect outfit: a hot pink snowsuit, complete with shoulder pads, cinched belt and matching sweater.  Very hot.

Unfortunately, Erica was the only non-employee who was dressed and she still didn't get an actual prize.  Apparently the contest was rigged (employees voting for other employees), but the manager felt bad enough that he ran into the ski shop and got Erica a fleece scarf and glove set.  At least she got something out of it.

Like me, Felise doesn't downhill either.  So we went cross country skiing at a nearby apple orchard, Five Fields Orchard.  It was very cute and unlike any cross country trails I've been on, in a lot of ways.  First, the guy running the place (we didn't catch his name, so we called him Al) was busily painting and wood-working the trail signs in the hut when we arrived and was covered in sawdust.  He was really nice and showed us the trail map, making suggestions, and reminding us that since all the signs were in the hut, there wouldn't be much signage on the trails.  Al asked us to sign in, took our ten bucks and offered us free bottled water.  Then we went out on our merry way.

From the top of the hill at the hut.

The orchard is beautiful and sits on the top of a hill.  There is even a cemetery in the orchard (this became a reference point for us), so eclectic might begin to describe the place.  Unfortunately, the orchard isn't contained to just the top of the hill, and in order to get to the long trails, we had to go down.  A lot.  These hills were pretty steep.  Add to that, the rainy conditions from Friday made the snow very very fast.

One of the reasons I don't do downhill is because I don't like the speed nor do I feel like I have much control.   I could not stop no matter how hard I tried.  I had warned Felise of my propensity for falling, but this was a little excessive.  We had gone west across the orchard, and then started down the hill.  It was much steeper than I thought, so I tried, desperately, to turn and head back across the orchard to the east.  And I fell.  And then I was trying to get back up, but since my skis were still pointed down the hill, I couldn't and fell again.  Eventually, after several failed attempts, I got up and we trekked back to the other side, hoping for less downhill action.  It was better, but I still fell a few times.  The best however, was when I managed to fall on my butt and not my face, but still slid down the hill for a good 10 feet.  It was awesome.

Finally in the ravine, we managed to be successful and enjoy the beautiful scenery.  Since it was sunny, the snow glistened and since it was late in the season, there was no one around.  In fact, it wasn't until we were close to being finished that we saw another skier.  We definitely enjoyed a peaceful and serene workout, even if getting back up the hills were killer.

Crossing the stream.  That's Felise way ahead of me.

We headed back and reported the conditions to Al.  He offered us suggestions for lunch and then I asked him, since he didn't give us trail pass tags for our coats, if we could come back later.  He said sure, we had the whole day, no problem.  I think that's when Felise noticed the sign on the porch that said, "If no one's here, just put your fee in the bucket and enjoy the trail."  Nothing like the honors system.  I figure, the skiing thing was just something this guy did to take advantage of his orchard being covered in snow.

We met Erica, Nick and Dave at the condo for lunch and then decided to head back out to the trails while they hit the slopes again.  It started to cloud up in the afternoon, but I was much more competent.   I actually only fell once and that was because I couldn't make the turn I wanted to and it was either fall or hit a tree.  I decided against choosing the tree.

I did however, manage to lose my pole randomly.  We were cruising along and I pulled up my right arm only to discover my hand was empty.  And I had a hard time stopping because I was going at a pretty good skate and was laughing pretty hard.  Once I finally stopped and regained composure, I looked back and there it was, sticking up in the ground.  Clearly the snow was much stickier this time around.  Or I didn't pull my strap tight enough.

Way back there in the middle of the trail is my pole.

Eventually we met back a the condo again.  We decided to go to Moat Mountain Smokehouse for dinner in North Conway, New Hampshire.  I'll admit, it was kinda cool going to Maine for the weekend, but then going to another state for dinner.  Only in New England.  That and it was 25 minutes away. 

Dave and I have been to North Conway a couple of times for winter trips and the last time we were there, we found this restaurant. It's awesome.  They do barbecue, pizza, burgers, and all kinds of yummy stuff, plus they have their own beer.  I suggested it and Erica was so excited because she hadn't been there in a while.  Felise and Nick had never been and it turned out to be a great choice.  The food was great and a perfect follow up to a long day of skiing.

For an impromptu vacation weekend, this was definitely a good one.  We had a leisurely Sunday, cleaned up and headed back home.  I'm glad we got out skiing again too, because it would have been a shame not to take advantage of the snowy winter we've had. 

Oh, and when we got home, Dave swears he saw a mouse cross the drive way and jump into the house were the siding meets the foundation.  C'mon, you'd have been disappointed if that saga had ended.

Panda Adopted!

We are pleased to announce that our loving little (big) furball has gone to her forever home!  We couldn't be happier with her new family and are thrilled that we were able to save this sweet pup from ending up in the shelter systems where she probably wouldn't have thrived long enough to find a great home.

After lots of interest and several disappointing applications, we received an application from Kim and were excited to see that both Kim and her husband are police officers who work opposite shifts, so Panda wouldn't be left alone.  Better still, Kim used to be part of the canine unit, so she has lots of experience with training and understanding dogs.  She's had two dog-partners while she's been with the force.  The first was injured on the job and was retired after he went blind from being kicked by a suspect.  And she recently had to put her second partner down after 9 years when he could no longer battle his cancer.  When Dave first spoke with her, she said she was too old to be jumping over fences and just wanted a dog to be her pet for once.

Kim came to visit Panda with her 25 year old daughter, Whitney, and they fell in love.  Panda was a little barky when they first came in the house, but she settled down and allowed the to love on her and play together.  Kim was so excited, that she wanted to come back the very next day with her husband, Tim, and 9 year old son, Tommy, so they could meet Panda.  When they arrived, Panda was a little more barky and slightly concerned about Tommy.  She wasn't aggressive toward him, but she barked when he made any sort of sudden movements and then she would shy away, back toward Dave.  Kim, Dave and I tried to coach Tommy on how to act around her, but like a typical kid, he grew impatient.  When the family left, we were unsure that they would want to pursue adopting Panda since there would be a lot of work for Kim training both Panda and Tommy.

Imagine our surprise when Kim called Dave and announced they were definitely interested in adopting Panda!  They were concerned that given the behavior during the meet and greet, we would think they weren't the right family.  On the contrary, we thought they'd be amazing given the high level of experience training dogs.  As Akitas are known to be dogs with a high alert level and incredibly loyal and protective of their people, a novice dog owner probably wouldn't be prepared to deal with her issues. 

The night before she left, we spent some quality time with Panda, taking pictures and generally playing.  I have to say, she's been so much fun because she loves to play with her toys and we haven't had a dog like that.  We made sure she had a chance to play more inside fetch before bed.

Yesterday Dave drove Panda to her new home in western Massachusetts where she'll be able to run free on 3 acres of land that abutts a conservation area. 

Kim told us that they've already determined that Tommy will be responsible for feeding Panda to help strengthen their bond.  They were well prepared with squeak toys for Panda, which she found right away.  And Panda will have a cousin to play with since Whitney has an Akita of her own, Axel, who comes over often.

With three pups saved and in great homes, we again have the warm fuzzies knowing that we helped them find the right home.

Snow Time = Play Time, Apparently

The thing with having an Akita in your home is that she doesn't understand why you don't want to play in the snow too.

Panda's been a bit of a challenge for us, but she's making great strides.  When we first brought her home, we didn't want her bounding about in the yard (big and fenced in which would make any dog happy) for two reasons.  The first was that she had just been spayed, so she had fresh stitches and we didn't want her to hurt herself.  The other was that the snow banks were so high that there was less than a foot of said fence remaining.  And since Panda is a dog bred to climb through snow, she could have easily walked or jumped right over the fence.

So we've been keeping her on her leash and walking with her in the snow.  Except that because unlike her, we sink in the snow, we stayed on the path that Dave made with the snow blower and she could only go up to six feet off the path (as long as the leash). 

She really didn't like this idea. 

Dave got a long lead and we started using that, but still she had limited mobility and couldn't run through the snow like she wanted.  Feeling bad for her lack of romping, on Saturday, after taking her on a walk, we came back home and I decided to do a test.  The snow has been melting, exposing more of the fence (maybe about half).  We came back in to yard and I took off her leash and replaced it with the long lead.  And then I just let her go.  I figured the lead was long enough that if she started to go somewhere, I could catch the end and lead her back into the yard.

Panda loved it.  For the first time she was exploring areas of the yard previously off limits.  On our walks we've noticed that Panda loves to dig in the snow (and eat it, but that's another story).  Left to her own devices in the back yard (with a little help from the holes where my boot fell in), she was in digging heaven.  Please excuse my finger in the following video--it was sunny out and I couldn't actually see what I was doing.

I did this little test without telling Dave.  He was out Jeeping and I actually was calling him before I started this video but I had to hang up since this activity had to be captured.

The next day I decided to let her off again.  Panda was so excited, since she knew what she'd be able to do.  Again, Dave was out, so I took another video.

But wait, there's more.

It was great, except that when I thought she was going up to the door, ready to go back inside, she took a left turn instead of a right.  Up a bigger snowbank, walked right over the fence, onto a snowbank in the neighbors yard and started to go down the steps into their backyard.  Oops.  I caught the end of the lead just in time and successfully got her back into our yard.  When Dave came home, he took a little off the top of the "Snowbank to Freedom."

You know what happens when you let a dog run around outside?  They get really tired.  Or play dead--I can't tell which.

She's actually sleeping like that--it's not a random stretch.  She lays like that for 20 minutes or more.  Sometimes I ask her if she's still alive.  Dave says she's just hoping we'll come over there and rub her belly.

All Dog Rescue Featured on Today Show

So I'm a little delayed in posting this, but two weeks ago we had a bit of excitement in our rescue group, All Dog Rescue.  The Today Show did a piece on Safe Have, a shelter for homeless men, and the foster dogs they take in on behalf of our organization.  The piece was taped in January and they have since adopted out Norman.  To date, they have fostered 14 dogs (Panda's brother, Prince is the German Shepherd they are fostering now).  It's a great story of how these homeless men are bonding with homeless dogs to make all their lives better.  You can watch the segment below.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy