All the Little Things

Yes, I was excused from jury service Tuesday afternoon (after spending 3 full days in the courtroom) and am much relieved. The defendent, accused of multiple breaking/entering/physical assault/rape charges is, according to the local news, using as his defense "consensual" sex. The news article says that one victim, whose 13-year-old son was in the house at the time, tried to flee to get help, but when the attacker rose and started after her boy, the woman told the attacker to do whatever he wanted, just leave her son alone, so he raped her again. That, my friends, according to the defense, makes the sexual attack "consensual" at 2 AM by an unknown assailant who literally broke through the sliding glass door to enter the woman's home.

My question: why is there even a trial?

Next, Ranger is doing well, mostly. If I keep the timer on and keep taking him out, he's using his special Potty Place as intended; if I forget, he prefers the living room carpet. I did buy the "pee pee pads" recommended by both websites and recent puppy people, but Ranger found a different use for it. He picked up one corner in his teeth and raced down the hallway, resembling a very small, 4-legged Super Dog! As far us messing up his cape for doing his business? Nah; it's a better play toy than potty training aide. All 3 dogs have bonded and get along well, but it's challenging to have 3 dogs, especially a 90-pound Rott mix, a 15-pound Jack Russell terrier, and a 2-pound whatever. I would love to find a good home for Ranger, but would miss him terribly, too, after bringing him back from the edge and holding him for 5 days while he regained his strength. Well, and the fact that we're now past the 3-week mark in bonding, too.

B & A are on-site redoing the paver patio and adding a wood shade structure! When I first did the job, I did my best, but my border boards warped and became trip 'n fall obstacles. If there's a way to trip over a piece of thread on the floor, I'll find it, so I took a header over one of the boards while taking Ranger out to his PP, landing, of course, on my "bad" knee. Enough said: time to fix the paver patio. I thought the guys would do this sometime in Sept, but they arrived, ready to work, yesterday, and the transformation is amazing. I am going to like the finished project more than I liked it the first time I did it, and adding the shade structure is going to make it more likely that I'll spend even more time outside.

Have had pestilence in the yard, something that took out several huge hedges literally overnight. I think I'm going to have to dig out the skeletons as they are a potential fire hazard. I'll replant when it cools off a bit.

The final final book edit is finished, so it's time for the book to be printed and distributed. I enjoyed doing the final edit with a former student, who has also been a co-worker, as well as an on-going friend. We work well together because I know the writing, while he knows the mechanics of the computer program. When it's in the marketplace, I'll provide a title and the author so y'all can check it out.

Today, I'm taking my neighbor to the grocery store while the guys are here working. She no longer has a car and the sporadic bus service makes going to the marketplace across the highway an hour drive each way for a 15-mile trip. Her groceries can't make it home in the heat, so I told her I'd drive her. Her dotter is going to watch Ranger this Sunday while I'm off water-poloing again, which is a fair exchange of services.

That's it for the ketchup! I go back to work in about 10 days and have to push to update the syllabi, find the course materials, and get my brain wrapped around teaching again. Ranger is happily chewing on an old toothbrush I gave him, rather than my toe, so all is good again in LizaLand.