Boots

Boots crossed the rainbow bridge today. Selina and Chessie were on the other side to meet him. He was not our first Boots. The first Boots was about 7 years old when he died from antifreeze poisoning (nasty neighbor!). Not long after we lost Boots I, Catie came home from school and announced that her friend Carol's cat had a litter of kittens. She looked very solemn as she explained that, if Carol didn't find homes for the kittens, her dad would take them out to the woods and shoot them. While I doubted that Carol's dad would ever shoot a kitten, I agreed to go and look at them.
The kittens were in a box in the garage. One of them was black and white with a half moustache, just like Boots I. I told Carol that we would take that kitten when he was ready to leave his mom. Not long after that, Boots II came to live with us. He bonded closest with Chris. When we left Charlotte, Boots stayed with Chris. As he matured, Boots gained weight. Chris nicknamed him Tubby. Tubby loved three things: Chris, naps, and canned food. When he heard the top of a can of cat food pop, he was first in line! Probably why he was called Tubby! When Chris moved in with us, Tubby came along.
Tubby had some jealousy issues with the other cats in the house. He began thinking outside of the box. Literally. He would go to the cat box, then poop right beside it. We tried to correct this bad behavior, but Tubs was stubborn. He had to live in the basement. He got along well with the basement cats. He also got all the canned food he could eat.
Over the last month, Tubby started losing weight at a frightening rate. He didn't run when canned food was opened. He was pooping outside the box again. Yucky smelling loose poo. He had trouble getting up and down the stairs. His coat became dull, as did his eyes. Last night, Chris said his final good by to his old friend Tubby. This morning, I took Tubs for the long ride. When I started the car "Tears in Heaven" was playing on the radio. Boots was too weak to protest riding in the car, something he has always hated. He only weighed four pounds, down from his usual ten pounds. I held him as the vet gave him the injection that would end his misery. Gradually, his eyes closed and his head slipped off of my arm. I petted him for a long time. I cried. As I walked out of the vet's office, it started to rain.

Jury duty lesson

I was subpoenaed to be on jury duty for "the April term". The April term runs from April 1 to July 31. I call in when instructed to do so, then report to court if necessary. I had to show up at court on Tuesday.
I was seated on a jury for a "distributing a controlled substance" trial.
The police presented their evidence, and it was convincing. At first. The state forensic investigator who presented the toxicology information was very interesting. After her testimony, we took a lunch break. After the break, the state's "confidential informant" testified. This fellow was entertaining enough to keep everyone in the courtroom from taking an afternoon nap! He was neatly dressed in a brown suit and tie and looked as if he knew what soap and water were. This was a stark contrast to the defendant, who wore the same rumpled jeans and green tee shirt both days. The CI started out by explaining that he went to the police and offered his assistance to arrest the defendant. He had no quarrel with the guy, he said that drugs had ruined his life and he didn't want anyone else's life ruined by drugs. Kind of a community service. He described the officers who searched him before and after the buy as "machines". They gave him the best searches he'd ever had (giggles from the jury). He talked about how the price of narcotics is determined (about a dollar per mg), but that "since a certain doctor closed up shop and got sent to jail" the price had gone up (more jury giggles). When the defense lawyer questioned CI, it got nearly hostile, but still amusing. I think each was trying to confuse the other. CI's health history, drug history and an arrest for DUI last fall were all discussed. Even though they weren't really relevant to this case. Lawyer would ask a question, CI would answer, then Lawyer would rephrase the question. CI would then answer in an exasperated tone, "I just told you.......". Even the judge was laughing!
During the trial, a young lady was kicked out of the courtroom because she kept saying"He's a liar" as the CI was testifying. A young man was nearly kicked out because his phone rang, very distracting.
The second day of the trial, the defense presented one witness. The defendant did not testify. That's probably what saved him! After lunch, we began deliberating. The Deputy told us about another trial where the jury got into a heated debate that lasted about two hours. When asked if they needed to review any evidence to calm the situation down, the jurors said that they hadn't even started discussing the evidence, yet. They were still trying to select a foreman! Our foreman volunteered! Even though we were in unanimous agreement that the defendant was guilty, we couldn't convict him with the evidence we had. Much as we wanted to keep this guy from selling one more pill, we couldn't do it. Why? Because the evidence that the state presented, especially the CI, left reasonable doubt. By not having a reputable person to witness the buy, we could not trust the CI's testimony. He had difficulty remembering some of the events of one buy, even though he said that he reviewed his notes the night before. Sadly, the defendant was acquitted and is now free to sell whatever he wants to whomever he wants.
Hooray for our legal system!