It Was Bad...Really Bad!!

It was bad...really bad...I started to go into withdrawal...sweats, shakes, dizziness and then hyperventilating. I didn't know what to do...I was near total breakdown. My mind began to play tricks on me and telling me I would not survive the morning unless I got my fix...this all started when my internet browser wouldn't allow me to log onto the internet. What was I going to do? I'd be so isolated, so alone, so...sheesh, slap yourself out of it, Gayle, and get a back-bone...go to "Help" on your computer!! Now there's a concept! Let me ask this question, how many of you are internet dependent (and yet so technology challenged)? Well, I do have friends that know these things and thank goodness I can call for advice, but again and again as I tried to remedy the problem, again I would get an error message and sat sulking as my life was surly over now! Here is how I wanted to spend my morning...enjoying the flowers by our pond.

enjoying the pond itself...water running...fish swimming...breeze blowing

Oh yes, enjoying our pond frogs...this one we purchased 10 years ago at Murphy's, CA

This one I won at a Pokeno game

This one was purchased at Morro Bay a few years back...

Our gold fish and the "Master" gold fish, as Maycin calls him, always come to greet us.

Experts say that fish only have 3 seconds of memory...that's kind of a nice thing, as our fish greet us...hmmmmm, about every 3 seconds! Especially Master fish!

Oh yeah, this is not how I spent my morning, but instead, after pages and pages of trouble shooting, I managed to get back on line. So there you have it. I think I will go out and enjoy my pond now!

Trial & Outcome

I will be honest with you, serving as an alternate juror on this trial was emotional and very draining. (Please click on the first link that describes the trial and then the second one of the outcome.) I don't feel it's necessary to give details of the trial, but I will say this, when I appeared at the courthouse last Friday evening for the reading, my heart sunk when the man accused was acquitted on all 6 accounts. Being an alternate, I was excluded from deliberations. I'm perplexed!! I did believed the boy's testimony and thought some of the evidence was very incriminating. It's something I'm learning to let go. In retrospect, I'm a bit ashamed of wanting nothing more than to be released from jury duty while waiting in the jury room. It's not only our duty, but an honor to serve as a juror...I certainly will look at it differently next time I am called.

http://www.mercedsunstar.com/168/story/384167.html

http://www.mercedsunstar.com/168/story/392053.html

Jury Room

This is the jury room where I sat, waiting to be called into the courtroom, in the new Merced County Courthouse (only a year old). No, I did not take this photo. It was supplied by the Internet. I don't know why I felt it necessary to show you, but here it is! I sat in the row behind the post to the left. Click on the link to see and hear about an incident that happened at the Merced County Courthouse four months ago. I have a good friend that is the court reporter for the judge, in the courtroom where this happened, and so thankful she and the others were not harmed. http://cbs13.com/local/merced.courthouse.shooting.2.710759.html

SUMMONSED

Many times before, when I would receive a jury summons, I'd pray that I would not be selected. I have never felt a great deal of confidence that I would be right for the job. This last Tuesday as I wait with the other 150-200 people in the jury room, I had hoped the bailiff would come in and announce, "All trials have settled out of court. You have completed your service and are now released to go!" So many times when I have been summonsed, that very thing would happen and the room would fill with cheers! But, that is not what happened this last Tuesday. I sat with a couple of young ladies I know from our church and chatted with them and worked on word puzzles while waiting. A bailiff appeared and announced that numbers would be called to go into courtroom number 4. I dislike very much the anticipation of having your number called (by the way, our judge told us that we are not called by name any longer since the O.J. Trial, we are now simply numbers)...one of the girls I mentioned had been called for courtroom 4, but the other girl and myself had not, and so I felt there was still a chance that the next bailiff to appear would let us go. But, no, and the other girl and I were called for courtroom number 3. We filed into the courtroom, and again, numbers were called to fill the juror box and 7 chairs in front of the juror box (21 seats in all)...whew! My number had not been called and again, I felt there still was a chance that I would be leaving the courtroom very soon. Prospective jurors were questioned, and questioned again and one by one were released for whatever reason. Either they had a good excuse or the attorneys were not convinced that they would be right for this trial. One thing I learned from this selection process, most everyone has some doubt that they would be good jurors and the judge remedied that by saying, "it's a natural feeling to have." And so, the number calling began again, and again, and again, I had not been called. Oh I was feeling pretty confident now, that the likelihood of being called was getting slimmer and the chairs would be filled (just two more). But that was not the case, and in fact, I was called, and asked if I could be impartial without bias serving on this case? I felt I could. So, with that, I was now an alternate juror in which I would be required to sit in the jury box for the entire trial with the other jurors. My job was to replace a juror if someone got sick (or other excusable reasons), and if I served without replacing anyone, my job would be over at the end of the trial and then would be released. That is what happened, and so doing the job of an alternate abruptly came to an end at the end of the trial without any knowledge of the deliberation. I had to give my phone numbers just in case a juror got sick during deliberation, and then I would be called to fill their place. The judge also told me and the other alternate that we could be contacted for the reading if we liked. So, I did requested to be contacted and was called 8:45 p.m. Friday night for the reading. I realize I have told you nothing about the trial or the outcome. Please stay tuned.

Better Together...

Some weeks are just so full that you sometimes lose touch with your honey bunny, and that is just where Cliff and I were last week. Although it was a fantastic week, it was a full week pulling us in opposite directions. So, we made it a priority to have some "us" time Sunday! We took a drive up to Eastman Lake and oh baby, that sucker was low, and it's surrounding area was so parched! We also picked one of the hottest days to have a picnic there!! Pretty sure it was 100 easily. But no complaining from me as I was just thrilled to have an outing with Cliff.

While sitting and waiting in the shade for Cliff, I took a self portrait (and then photoshoped the heck out of it)! Yep, if you were wondering, that is my "Ma" hat. I do wear it in the sun here. It feels good to my soul...

...and then at just the right time, I asked Cliff to take a photo of the both of us as I left the tripod at home. Oops, a bit out of focus on the first try...

...oh much better...you know those people that do the bunny ears or just make faces in the photos you take? I just can't help myself sometimes. After viewing, Cliff doesn't hold back a bit, "That is just plain disgusting!" It makes me laugh!! (In this photo, does anyone else see that Cliff's mustache is slightly longer on the left than on the right? I will have to take a better look at it when he gets home from work tonight! :0) )

Visiting...

"Hmmmmm...Papa?

We're in Papa and Nana heaven!

Model Shoot

While I took this photo of Lacee, Ashlee took others as Lace modeled her purses for her Etsy site. Ashlee is getting so good, she really doesn't need a photographer anymore...but I will take any opportunity to do a photo shoot, regardless of being needed or not!

LIFE IS GRAND!

While visiting my grandchildren, Margo and I were just discussing how life is grand!

Squishy Wishy...

Squishy wishy, lovey dovey almost 6 week old Princess Peanut!

Betty...Maycin's Dog

We all love Betty...she is such a docile pup and...well, she looks like Aspen. And, any pooch that reminds us of Aspen has got to be loved!

Well, no explanation needed!

Visiting the Grandkids!!

You know, there is just nothing like bug-a-boo logic...first of all, as you can see Maycin is truly a super hero/Spiderman die hard! Second of all, he does like his milk and cookies and I learned today the reason why he breaks up his cookies. You see, he is only allowed 2 cookies, and if they are broken up, it adds up to many more than just two, and that my friend completely satisfies his belief that he is actually getting more than his limit. He is bucking the system...I love bag-a-boo logic!

Nothings cuter than a milk mustache (on the left/his right) to go with those 999million pieces of cookie!

Film Festival Fantastic!

The NLCC 3rd Annual Film Festival was FANTASTIC!! Sorry no photos to share...I was pretty busy helping out. Wish you all were there to enjoy the fun.