Jury Duty Calls

Disgruntled is my state of mind tonight after making the requisite phone call this evening to the district court office and finding out my jury duty group has to report tomorrow morning. One other time, many years ago, I received a jury duty summons letter, but when I called in, they didn't need my group. I was hoping that would happen again this time, but no such luck.

What I dread the most is rushing through calf chores and rushing to get cleaned up, and driving 20 miles to be at the courthouse by 8:30 a.m. That will be sheer torture for the stay-at-home person that is me. Hopefully, I'll not be chosen for a jury.......maybe if I tell them the deputy county auditor is an old friend of mine, they'll let me go free due to conflict of interest. Its a long shot, I know. The jury summons letter said to bring reading materials along the first day as there would be alot of sitting around and waiting. No problem.......reading is one of my first loves.

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Quickly, I'll tell the third meaningful bird tale:

This one occurred just a couple months ago, shortly after my father-in-law's death. He had lived here and farmed this farm for many years before he retired to town. A few days after his death last November, late one evening, after I had gotten into bed, I heard the deep "whoo-whoo-ing" of an owl. It sounded like it was in a tree right next to our house. As in the other bird stories, I have to admit, owls are not uncommon to Iowa, but I had not heard an owl around our farmplace for many, many years.

The next evening around dusk, Husband heard the dogs barking and saw them jumping up against a tree trunk. He looked up in the tree and saw the owl......it was one of those big ones, a Great Horned Owl. The last time we saw one of those around here was back in the mid-1980's.....I remember that because it was shortly after we had moved here.

Anyway, I'm not saying the owl's appearance has anything to do with Father-in-law's passing, but the timing makes for an interesting bird coincidence, once again. We heard the owl each night for a couple of weeks, and then it was gone.

If you are a Christian and think that these bird stories are "for the birds", and that surely the Bible never mentions birds as messengers............please turn to Ecclesiastes 10:20. Maybe this bizarre verse appeals to those with mental problems, for listen to this: I discovered this verse maybe two years ago. Not long after that-----its a long story, for another blog post, another time------I was hospitalized in a psychiatric unit for several days. After resting and regaining my bearings there in my room with a surveillance camera staring at me, I opened the drawer by the bed and took out the Gideon Bible that was there. It had graffiti written all over it. I leafed through the pages, and turned to Ecclesiastes 10:20. Guess what......that verse had been circled in ink by someone-----a previous patient in that room, no doubt. Interesting, huh?! I thought so, too.

On that note, I'll retire to get my jury duty beauty sleep.