28 July 2010

Reported for jury duty this morning, which was a new experience in the thrilling brand of the American court system. It consisted of 6 hours sitting on my bum on a hard oak pew, watching other business-casual-clad citizens answer questions like where they and their spouses work, whether they can be impartial, etc. And in the end, I never had to say a word and literally have nothing to show for those 6 hours, not even the proverbial "I spent 6 hours waiting in jury duty and all I got was this lousy T-shirt" T-shirt. We got some loose parameters of the civil case being tried, none of which I will be going into here or elsewhere, per instructions. Will see whether I get re-called for another case at a later date.

This episode put a bit of a crunch on an upcoming project, as I didn't know whether I would be available on such-and-such dates. But that's how it goes in the functioning of the 6th and 7th amendments. In a world where some governments don't hesitate to presume guilt, lop off body parts or simply let injustice reign free... if a loss of 6 hours (with meager compensation) is my worst problem I have no cause for complaint.

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Canned and processed some of our garden cucumbers a couple of weeks ago, and today tried some of the non-water bath fridge batch for the first time. Not too bad. A slightly strong garlic taste, but they are undoubtedly dill pickles. Tried several different slicing methods in the batch --- chips, spears and so-called "sandwich stacker" cuts. We have more pickles now than we'll likely use in the next year (which is the shelf life for these). Really getting a handle on preserving. Might try some of the green beans next. Then again, I might not... we might just eat them all fresh.