Jury Duty and Deer

Most of you know that I was on a jury this past week for a trial of a defendant accused of a double murder and attempted murder of a 3rd person (a 14 year old who was also shot and eventually also died from the effects of being shot - hit in the spine and paralyzed). It was an interesting experience but a little gruesome and distressing. It involved people who were caught up in the drug culture. What I saw certainly makes me grateful for the environment which most of us have. I will tell you there is another one out there that is really, really awful. The defendent was taught by his family how to sniff airplane glue to "get a high" when he was 12 years old. Then for over 30 years he abused various inhalants literally daily, and clearly suffered serious brain damage as a result. Without describing all the details, the trial last for 3 days (the judge had expected 4 to 6) and after four hours of deliberation, we found the defendant guilty on all counts.

Today we have had many deer in our back yard. At one point we counted over 15, including a good size buck. They are obviously very hungry after all the snow this winter and were eating along the edge of our sloping/rock wall. There is a tiny bit of new young growth this week, and they were eating everything that just beginning to poke out of the ground.