{"id":4599,"date":"2021-08-15T08:57:30","date_gmt":"2021-08-15T12:57:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/?p=4599"},"modified":"2021-08-15T08:58:23","modified_gmt":"2021-08-15T12:58:23","slug":"outside-my-window-part-12","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2021\/08\/15\/outside-my-window-part-12\/","title":{"rendered":"Outside My Window \u2013 Part 12"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

So this isn\u2019t a \u201cSunday Story\u201d \u2013 though it is Sunday, and this is kind of a story.  This essay is more like the \u201cmy life and times\u201d essays of the \u201cOut My Window\u201d series \u2013 so here you have it \u2013 Outside My Window.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Medicare <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Earlier this summer I wrote an essay about my adventures in signing up for Medicare (Medicare and Me<\/a>).  <\/em>This week I had my \u201cfinal\u201d phone meeting with the Social Security\/Medicare folks, and got everything figured out.  I am now a proud member of Medicare Part B, just waiting for my Red, White and Blue card, the sign of ultimate senior-hood.  And better yet, in several years I too can become a member of Medicare Part A, compliments of my wife\u2019s eligibility.  This time everyone had the correct information, and the phone call was efficient and friendly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fence Dentistry<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m not sure what did it, but somehow in the same week I signed up for Medicare, the hottest week of the summer; was when I decided to replace several fence posts on our picket fence.  Last spring a sixty mile-an-hour straight line wind came whipping past our neighbor\u2019s house to the west, and managed to \u201cbend\u201d the fence to the east.  It wasn\u2019t falling down, but the posts holding up the pickets were definitely bowing towards the rising sun.  I\u2019ve tried, but there\u2019s no good way to straighten them out (picket fence orthodontics) so out they came, cement and all.  Each post hole was enlarged, and a new post cemented into place.  Instead of braces, think teeth implants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It can only be done one post at a time, otherwise the whole fence falls down.  So I was out proving something to nobody:  digging holes, pulling posts and mixing cement.  Sixty-five (almost)? Ninety-two degrees?  Stop Working?  Oh Hell No, though Jenn and the neighbors appeared to be waiting for my \u201cimminent\u201d collapse. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The fence is up, and straight, and I proved — Ahh well, I don\u2019t think I proved anything.  Time to seal the deck next!!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Call to Duty<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Why such a hurry?  Well starting tomorrow the week is set aside for Jury Duty.  The Common Pleas Court of Licking County made their call last May, but were flexible enough to move the date out of track season.  Now it\u2019s time to fulfill my civic duty, and the next five days are the property of the Court.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve been on Jury Duty before.  The last time it was a short stint, I lasted less than a day.  My roles at the local high school put me in contact with too many of the faces in the courtroom.  I knew the prosecutor, the bailiff, and several of the other jurors.  Once they asked if I knew anyone in the Court, and I got through my list  — the Judge thanked me for coming and excused me from further duty.  That five day stint didn\u2019t last past lunchtime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But I\u2019m definitely ready to be on the jury, if need be.\u00a0\u00a0I\u2019ve cleared all five days for Judge Branstool, and I\u2019m getting prepared.\u00a0\u00a0Now to watch\u00a0Twelve Angry Men<\/a>\u00a0(the 1957 version with Henry Fonda) and\u00a0Runaway Jury<\/a>\u00a0(Gene Hackman, John Cusack), two of my favorites to get prepped.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Courthouse Rules<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Licking County does not allow electronic devices in the Courthouse.\u00a0\u00a0Not only can I not take my computer in the building (no writing essays as I wait) but I can\u2019t even take my cell phone.\u00a0\u00a0That\u2019s a cultural throwback, even if I have an impending Medicare card I\u2019m still addicted to the constant flow of information from the box in my pocket.\u00a0\u00a0So it\u2019ll be locked in the \u201cvault\u201d in the Jeep, and I\u2019ll have to depend on a five hundred and seventy-one year-old information transmission device:\u00a0\u00a0I\u2019ll read a book. I\u2019ve already started\u00a0I Alone Can Fix It\u00a0<\/em>by Washington Post reporters Carol Leonnig and Phil Rucker, about the final year of the Trump Administration (is anyone surprised by that?).\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The only other issue here in Licking County is the growing question of our \u201cCovid-19 Delta Variant\u201d era:\u00a0\u00a0to mask or not.\u00a0\u00a0I got the \u201cshot\u201d last March, but I\u2019m literally going into a room of complete strangers in a county where the vaccination rate is only 47%.\u00a0\u00a0Like most of the country, the rates of infection are up here.\u00a0\u00a0The County Health Department consistently avoids mandating restrictions \u2013 but repeats the CDC guidelines for mask use.\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s the easy out for them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So I\u2019ll leave my phone, grab my book and mask, and head over to Newark, the county seat, to report for duty by 8:45 tomorrow morning.  It\u2019s going to rain anyway, the deck will have to wait for the next heat wave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Out My Window Series<\/h3>\n\n\n\n