It just makes you rave to think that it’s like a trip to another country to get to the southern part of your own state. – Ina Dobson, 1934
We never travel to Boise but what I think of the above quote from my grandmother. Today we travel the same route that Ina complained about 90 years ago, winding through agricultural country, forests, and mountain passes. Stretches of the highway have been improved. Here and there we have a passing lane and perhaps the road is smoother, but it's still a tedious drive subject to slow traffic, weather, and erosion. In fact, Hwy 95 south of New Meadows is closed due to a slide which took out a stretch of half the road. We had to use Hwy 55, which we expected to be heavily trafficked, especially for the trip home Friday afternoon. However, we were pleasantly surprised and made good time.
If memory serves, for the first time ever, we boarded Bess. She stayed at the “Fur Family Cinema,” a pet boarding facility at the defunct Orchards Cinema. We missed her. As we traveled, we just couldn’t shake the feeling that she was riding along with us. She would have preferred to be, I’m sure.
I struggled to know what to wear to court. I ordered a beautiful suit, but when it came, I saw that it was too dressy. I also realized that I would never have a place to wear it, so I returned it without even trying it on. I thought about wearing a t-shirt with Milo’s name on it, and that would have been fine, but I had second thoughts and Mike suggested that I should feel confident in my attire. I opted for a spring sweatshirt and a pair of black slacks. And speaking of black slacks, I have four pair that have been in my closet since I retired 18 years ago. Unbeknownst to me, the elastic in the waistbands had spent those years quietly relaxing. I should buy a new pair – just one – and let the old ones go.
As
I suspected, the dress at court was rather casual. The attorneys were more
formal in suits with or without ties, but the support staff wore jeans. And of
course, it’s a great mystery what the judges wear under their robes.
Well, the court visit didn’t solve anything for us. People have been so kind, but the perception persists that the inmates deserve whatever happens to them in prison. Actually, statistics show that more than half of the incarcerated could better serve some other sort of consequence for their infraction. If they are employed, their contribution to the economy more than offsets the cost of incarceration. And if they lose employment through incarceration, they will likely struggle to find a job and a place to live when they get out. And – if they aren’t mentally ill when they go in, they likely will be when they come out. KW
2 comments:
How did Bess do at Fur Family Cinema?
Bess isn't talking about her experience at Fur Family Cinema. I suspect she hopes it never happens again. However, leaving her there is a story in itself. They only accept registration online, and Mike thought he had accomplished it, but no, he didn't. We discovered as we were leaving her that the registration hadn't gone through. They had just one opening left, so thankfully it worked out all right. We were late getting back Friday evening, so she had to stay another night. Mike picked her up first thing Saturday morning, so she had breakfast and her usual constitutional at home and then curled up for a long morning nap on her rug at the back door.
It's expensive to board your dog. Also expensive to take them along.
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