Today we did a deposition for several hours.  Very interesting.  This is the second one I have attended and both were so different, yet so much alike.  Somehow getting to ask nearly any question you want that relates to an individual has a strange sort of appeal.  The one today included what would be some very embarrassing questions that I wouldn’t ask some of my closest friends, but we asked them because they really were pertinent to the litigation.  This case continues to proceed closer to trial and I am getting some pretty good in-the-trenches experience.  Who would have thought the summer would turn out this good.

I found another dead bird in my yard.  Somehow they seem to be dropping dead all over the place (literally!).  I wonder if they are eating the fertilizer that was put down or if there is something else going on.  Perhaps a non-transferable form of the Avian flu?  I don’t notice any tale-tell signs of the flu with these birds.  Who knows.  Sadly, all the dead birds are robins, bluejays, and cardinals.  Four dead birds in the past week and they look like the just fell to where they laid.  Not sure.  On a lighter note, Amanda told me the other day of a patient in her chair with her toddler.  A bird landed out the window and the little boy commented something like, “Look mom, a redjay!”  I had a good laugh from that one.  How do you answer that without turning off the inquisitive nature?

We fly out for Salt Lake City on Saturday.  Another lame pit-stop in Denver.  As much as I hate flying, I think the layovers are getting to be even more deplored.  We will be a week in Utah/Idaho for Amanda’s brother’s farewell (technically Mormon-speak should be, “opportunity to speak before leaving on a mission”) and open-house (again Mormon-speak, since open houses are no longer permitted, is family get-together to wish him well on a mission).  Then on Wednesday he enters the MTC for his whopping 21 days before flying off to the heat of summer Atlanta, Georgia.  I am glad they don’t let anyone go into the MTC anymore.  It really is a mini sacrament meeting that was pretty much a farce with the constrained, canned talks in the highly charged atmosphere.  I feel sorry for the poor MTC Mission President who had to give the same talk multiple times a day every week for his whole tenure.  Honestly, I am glad the church did away with the farewell, homecoming, and MTC bits.  But as Mormons float between culture and doctrine/practice we always seem to prefer the happy, feel-good side of culture.  Anyhow, nothing really against missionaries, missions, or family bonds and connections about to be stretched and strengthened for two years just the heed we seem to feel for a tradition and culture that has no foundation in truth or doctrine that somehow becomes more important than the everlasting.  Anyhow, in telling of what we are going to do I got into an expose on something else that has nothing to do with our trip.

Then we make our trip up to Idaho, probably for a day or so.  Dad’s birthday is on the 4th of July so we would like to go up for that.  However, since we fly out Sunday morning, we will spend that evening in Utah so we cannot spend the entire 4th in Idaho.  We will probably go up the day before, go out to dinner, and I would really like to hit the Rupert Parade on Saturday before heading south.  We will see.  Hopefully Amanda will be able to come up.  She seems to be pretty set on the 4th in Kaysville.

Amanda is in the throes of another murder party.  She made me a pair of chaps already since it has a western theme.  You will have to keep your eyes on the look out for the cowboy coming out long after the last time I rode a horse.