It has been around six weeks since I posted last, and a rather strange six weeks, at that. I guess the strangeness began when my good friend left our office to be a public defender elsewhere. We still email and talk regularly, but it's just not the same without her around the office.
Further strangeness occurred when the cold I came down with mutated into pneumonia. I was out of the office for a week and a half, and was becoming quite annoyed with remaining in the house so long by the end. I've never taken more than one sick-day in a row before, and this was a really odd experience for me. Betsy tried her best to help, but was quite unsure how. Her first instinct was to try to engage me in a fun game, involving running around and such. Obviously, that wasn't happening! She then tried to cheer me up by licking my chin and my ears. A slight improvement, but still... I did get quite a bit of knitting done, and I read a lot.
Oh, and the prairie dogs are back! Well, one of them anyway. A couple years ago, the prairie dog town had to re-locate to the other side of the field (out of view) due to workmen with large machinery digging near their town. But this spring, one came back to reside in the old holes. I was initially concerned, as it struck me as unusual for a prairie dog to live by himself. They're so social with their town and barks and romping around together. But I looked it up and apparently, it is usual for a prairie dog to set up house a short distance from the main group when he's a year or two old after mating season, but before the new pups arrive. It prevents over-crowding in the town, and in-breeding. According to my reading, he'll still make social calls back to the main group. And maybe in the spring, he'll entice a mate from the town to join him and start his own group. Currently, he's concentrating on getting fat, so he can hibernate comfortably through the winter. (He's doing very well at that.)
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Saturday, August 02, 2008
Randomness
I'm in a somewhat meloncholy mood -- Billie Holiday's on the stereo. I'm trying not to sing along, as Betsy seems to get confused when I sing.
I'm mainly avoiding household chores. Fortunately, one of said chores is not attending to the swamp cooler again. It seems to be doing its best, in spite of it being around 100 outside for the past few days. My cooler seems to be keeping the house in the 80-85 degree range, which is standard for the things, I'm told. I'm still working on my lacy scarf, but it may actually come to an end at some point. I'm around 2/3 done. I'm eager to get it finished, so that I can start my July socks. They're fantastic! There's self-striping yarn in various shades of blue and white, and the pattern is a sea-shell type of lace.
Betsy is doing great. She turned a year old sometime in early- or mid- July. She is a good buddy to have around for cheering a person up! She's getting much less spastic now that she's approaching dog-hood and leaving puppy-hood. Although I think she will always love a good play. She would play with me twenty-four hours a day if possible! But she is becoming less insistant upon this, and will resign herself to the fact that this is not possible more quickly these days. Currently, she is chewing her new toy under my chair. It had been a while since she's had a new toy, and this one seems quite exciting. It looks kind of like a bright red octopus: fringy at the bottom, and hard-ish on top to facilitate chewing. And it squeaks and bounces. And, it's not stuffed, so we can avoid the de-stuffing - there's a rubber ball type thing in the top. Her favorite games are still fetch and tug. (She'll chase anything tennis-ball sized or smaller.) She's also getting the hang of wrestling without using claws or teeth. She's also a fairly old-fashioned dog: The toy that has managed to keep her attention for the entire time I've had her is Nylabones! I guess they're a classic for a reason.
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Where is it?
Where is it? That feeling that the reason it's great to be a citizen of the United States of America is we value all human beings and the inalienable rights they possess: to Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness? Where is the pride we had in our ability to look beyond our fears of the unknown and to gladly recognize in all mankind the right to be innocent until proven guilty? To be free of State intrusion into our homes? To speak out our thoughts and opinions as far as we can reach? To be treated with respect and fairness? To be given the benefit of the doubt? Where is our willingness, even eagerness, to stand up for these inherent rights in all others, even those we despise? Where is our conviction that it is better that ten guilty men go free rather than one innocent man sent to jail? Have these things disappeared? Has this Great Experiment failed? Has the Government Of the People, By the People, and For the People truly perished from the earth? Have we been so harmed that we no longer desire these things? Have we forgotten? Or did these lofty ideals ever truly exist in the general populous? Were they simply a bunch of fancy words crafted by Founders and Fathers that did not reflect the popular opinions of that time either?
"Where now the horse and the rider? Where is the horn that was blowing.... They have passed like rain on the mountain, like a wind in the meadow; The days have gone down in the West behind the hills into shadow." (The Two Towers: J.R.R. Tolkien) I hope this is not the fate of the true American dream as well...
"Where now the horse and the rider? Where is the horn that was blowing.... They have passed like rain on the mountain, like a wind in the meadow; The days have gone down in the West behind the hills into shadow." (The Two Towers: J.R.R. Tolkien) I hope this is not the fate of the true American dream as well...
Saturday, June 28, 2008
Blah
****
Update:
There's a hole in the (bucket?) fence! Dear 'Liza, dear liza! Eureka! I've found it! Ok, so it took a lot more looking than I thought to locate the culprit (hole). Naturally, said hole is behind a bush, and not easily noticed. Betsy apparently squeezed through the bush, dug only a little bit, and pushed out the chain link. Solution: One big (for Betsy) rock outside fence, one big rock inside fence, voila! Maybe things can get back to normal! (more or less)
****
Original post:
Ok, so vacations' over, Company has left, and Betsy and I are once again settling into our regular routine, with a couple additional hassles. Betsy escaped again, so I had to make another trip to the pound to bail her out. And, I've been doing battle with my swamp cooler every weekend. (You know, the thing the plumbers were supposed to fix...)
For those of you unfamiliar with Out West, most private homes are cooled with evaporative (swamp) coolers. These are box-type devices that perch on the roof of your house, a pump pumps water to the top of the box, where it trickles over pads, and then a fan blows air from outside, through the wet pads and into your house. Thus, cooling your house (in theory). Well, the plumbers did replace the pump, the float, and some tubing (that takes water to the cooler), and fixed the fan. However, they failed to affix the float tightly enough, so it did not, in fact, float. Rather it filled with water and sank. (The purpose of the float is that when the bottom of the cooler has enough water in it, the float reaches a certain height. This float is attached to a shut-off valve for the water. If the float does not float, the water does not turn off, and thus spills all over my roof.) So after solving that problem last weekend, I then had to determine why the cooler was not cooling as well as it had previously, but was cooling a little. Answer, the pads were not becoming saturated with water because they were in the wrong place. (I had gotten a size too small, and they were at the bottom, rather than the top and so were not catching all the water that was meant to be running over them.) Strangely, the plumbers did not apparently notice this. So, I fixed the pads. Then this weekend, I noticed the thing was not cooling at all. I go to investigate and discover that the hose that's supposed to be taking the water from the pump to the top of the cooler had fallen off its fixture. Don't ask me how this happened. I just hope this won't be a regular occurrence. I'm getting kind of tired of climbing onto my roof all the time!
In addition, Betsy somehow escaped this week, and I had to go bail her out again. I have scrutinized the fence for the past 2 days, and still have no idea how this could have happened. (Adagio's family and I have plugged up all the holes under the fence because they're trying to landscape their back yard.) There are no new holes under the fences, and the shortest fence is about 4 feet. And she doesn't even jump the baby gate in my house, and that's only about 3 feet. The only thing I can think of is that someone must have let her out and then closed the gate behind. There were kids playing near the gate at that point. The last couple times she escaped were because she went next door and the neighbors had left their gate open.
In other news, I am patiently (or not so patiently) awaiting my socks-of-the-every-other-month-club yarn. My throw has not been progressing, due to my swamp cooler problem, and I had to start my lacy scarf over. It's going much faster this time around, though.
Well, that's about the news. Work is, well, work.
Update:
There's a hole in the (bucket?) fence! Dear 'Liza, dear liza! Eureka! I've found it! Ok, so it took a lot more looking than I thought to locate the culprit (hole). Naturally, said hole is behind a bush, and not easily noticed. Betsy apparently squeezed through the bush, dug only a little bit, and pushed out the chain link. Solution: One big (for Betsy) rock outside fence, one big rock inside fence, voila! Maybe things can get back to normal! (more or less)
****
Original post:
Ok, so vacations' over, Company has left, and Betsy and I are once again settling into our regular routine, with a couple additional hassles. Betsy escaped again, so I had to make another trip to the pound to bail her out. And, I've been doing battle with my swamp cooler every weekend. (You know, the thing the plumbers were supposed to fix...)
For those of you unfamiliar with Out West, most private homes are cooled with evaporative (swamp) coolers. These are box-type devices that perch on the roof of your house, a pump pumps water to the top of the box, where it trickles over pads, and then a fan blows air from outside, through the wet pads and into your house. Thus, cooling your house (in theory). Well, the plumbers did replace the pump, the float, and some tubing (that takes water to the cooler), and fixed the fan. However, they failed to affix the float tightly enough, so it did not, in fact, float. Rather it filled with water and sank. (The purpose of the float is that when the bottom of the cooler has enough water in it, the float reaches a certain height. This float is attached to a shut-off valve for the water. If the float does not float, the water does not turn off, and thus spills all over my roof.) So after solving that problem last weekend, I then had to determine why the cooler was not cooling as well as it had previously, but was cooling a little. Answer, the pads were not becoming saturated with water because they were in the wrong place. (I had gotten a size too small, and they were at the bottom, rather than the top and so were not catching all the water that was meant to be running over them.) Strangely, the plumbers did not apparently notice this. So, I fixed the pads. Then this weekend, I noticed the thing was not cooling at all. I go to investigate and discover that the hose that's supposed to be taking the water from the pump to the top of the cooler had fallen off its fixture. Don't ask me how this happened. I just hope this won't be a regular occurrence. I'm getting kind of tired of climbing onto my roof all the time!
In addition, Betsy somehow escaped this week, and I had to go bail her out again. I have scrutinized the fence for the past 2 days, and still have no idea how this could have happened. (Adagio's family and I have plugged up all the holes under the fence because they're trying to landscape their back yard.) There are no new holes under the fences, and the shortest fence is about 4 feet. And she doesn't even jump the baby gate in my house, and that's only about 3 feet. The only thing I can think of is that someone must have let her out and then closed the gate behind. There were kids playing near the gate at that point. The last couple times she escaped were because she went next door and the neighbors had left their gate open.
In other news, I am patiently (or not so patiently) awaiting my socks-of-the-every-other-month-club yarn. My throw has not been progressing, due to my swamp cooler problem, and I had to start my lacy scarf over. It's going much faster this time around, though.
Well, that's about the news. Work is, well, work.
Sunday, June 08, 2008
More on Pollyanna
So, it's been a whole week back, and I'm still in an unbelievably good mood. There's still some nonsensical junior high stuff going on at the office, but strangely, I don't care. I mean, I do, but it seems not to bother me at all. I am perfectly capable of avoiding people I wish to, and being civil to them when I'm unable to avoid them.
Even my issue with a certain private attorney, which upset me for the entire two weeks before I left, isn't affecting me much. The issue is this: I received a fax from this attorney a couple weeks before I left saying that he'd raised competency on one of his private clients and wished me to handle the competency portion of his case. (The cover sheet simply said "FAX" in at least 20-point font, as if he was the sole possessor of this new technology.) After speaking with my supervisor to confirm that we do not represent clients who already have private attorneys (duh!), I called the attorney's secretary to inform her that under the public defender enabling statute, we cannot represent clients who have already retained counsel, unless that counsel withdraws and the person qualifies as indigent. Upon my return to the office, I received another FAX from this attorney with another letter telling me if I would handle the competency portion of the case, he would take the case back if he was found competent. Now I have already had experience with this attorney's dealings with competency issues. There have been several cases I know of in which he raised competency with no basis whatsoever, and even tried to raise competency in a couple of mine. (I leave it to your imagination why he might do this.) In any case, my supervisor then emails this attorney informing him that the case is either a pd case or this attorney's case, but cannot be both. If the client wants a pd, he applies, and we enter our appearance, and we handle the case as we see fit. Otherwise, he's stuck with it. So our application person goes over to the jail to see if the guy wants to do an application for a pd. The guy says (quite sensibly) that he doesn't need a pd, he hired privately! My supervisor then emails the attorney again, telling him of this. Hah! I haven't received any further FAXes, and this attorney had better figure out how to handle competency cases, or kiss all that money goodbye!
In other happy news, I finished my happy green lace socks! They're really, really comfortable to wear. I did get my next installment of socks-of-the-every-other-month club, but I was less enthused with them. The yarn's nice, but the pattern is altogether too fancy for footwear. There are 2 cables running up the sides, in addition to a whole lot of lace. I think I'll save the yarn and do something else with it. Meanwhile, I am stalwartly avoiding buying this nifty self-striping sock yarn that is on sale. I should probably finish this lace scarf I've been dealing with on-and-off for around a year. I need to take out a few rows, because Betsy stole it a while ago, which is why I've been avoiding it.
In yet more happy news, Betsy loved her vacation at least as much as I did. She went to this great kennel, where instead of locking the dogs in crates, they split them up in 3 groups by size and temperament and just let them romp about. And believe me, there's nothing Betsy likes better than a good romp! She'll be thrilled to discover that she gets to go back this weekend.
Thursday, June 05, 2008
Gotta Love Vacations!
So, I got back Monday from a whole week away. There were no judges, prosecutors, clients, or courtrooms! It was wonderful! The best part is that the coming back thing wasn't nearly as horrendous as I thought it would be. I'd originally had 5 trials set for this week, but all except one went away, and the last is probably going to. The State lost their complaining witness, and it will be impossible for them to proceed without her. They just haven't figured that out yet. One pled (which she said she would two weeks ago, but didn't then); one got dismissed, as it is the exact same case as is set for trial at the end of the month it just got filed twice, for some reason; and two got continued because the cops are out of town (of course why it took this long for them to figure that out, I don't know).
So I am currently at leisure (somewhat) to wait for the silly plumbers to get back here with their plumbing parts. Apparently the part they were trying to put into the swamp cooler needed additional parts to attach it to the thing, which they had not had the foresight to bring with them in the first place. I must say I'm on my way to losing patience with these guys. They were supposed to come yesterday at 3. However, I got a call at 5 that they were "running a little late," and could they come tomorrow at 8:30? A little late? I got a call this morning at 9, saying (surprise) that they were again running late, but were on their way. At 9:30, they finally showed up, putzed around for an hour, and then came to this discovery about the parts they did not have. They've now been gone over an hour! I'm in a fairly generous mood, as a result of my vacation, but come on, guys! I can't indefinitely with this waiting around for them to get themselves together! Wait a minute...oh good, they're back. Hopefully they have everything they need, this time.
Vacation clearly worked. I'm not even mad at them! I really think I should be. But I seem to be in some strange pollyanna mood, whereby nothing can upset me too much. Such a pleasant change from pre-vacation, when everything drove me crazy. I just hope this mood lasts a while! It's kind of fun.
So I am currently at leisure (somewhat) to wait for the silly plumbers to get back here with their plumbing parts. Apparently the part they were trying to put into the swamp cooler needed additional parts to attach it to the thing, which they had not had the foresight to bring with them in the first place. I must say I'm on my way to losing patience with these guys. They were supposed to come yesterday at 3. However, I got a call at 5 that they were "running a little late," and could they come tomorrow at 8:30? A little late? I got a call this morning at 9, saying (surprise) that they were again running late, but were on their way. At 9:30, they finally showed up, putzed around for an hour, and then came to this discovery about the parts they did not have. They've now been gone over an hour! I'm in a fairly generous mood, as a result of my vacation, but come on, guys! I can't indefinitely with this waiting around for them to get themselves together! Wait a minute...oh good, they're back. Hopefully they have everything they need, this time.
Vacation clearly worked. I'm not even mad at them! I really think I should be. But I seem to be in some strange pollyanna mood, whereby nothing can upset me too much. Such a pleasant change from pre-vacation, when everything drove me crazy. I just hope this mood lasts a while! It's kind of fun.
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Because I haven't posted in a while...
rather than because I have anything interesting to say, I am blogging now. Most of what I have to say is too case-specific to put on a blog, and the rest is too unflattering to people that I work with.
I did notice that my last post was my 100th post! Happy anniversary to my blog!
At work, I'm working on a motion about collateral estoppel. This one requires serious research, as I haven't thought about the concept since taking the bar exam in 2001. How many criminal lawyers even encounter this, do you suppose? But it does make a nice change from the traditional unlawful search and seizure motions. Maybe it'll get granted just for being so original? I doubt it, though.
I came home directly after court today because of a horrendous and inexplicable back-ache. It's the kind where it hurts to move as well as to stand, sit, or lie still. My co-worker brought me some OTC meds, but they have not made a dent. If it's this bad tomorrow, I will swallow my aversion to doctors and make them give me the real stuff.
Betsy's enjoying the spring time immensely. Walks are fun when there are flowers to sniff and other people and dogs and kids on bikes to investigate!! She and Adagio also collaborated to re-form the tunnel under the fence. It is now at least 18 inches deep, as the neighbors keep trying to stop this behavior by putting things like logs under the fence. The ingenious dogs solved the log problem by Betsy pulling the logs out of the hole and bringing them into the house through the doggie door. She seems to take great joy in dragging enormous things around with her. She took my kitchen rug out through the doggie door so that she could place it in the hole she dug for it. She did not bury it, per se, as she did not cover it with dirt. She just thought it needed to be in a hole. Don't ask me how she got it through the doggie door.
Well, I'm going to stop now, as my back is now protesting the sitting posture. I will try the recliner chair.
I did notice that my last post was my 100th post! Happy anniversary to my blog!
At work, I'm working on a motion about collateral estoppel. This one requires serious research, as I haven't thought about the concept since taking the bar exam in 2001. How many criminal lawyers even encounter this, do you suppose? But it does make a nice change from the traditional unlawful search and seizure motions. Maybe it'll get granted just for being so original? I doubt it, though.
I came home directly after court today because of a horrendous and inexplicable back-ache. It's the kind where it hurts to move as well as to stand, sit, or lie still. My co-worker brought me some OTC meds, but they have not made a dent. If it's this bad tomorrow, I will swallow my aversion to doctors and make them give me the real stuff.
Betsy's enjoying the spring time immensely. Walks are fun when there are flowers to sniff and other people and dogs and kids on bikes to investigate!! She and Adagio also collaborated to re-form the tunnel under the fence. It is now at least 18 inches deep, as the neighbors keep trying to stop this behavior by putting things like logs under the fence. The ingenious dogs solved the log problem by Betsy pulling the logs out of the hole and bringing them into the house through the doggie door. She seems to take great joy in dragging enormous things around with her. She took my kitchen rug out through the doggie door so that she could place it in the hole she dug for it. She did not bury it, per se, as she did not cover it with dirt. She just thought it needed to be in a hole. Don't ask me how she got it through the doggie door.
Well, I'm going to stop now, as my back is now protesting the sitting posture. I will try the recliner chair.
Saturday, April 12, 2008
Good Puppy, Proud Mommy
Betsy is now, officially, a Canine Good Citizen. She passed her test last night! It was actually pretty amazing. We missed class last week because I had this eye problem and as a result, was unable to think. During the class I missed, it was apparently decided that the test could be moved up a week because everyone did so well at class. Also, Adagio and her family have not been home the past couple of days, so she's been extra rambunctious when I get home from work. I tried to run some of her energy out of her by a quick game of "fetch" in the yard before class, but we didn't have time for much. As a result, she was extra-distractable when we got to class and discovered it was the actual test. Fortunately, 3 or 4 other dogs tested first, so we could walk around the Petco for a little while before it was her turn. She did her sitting and downing very well, and the lady conducting the test laughed at her a little during the "accept grooming" part when she rolled over on her back so her tummy would be brushed. She tried to play with the brush a little, but it didn't seem to count against her. I was mainly concerned about the "walking on loose leash" part, during which she often has a tendency to try to say hi to everyone she meets, rather than walking nicely next to me. But she actually did quite well. I think she'd gotten back into the "class mode" by then, since it was after the down-stay for a minute and a half on the 20 foot lead. The test lady was very complimentary of her "down-stay," too, and said I did a good job! She was surprised at how young Betsy is. She's about nine months old, now.
All in all, Betsy did great, especially since she was much more of a mind-set to play with all the dogs who were testing, rather than actually do her test. Kaily's mom and I let them play together for a treat after the test. And, I got her a big special treat and a new collar for a reward. (She's now outgrown the "medium" size, and is now on "large.") I think I'll see when they start the agility class this summer. Both the test lady and another lady said I should think about it. They're doing that one in the park. Betsy'd love it! It's like being rewarded for playing.
Saturday, March 29, 2008
The Perfect Puppy
It never ceases to amaze me how lucky I was to have picked such a perfect puppy. I must admit, I was frightened the first few weeks that I would not be able to handle such a bundle of energy. I actually picked her because she seemed so calm in relation to the other puppies who were whining and barking and jumping on the fence at the pound. She just sat quietly in the back of the group with her head cocked to one side. Now I know that this is her response to anything she's unsure of. Any strange sound or smell or anything she can't immediately determine whether to be frightened of she responds to by sitting. Her natural inclination generally is to play with anything or anyone available. She loves to fetch and any kind of tug game. She usually lets me win at tug. I can tell when she's not pulling as hard as she can, because she's quite strong and I wouldn't stand a chance! I think she lets me win partly because she is always mindful that I am the top dog, and partly because if I win I throw the thing for her to chase. We've never had a battle of wills, and she has never questioned that I am in charge. And, if I am not available for a game, she's quite content with chewing toys or shaking them or simply running laps around the house. She loves big floppy toys to shake. I've figured out why she de-stuffs all her stuffed toys. She doesn't eat the fluff, it's just easier to make the thing flop satisfactorily without stuffing.
She definitely has Aussie characteristics. I've even seen her doing the "Aussie stare" and creeping up on her toys at a crouch. She guards her "pack" against outsiders as well. She's usually very quiet, but she has two barks she does. One is a warning growl-bark to "intruders" (usually either her own reflection or Adagio coming in the dog-door while we are together in the other room). The other is a kind of barking howl. It's an alert to me that something is occurring. Usually, it's someone at the door or the neighborhood dogs are barking for some reason.
She's also much more into cuddling than Bo ever was. She follows me around the house and loves to curl up on the couch with me. And once the required face-licking is concluded, she'll usually fall asleep there. She really is the sweetest little dog. She definitely needs a buddy, though. She'll be more comfortable with a slightly bigger "pack" (or flock?) to look after. She'd also like to have someone to cuddle and play with when I'm busy but she wants to stay inside with me instead of going outside to find Adagio. But I do wonder if I'm going to be able to find a beastie as perfect as Betsy?
She definitely has Aussie characteristics. I've even seen her doing the "Aussie stare" and creeping up on her toys at a crouch. She guards her "pack" against outsiders as well. She's usually very quiet, but she has two barks she does. One is a warning growl-bark to "intruders" (usually either her own reflection or Adagio coming in the dog-door while we are together in the other room). The other is a kind of barking howl. It's an alert to me that something is occurring. Usually, it's someone at the door or the neighborhood dogs are barking for some reason.
She's also much more into cuddling than Bo ever was. She follows me around the house and loves to curl up on the couch with me. And once the required face-licking is concluded, she'll usually fall asleep there. She really is the sweetest little dog. She definitely needs a buddy, though. She'll be more comfortable with a slightly bigger "pack" (or flock?) to look after. She'd also like to have someone to cuddle and play with when I'm busy but she wants to stay inside with me instead of going outside to find Adagio. But I do wonder if I'm going to be able to find a beastie as perfect as Betsy?
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
On Spring and Things
I really have nothing substantive to report, but I'm in a really good mood. Maybe it's because of spring being nearly here. My socks of the every-other-month club yarn arrived, just when I had completely given up on them, and it is so pretty. And the pattern is pretty, too, but apparently very shiny. I am unable to get a picture of the pattern, and instead end up with a big glare. But it's a kind of zig-zaggy lace-type thing. I think the official name for the pattern is something like wandering vines, or ivy, or something. Whatever it's called, it looks very fun. I'll have to cast it on tonight. 
I also got an email from my violin teacher that she wants me to play in a chamber group this summer. (To have performances where people have to buy tickets and everything!) I have been kind of in doldrums with orchestra lately, as we haven't played any "real" music since last summer. (I don't consider snippets of great orchestral works with silly words added to be real music.) This chamber music thing should be a blast. I know my violin teacher will pick good stuff to play.
I've also been watching chick flicks. Though not actual chick-flicks, my sister tells me, because none of them star Hugh Grant. More like Much Ado About Nothing and Pride and Prejudice. I think it must be my sister's fault anyway, as she's the one getting married, and getting me into this mood. It's fun and non-think-y, anyway. Just the thing for spring.
Betsy's doing splendid. She loves the warm weather, and we've been taking many more walks than we did when it was cold. I've got her on one of those no-pull harness things to try to convince her that we'll get there eventually, she doesn't need to pull me along like a horse-and-cart. She's in her class now for the Canine Good Citizen test, so she might one day get to have a title! Although I'm not sure whether the AKC gives official titles to mutts. It really doesn't make that big a difference to me, and I'm sure she could not care less. She just likes class. She made another friend, by the way. A highly peppy and playful 3-year-old Golden Retriever named Reggie. They get on great!
I was in such a good mood today that I went by the pet store and saw the cutest little 8 week-old Corgi, and was reminded that Betsy would love a buddy in a little while. But I'm certainly not going to pay $600, and Betsy's not quite ready yet: she's a little over 8 months old. (For you dog people out there, no, I don't know which kind of Corgi: it was the kind with a little tail stub.) I think I'll wait until Betsy does not want to eat everything anymore. When she's over a year, I'll start hitting the pound again. But she definitely should have a buddy of her very own. One that is allowed in my house, and isn't told to "go home" when I come back from work. I'll probably get another puppy, to ease the fitting-in process. Besides, she loves puppies. When there's a puppy at PetCo (where class is) she whines and whines, and wants to make friends.
The only really entertaining work news is that I got another competency guy. I've had this one before. Last time, he was a butterfly and Jesus Christ. (I'm not sure how the two mesh, but there you go.) This time, he needs his bail lowered because he is Medieval. An angel told him he wasn't very evil, just Medieval. He wanted to know why the judge couldn't set him bail commensurate with being only Medieval. (I suggested privately to the judge afterward that he set 3 chickens and a sheep for bail, which would have worked out fine, since he can post that. Ten percent would be like a part of a chicken, right?) Also, two of my competency guys are now cell mates. The good news is that they keep each other company, and both get along with each other, and neither are subjected to the mean-ness of the other inmates. The bad news (for me, anyway) is that they have a phone in the cell with unlimited legal calls, so they pass the phone back and forth to take turns talking to me indefinitely. Both are somewhat paranoid and need constant reassurance, and one has extremely poor memory as a result of traumatic brain injury. You would not believe how circular a conversation can be with these two guys! Especially when the guy not on the phone with me keeps shouting reminders for the other one to tell me stuff that he already told me. I still like them, though. They're a whole lot better clients than some of my "normal" ones!
Thursday, March 20, 2008
The Woes of Treatment Court
I blogged some time ago about the mental health court a judge was intending to start. Well, it has been started, more or less. The basic premise of the thing (contrary to my suggestion) is to make the mental health court a "special condition" of probation, similar to drug court. The participants are required to come to court weekly, attend individual and group counseling sessions throughout the week, show proof of taking medication as prescribed, do community service or keep a job if able to, and take drug tests. Initially, they are required to see a psychiatrist who would (hopefully) prescribe medication and/or adjust it as needed. As we initially had no (read "zero") funding from any source for this program, we began with five participants. Of the five participants, three were "non compliant" with the program. Two went to a 28 day drug treatment facility, and one disappeared before he actually began the program and is pending probation violation procedures.
Now, warning bells should go off. If 60% of the participants cannot "make it" in this program, there is either something wrong with the screening process to admit them into the program, or something wrong with the program itself. There are a couple reasons I see for what is going on. First, the most successful of those in the program (the 2 who both showed up and didn't end up in drug treatment) have traumatic brain injury, as opposed to an illness related to brain chemistry such as schizophrenia or bipolar disorder, which can be treated with medication. The only reason the two of them could not make it in regular probation is that they have memory and cognitive problems and just cannot process how to show up once a month at probation. These people do not need their medications monitored, etc. Further more, we (the committee) had decided at the beginning that a mental health court would not be of assistance to people with such a disability. They probably could make it through the program fine, but the program would not help them.
The people the program is intended to help are those other three people, two of whom are bipolar and one is schizophrenic. They get into trouble because they either self-medicate (usually with meth), or steal (for the thrill when they're manic, because they believe the things to be theirs, or because they can't hold a job due to their disability), or both. So, the program intended to help the mentally ill get back on track with their meds and housing and SSI is turning out to be simply drug court with extra conditions. The irony is that the service provider is the same as for drug court. My question: Why not just put them in drug court, since that's what's happening anyway? The personnel involved are exactly the same, it's just the participants that are different. This way, the federal grant we just got can be used for a diversionary type of program, which is much more acutely needed anyway.
Here's what I think a mental health court should look like: When a criminal defendant is transferred to district court "on competency," they might be referred to mental health court, especially if they are only facing charges for resisting an officer or battery on an officer. (Many of my competency clients have the police called on them because they are acting strange or creeping people out, the cops show up and they freak out.) If it is decided that such a defendant would be fine if properly treated, they would start the program. Their criminal case would be dismissed without prejudice. They would get a caseworker (which we do have available) to help them apply for SSI and set up housing. They would see a doctor to give prescriptions and monitor the meds and check in with someone to be sure they're on their meds. They would only have to give drug tests after they're meds are fully adjusted and have been allowed to take effect (say a couple or 3 months). Only then would they be punished for using meth or other drugs. The program would last 6 months to a year, and if they completed, their criminal case would remain dismissed. If not, it would be refiled, and we would deal with the competency issue at that point. The incentive to the client would be that they wouldn't have to sit in jail for 3 to 9 months waiting for evaluations or risk a 9 month trip to the state hospital to be treated to competence. (i.e. forcefully medicated) (Note: SSI is discontinued if a person is incarcerated for more than 30 days. Thus, if they had SSI before their arrest, they no longer have it when they're finally released.) The incentive for everyone else would be that we would save the county money by not having them in jail, we would save the state money by not sending them to the hospital, and (with any luck) we would help them break the cycle of committing new crimes as soon as they get released from jail on the old ones. If a defendant is found incompetent, the cases are ultimately dismissed anyway, except for the most heinous.
I mean, it makes no sense for my little competency guys to keep getting arrested, their cases (mostly misdemeanors, property crimes, or tangling with police or jail guards) dismissed once they're found incompetent, released from jail, then arrested again for the same or similar charges with no treatment in the interim. The best example I have of this is my guy that steals cars. He's clearly schizophrenic: he has auditory hallucinations (apparently quite a benevolent person, as my guy laughs a lot when listening to the voice). His cases (he stole 2 cars the same day) got dismissed when he was found incompetent and not dangerous (mandated by statute). Six hours after his release from jail, he stole another car, led the cops on a chase, and returned the car to the police parking lot. He also was arrested for the charge of "pedestrians in roadway," because he was apparently caught when whe was walking down the middle of the road, talking to his invisible friend after dumping the car. He has not been on meds since 2004, when he was committed to the state hospital. Now, there are two solutions to this: Either we can get the cops to quit arresting him no matter how many cars he steals, or we can give him an incentive to take his meds, and adjust them if they make him too listless (his problem with taking them is he doesn't like being sleepy all the time.)
Here's my main point (finally). We don't need "drug court plus" (as I've taken to calling it). We need some way to help my guy with the car problem to stay on his meds so he will quit stealing cars!
End of sermon.
Now, warning bells should go off. If 60% of the participants cannot "make it" in this program, there is either something wrong with the screening process to admit them into the program, or something wrong with the program itself. There are a couple reasons I see for what is going on. First, the most successful of those in the program (the 2 who both showed up and didn't end up in drug treatment) have traumatic brain injury, as opposed to an illness related to brain chemistry such as schizophrenia or bipolar disorder, which can be treated with medication. The only reason the two of them could not make it in regular probation is that they have memory and cognitive problems and just cannot process how to show up once a month at probation. These people do not need their medications monitored, etc. Further more, we (the committee) had decided at the beginning that a mental health court would not be of assistance to people with such a disability. They probably could make it through the program fine, but the program would not help them.
The people the program is intended to help are those other three people, two of whom are bipolar and one is schizophrenic. They get into trouble because they either self-medicate (usually with meth), or steal (for the thrill when they're manic, because they believe the things to be theirs, or because they can't hold a job due to their disability), or both. So, the program intended to help the mentally ill get back on track with their meds and housing and SSI is turning out to be simply drug court with extra conditions. The irony is that the service provider is the same as for drug court. My question: Why not just put them in drug court, since that's what's happening anyway? The personnel involved are exactly the same, it's just the participants that are different. This way, the federal grant we just got can be used for a diversionary type of program, which is much more acutely needed anyway.
Here's what I think a mental health court should look like: When a criminal defendant is transferred to district court "on competency," they might be referred to mental health court, especially if they are only facing charges for resisting an officer or battery on an officer. (Many of my competency clients have the police called on them because they are acting strange or creeping people out, the cops show up and they freak out.) If it is decided that such a defendant would be fine if properly treated, they would start the program. Their criminal case would be dismissed without prejudice. They would get a caseworker (which we do have available) to help them apply for SSI and set up housing. They would see a doctor to give prescriptions and monitor the meds and check in with someone to be sure they're on their meds. They would only have to give drug tests after they're meds are fully adjusted and have been allowed to take effect (say a couple or 3 months). Only then would they be punished for using meth or other drugs. The program would last 6 months to a year, and if they completed, their criminal case would remain dismissed. If not, it would be refiled, and we would deal with the competency issue at that point. The incentive to the client would be that they wouldn't have to sit in jail for 3 to 9 months waiting for evaluations or risk a 9 month trip to the state hospital to be treated to competence. (i.e. forcefully medicated) (Note: SSI is discontinued if a person is incarcerated for more than 30 days. Thus, if they had SSI before their arrest, they no longer have it when they're finally released.) The incentive for everyone else would be that we would save the county money by not having them in jail, we would save the state money by not sending them to the hospital, and (with any luck) we would help them break the cycle of committing new crimes as soon as they get released from jail on the old ones. If a defendant is found incompetent, the cases are ultimately dismissed anyway, except for the most heinous.
I mean, it makes no sense for my little competency guys to keep getting arrested, their cases (mostly misdemeanors, property crimes, or tangling with police or jail guards) dismissed once they're found incompetent, released from jail, then arrested again for the same or similar charges with no treatment in the interim. The best example I have of this is my guy that steals cars. He's clearly schizophrenic: he has auditory hallucinations (apparently quite a benevolent person, as my guy laughs a lot when listening to the voice). His cases (he stole 2 cars the same day) got dismissed when he was found incompetent and not dangerous (mandated by statute). Six hours after his release from jail, he stole another car, led the cops on a chase, and returned the car to the police parking lot. He also was arrested for the charge of "pedestrians in roadway," because he was apparently caught when whe was walking down the middle of the road, talking to his invisible friend after dumping the car. He has not been on meds since 2004, when he was committed to the state hospital. Now, there are two solutions to this: Either we can get the cops to quit arresting him no matter how many cars he steals, or we can give him an incentive to take his meds, and adjust them if they make him too listless (his problem with taking them is he doesn't like being sleepy all the time.)
Here's my main point (finally). We don't need "drug court plus" (as I've taken to calling it). We need some way to help my guy with the car problem to stay on his meds so he will quit stealing cars!
End of sermon.
Thursday, March 13, 2008
The Show Must Go On
It has always worked this way: I'll go months without having any trials, or even any trials set, and then suddenly, I have tons! By this time tomorrow, I will have had three trials in two weeks. The way our judges calendar things, usually about one in three trials set actually "go," so you do the math. In addition to being in court constantly, I have three of the neediest clients in the office. They're really sweet, and very incompetent, but they tend to leave about ten messages a day on my voicemail, each. And when they happen to catch me in the office, I'm on the phone with them for a half hour. This is when "Evercom," the jail phone system, cuts them off. Usually, when a client is on the phone with me for that long, I can do something else, while still following what they are saying. But with them, it takes all my focus to figure out what they are talking about.
For example, one of them told me today that his mother is a blackmailer. I'm quite sure he's got no clue what the word means, but I finally figured out what he meant by it. He thinks his mother is preventing him from "being a man" by paying his bills and taking care of his trailer. He just doesn't want to be taken care of in this fashion, because he is a grown-up. His schizophrenia apparently only started manifesting a year or two ago, and he has not figured out that he is just not like everyone else. He wants to work and to drive and to pay his own bills, thank you very much! The problem arises when he comes into contact with law enforcement and ends up in jail because he's scared of them, calls them terrorists, and fights with them. It's hard to hold down a job when you're in jail that often!
Meanwhile, I have been having last-minute plea hearings, trials where the client doesn't show up, trials that get continued at the last minute, and actual trials. My trials actually haven't been that crazy. No interpreters going on strike, or ADAs going completely crazy during closings, or anything. My one last Wednesday was fairly straight forward: possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute. (Here, that carries up to 9 years, plus any habitual offender time.) It looked like it would be a decent case, at first. My guy was the driver and only occupant in a car, registered to someone else, and in a fanny pack on the floor was 27 grams of meth, scales, empty baggies, syringes, etc. In addition, there was a purse with a glass pipe. No identifying documents were found in either. (My guy and the registered owner of the car were both male, and thus unlikely to be caught dead with a purse!) My guy had an empty plastic baggie in his pocket, that was not tested for the presence of controlled substances. (He was arrested for misdemeanor DWI, and pulled over for expired tags.) The problem was that the baggie in his pocket had a "brand" on it: a symbol usually used to distinguish a particular dealer. Empty baggies in the bag with the 27 grams of meth had the same symbol. Surprise! I kept the jury out for a couple hours debating it, though! And we have a couple appeal-able issues.
My trial this past Tuesday was just confusing. It was an embezzlement case, where my client was alleged to have stolen $1000 dollars from the deposit at her job in a convenience store. I have never heard of a place that handles cash with such shoddy cash control policies! (And I have worked at several.) No one double-counts the money! Ever! Not the registers, and not the daily deposits. Once the "drawers" (registers) have over a certain amount, they are totaled, balanced, and the money is put in a cash bag, and dropped into a safe. Every morning, the prior day's cash bags are re-counted, totaled, and entered into a computer manually by a manager (in this case, my client). Later in the morning, the same person who did the computer entries re-counts the money, prepares a deposit slip for the bank, and takes it to the bank. The sum total of the State's case against my client was that the computer entry for a particular day's total exceeded the same day's deposit slip total by $1000, and my client was the one to do the deposit that day. The other manager testified that there had "never" been a disparity between the computer print-out and the deposit slip before. And that my client had worked there a year. Now, if I were going to embezzle money, I certainly wouldn't start with $1000! And I would certainly not do it in such an obvious way, when I was the one creating the disparity between the amount of money deposited and what the computer print-out says that I should deposit, when I controlled what the computer said! It makes no sense! The jury came back after an hour with a whole list of questions: Was there a camera on the drop box (no), who had access to the key for the drop box (everyone) what are the cash control procedures, etc. Twenty minutes later, they came back guilty, but with three or four jurors looking seriously disgruntled. I have never seen jurors look so angry coming back with a verdict before! A couple, especially, looked extremely irate. Anyway, very strange. And for once, likely to get overturned on "sufficiency of evidence," since there was nothing more than a manually entered computer total to show the extra $1000 ever existed!
Anyway, this is quite long enough, and I have trial again tomorrow: possession of meth again. My guy's girlfriend says it was hers. Great if they believe her. Horrible if they don't, since my guy's looking at the possibility of 8 years of mandatory habitual offender time if they convict. Well, the show must go on!
For example, one of them told me today that his mother is a blackmailer. I'm quite sure he's got no clue what the word means, but I finally figured out what he meant by it. He thinks his mother is preventing him from "being a man" by paying his bills and taking care of his trailer. He just doesn't want to be taken care of in this fashion, because he is a grown-up. His schizophrenia apparently only started manifesting a year or two ago, and he has not figured out that he is just not like everyone else. He wants to work and to drive and to pay his own bills, thank you very much! The problem arises when he comes into contact with law enforcement and ends up in jail because he's scared of them, calls them terrorists, and fights with them. It's hard to hold down a job when you're in jail that often!
Meanwhile, I have been having last-minute plea hearings, trials where the client doesn't show up, trials that get continued at the last minute, and actual trials. My trials actually haven't been that crazy. No interpreters going on strike, or ADAs going completely crazy during closings, or anything. My one last Wednesday was fairly straight forward: possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute. (Here, that carries up to 9 years, plus any habitual offender time.) It looked like it would be a decent case, at first. My guy was the driver and only occupant in a car, registered to someone else, and in a fanny pack on the floor was 27 grams of meth, scales, empty baggies, syringes, etc. In addition, there was a purse with a glass pipe. No identifying documents were found in either. (My guy and the registered owner of the car were both male, and thus unlikely to be caught dead with a purse!) My guy had an empty plastic baggie in his pocket, that was not tested for the presence of controlled substances. (He was arrested for misdemeanor DWI, and pulled over for expired tags.) The problem was that the baggie in his pocket had a "brand" on it: a symbol usually used to distinguish a particular dealer. Empty baggies in the bag with the 27 grams of meth had the same symbol. Surprise! I kept the jury out for a couple hours debating it, though! And we have a couple appeal-able issues.
My trial this past Tuesday was just confusing. It was an embezzlement case, where my client was alleged to have stolen $1000 dollars from the deposit at her job in a convenience store. I have never heard of a place that handles cash with such shoddy cash control policies! (And I have worked at several.) No one double-counts the money! Ever! Not the registers, and not the daily deposits. Once the "drawers" (registers) have over a certain amount, they are totaled, balanced, and the money is put in a cash bag, and dropped into a safe. Every morning, the prior day's cash bags are re-counted, totaled, and entered into a computer manually by a manager (in this case, my client). Later in the morning, the same person who did the computer entries re-counts the money, prepares a deposit slip for the bank, and takes it to the bank. The sum total of the State's case against my client was that the computer entry for a particular day's total exceeded the same day's deposit slip total by $1000, and my client was the one to do the deposit that day. The other manager testified that there had "never" been a disparity between the computer print-out and the deposit slip before. And that my client had worked there a year. Now, if I were going to embezzle money, I certainly wouldn't start with $1000! And I would certainly not do it in such an obvious way, when I was the one creating the disparity between the amount of money deposited and what the computer print-out says that I should deposit, when I controlled what the computer said! It makes no sense! The jury came back after an hour with a whole list of questions: Was there a camera on the drop box (no), who had access to the key for the drop box (everyone) what are the cash control procedures, etc. Twenty minutes later, they came back guilty, but with three or four jurors looking seriously disgruntled. I have never seen jurors look so angry coming back with a verdict before! A couple, especially, looked extremely irate. Anyway, very strange. And for once, likely to get overturned on "sufficiency of evidence," since there was nothing more than a manually entered computer total to show the extra $1000 ever existed!
Anyway, this is quite long enough, and I have trial again tomorrow: possession of meth again. My guy's girlfriend says it was hers. Great if they believe her. Horrible if they don't, since my guy's looking at the possibility of 8 years of mandatory habitual offender time if they convict. Well, the show must go on!
Thursday, February 28, 2008
A Return to the Normal (more or less)
Betsy got her stitches out today. Woohoo! She has now been released by the vet to "go out and play" in any fashion she sees fit. So, she celebrated our return from the vets by running laps around both my yard and the next-door-neighbor's yard, with Adagio close on her heels. She was ecstatic! No more being locked in the house!
In other news, court has been very strange lately: We have more than one judge who do not care for the Rules of Criminal Procedure and have decided to make up their own, always to the detriment of our clients. One has decided that she may dismiss defense appeals that are trial de novo, due to failure to preserve issues in the lower court. The lower court is not a court of record, and thus you can't preserve issues anyway. Another has decided that she is able to revoke the probation of people who are not actually on probation anymore, but have been discharged. A third has decided that she does not like the various time limits outlined in the Code, and sets her own, frequently without telling anyone until her new time limits have expired. I have also been dealing with ADAs who seem to enjoy lecturing me about how to do my job, and how unethical it is for me to try to get my clients out of jail. I don't think all these people realize that what they are doing is only motivating me to fight harder in court: a motivation that has been ebbing of late.
I also have a whole pack of competency clients. These cases for some reason seem to come in waves. I love my competency clients. They are (mostly) really sweet and lost. And more than one of them seem to have a crush on me. Normally, something I'm not wild about, but in them, it's quite poignant. After all, how many people have they ever had try to help them in their lives? And it just makes me angry that some police officers seem to just follow them around waiting for them to get afraid and violent. I have one poor guy who was charged with filing a false report. Honestly! The guy is so delusional, they had to have been able to figure something was not right when they took the report. He called me all upset and afraid today because the judge made him "stand in the oaths and give up his rights and his lefts!" Even the not so sweet ones I don't mind. I find I have the patience to listen to their convoluted stories and reassure them and call their mamas and girlfriends. A strange thing of late. Even the guy who wants to kill me because I "raised his incompetence" I have patience with. After all, it's not his fault. No one wants to be thought of as either crazy or stupid. (Though I'm careful to not to say the words "incompetent" or "evaluation" in his presence. I was quite angry when the ADA brought it up when there was no need.)
And, I can look forward to six trials set for next week, with no idea at this point which may be going and which not.
So, things seem to be returning to normal. As normal as they ever get around here, anyway.
In other news, court has been very strange lately: We have more than one judge who do not care for the Rules of Criminal Procedure and have decided to make up their own, always to the detriment of our clients. One has decided that she may dismiss defense appeals that are trial de novo, due to failure to preserve issues in the lower court. The lower court is not a court of record, and thus you can't preserve issues anyway. Another has decided that she is able to revoke the probation of people who are not actually on probation anymore, but have been discharged. A third has decided that she does not like the various time limits outlined in the Code, and sets her own, frequently without telling anyone until her new time limits have expired. I have also been dealing with ADAs who seem to enjoy lecturing me about how to do my job, and how unethical it is for me to try to get my clients out of jail. I don't think all these people realize that what they are doing is only motivating me to fight harder in court: a motivation that has been ebbing of late.
I also have a whole pack of competency clients. These cases for some reason seem to come in waves. I love my competency clients. They are (mostly) really sweet and lost. And more than one of them seem to have a crush on me. Normally, something I'm not wild about, but in them, it's quite poignant. After all, how many people have they ever had try to help them in their lives? And it just makes me angry that some police officers seem to just follow them around waiting for them to get afraid and violent. I have one poor guy who was charged with filing a false report. Honestly! The guy is so delusional, they had to have been able to figure something was not right when they took the report. He called me all upset and afraid today because the judge made him "stand in the oaths and give up his rights and his lefts!" Even the not so sweet ones I don't mind. I find I have the patience to listen to their convoluted stories and reassure them and call their mamas and girlfriends. A strange thing of late. Even the guy who wants to kill me because I "raised his incompetence" I have patience with. After all, it's not his fault. No one wants to be thought of as either crazy or stupid. (Though I'm careful to not to say the words "incompetent" or "evaluation" in his presence. I was quite angry when the ADA brought it up when there was no need.)
And, I can look forward to six trials set for next week, with no idea at this point which may be going and which not.
So, things seem to be returning to normal. As normal as they ever get around here, anyway.
Friday, February 22, 2008
Under the Knife
Betsy had her surgery yesterday, so she is now spayed and micro-chipped! She gets her stitches out next week, and after that, no more vet visits for a whole year! The surgery went great, and today she was her usual cheerful self. Last evening, she was fairly out of it, and confused. She slept from the time I got off work and picked her up at the vets, until morning. I stayed home with her today, except for a witness interview at the DA's office, so I could keep an eye on her. But she's back to her playful normalcy. She even tried to play with Adagio, but I couldn't let that happen. She's supposed to be "taking it easy" for a week. (Fat chance!) While she hasn't been chewing her stitches yet, she has been scratching them with her hind legs. I, at least temporarily, solved the problem by putting her in an old t-shirt of mine and tying the slack in a knot in the middle of her back. She hasn't managed to get it off yet, but she was playing with it for a while. At least it distracted her from the suture line!
Below, she is modeling the shirt, and being trained to "leave" the shirt alone!
Sunday, February 17, 2008
Betsy Update
****Update****
Adagio, the next door dog, has returned! Apparently she was recuperating from being spayed, as there is a shaved patch on her tummy. But no stitches, and she looks fine, so she and Betsy celebrated by having a boistrous play.
****Original Post****
So, Betsy is still growing like the proverbial weed. We went to the vet's last week for her pre-spay blood work, and she now weighs a whopping 40.7 lbs. It actually made me kind of nostalgic. The first time I took her to the vets, she was 8 weeks old, weighed just over 13 pounds, and was so frightened that all she would do was sit straight up on my knee and watch the people and animals come and go. I could pick her up with one hand easily. This time, she's 7 months old, over 40 pounds, and wanted to play with everyone who came by, whether they had 2 legs or four (including a pretty calico cat). This wasn't at all to the liking of the minute boxer puppy, who was plainly terrified of the entire situation, even without the rambunctious Betsy play-bowing and yapping, and doing everything in her power to make the boxer forget her fear and have a fun romp. This seems to be Betsy's solution to every problem. When I had the flu, she decided that what I really needed was a fun play time. So, she licked my face, nibbled on my ears, and pawed at me. I reacted similarly to the boxer puppy, and tried to get across that play was not needed at that point.
Betsy's also maturing. She doesn't jump on strangers anymore (mostly) and she's figured out what she is allowed to play with and what she's not. (Of course, she sometimes takes things that are not hers in attempts to start a game with me, or simply to see how far she can get away with something.) She has also started exhibiting some guard-dog characteristics. However, at this point, she seems mainly interested in guarding against reflections in the glass door and dogs on t.v. It's really quite funny to hear her with her growling and warning-bark and her nose pressed against the glass door to the entertainment center waiting for the "other" dog to make a move. She also guarded me against someone that had been in the house for a couple hours, but she had apparently forgotten he was there. It was hilarious. She greeted him at the door like a long-lost pack member, and then 2 hours later didn't know who he was.
She's also finished her six week obedience class (the grown-up one), and I think I'll put her into the next one, too. That's the one where at the end of it she gets to take her test to get the first AKC obedience degree. (I forget what it's called). She loves class so much, and she's got a special play buddy, Kaily who's going to take the next class too. Kaily's at least as much a mutt as Betsy is. She looks like a coyote. They're such good buds that Kaily's mom and I traded phone numbers so we can set up play dates for them. Kaily loves playing even more than Betsy, and doesn't have much of an opportunity. She's driving her mom quite crazy and is becoming fairly destructive, apparently. And now that Betsy's next door buddy has disappeared, she needs to expend some energy as well!
Adagio, the next door dog, has returned! Apparently she was recuperating from being spayed, as there is a shaved patch on her tummy. But no stitches, and she looks fine, so she and Betsy celebrated by having a boistrous play.
****Original Post****
So, Betsy is still growing like the proverbial weed. We went to the vet's last week for her pre-spay blood work, and she now weighs a whopping 40.7 lbs. It actually made me kind of nostalgic. The first time I took her to the vets, she was 8 weeks old, weighed just over 13 pounds, and was so frightened that all she would do was sit straight up on my knee and watch the people and animals come and go. I could pick her up with one hand easily. This time, she's 7 months old, over 40 pounds, and wanted to play with everyone who came by, whether they had 2 legs or four (including a pretty calico cat). This wasn't at all to the liking of the minute boxer puppy, who was plainly terrified of the entire situation, even without the rambunctious Betsy play-bowing and yapping, and doing everything in her power to make the boxer forget her fear and have a fun romp. This seems to be Betsy's solution to every problem. When I had the flu, she decided that what I really needed was a fun play time. So, she licked my face, nibbled on my ears, and pawed at me. I reacted similarly to the boxer puppy, and tried to get across that play was not needed at that point.
Betsy's also maturing. She doesn't jump on strangers anymore (mostly) and she's figured out what she is allowed to play with and what she's not. (Of course, she sometimes takes things that are not hers in attempts to start a game with me, or simply to see how far she can get away with something.) She has also started exhibiting some guard-dog characteristics. However, at this point, she seems mainly interested in guarding against reflections in the glass door and dogs on t.v. It's really quite funny to hear her with her growling and warning-bark and her nose pressed against the glass door to the entertainment center waiting for the "other" dog to make a move. She also guarded me against someone that had been in the house for a couple hours, but she had apparently forgotten he was there. It was hilarious. She greeted him at the door like a long-lost pack member, and then 2 hours later didn't know who he was.
She's also finished her six week obedience class (the grown-up one), and I think I'll put her into the next one, too. That's the one where at the end of it she gets to take her test to get the first AKC obedience degree. (I forget what it's called). She loves class so much, and she's got a special play buddy, Kaily who's going to take the next class too. Kaily's at least as much a mutt as Betsy is. She looks like a coyote. They're such good buds that Kaily's mom and I traded phone numbers so we can set up play dates for them. Kaily loves playing even more than Betsy, and doesn't have much of an opportunity. She's driving her mom quite crazy and is becoming fairly destructive, apparently. And now that Betsy's next door buddy has disappeared, she needs to expend some energy as well!
Monday, February 04, 2008
Snow Day, Take Forty-Four
Well, not really forty-four, but that's what it seems like. You know, I never thought I'd get tired of having spontaneous days off work. But even I have to admit, this is getting old. You get all in gear to go to work in the morning, have planned the courts you need to be at, and the office work you're going to do, and suddenly you can't. Unless, that is, you feel like playing bumper cars with people who have no clue how to operate a vehicle in the snow. And then, you spend the rest of the week trying to catch up!
I compensated this morning by joining a "sock-of-the-month" club. Well, actually the sock of the every-other-month club, since I know I can't knit a pair every month! We'll see how it goes. (You can cancel any time.)
I believe I have now given up on trying to guess Betsy's ancestry. I even watched the Eukenuba National Championship dog show to try to figure it out. (And also because I like to watch dog shows.) She's still got mosly the coloring of a Rottweiler (her head's turning black again, like it started out), but she's much fluffier than either a Rott or German Shepherd. Her outer hair's coarse like a Rott, but a little curly, and she's got a double coat. So, she's pretty much her very own breed. I did figure out one thing from the dog show: The next door dog, Adagio, is almost certainly a Flat-Coated Retriever. Betsy's much more of a cold-weather dog than I would have thought. Her latest thing is flopping down in the snow, and then eating all the snow in reach, and then picking a new spot to lie down.
I compensated this morning by joining a "sock-of-the-month" club. Well, actually the sock of the every-other-month club, since I know I can't knit a pair every month! We'll see how it goes. (You can cancel any time.)
I believe I have now given up on trying to guess Betsy's ancestry. I even watched the Eukenuba National Championship dog show to try to figure it out. (And also because I like to watch dog shows.) She's still got mosly the coloring of a Rottweiler (her head's turning black again, like it started out), but she's much fluffier than either a Rott or German Shepherd. Her outer hair's coarse like a Rott, but a little curly, and she's got a double coat. So, she's pretty much her very own breed. I did figure out one thing from the dog show: The next door dog, Adagio, is almost certainly a Flat-Coated Retriever. Betsy's much more of a cold-weather dog than I would have thought. Her latest thing is flopping down in the snow, and then eating all the snow in reach, and then picking a new spot to lie down.
Sunday, February 03, 2008
Super Sunday
Happy Super Sunday to everyone! For those of you who do not know, I am a football person. I've watched football on t.v. for almost as long as I can remember, not really caring who won at all. When I was in elementary school, I pulled for the team with pretty uniforms, and in middle school I pulled for the team with the cutest quarterback. (Joe Montana was still playing then, so I rooted for the 49ers.) I tend not to make a big deal about the Superbowl, because "my" team never is in it. But today, I have wings in the crock pot and friends on the way.
Also, it's snowing again, so I'm content to knit my throw, (see below), watch football, possibly with a fire in the fireplace, and stay inside. If it turns out to be too much of a blow-out, we can always switch to the puppy bowl. Betsy will love it. Below, she is watching animal planet.
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Snow Day, Take Two
And it's snowing again! Usually, we only get one good snow fall a year, with a couple of additional dustings. On our last snow day, we had six inches by the time it was through, and that was unusual enough. But today, it looks like we're going to have that much again. There are about three inches on the ground now, and it's overcast, which means here that there will probably be more. There does seem to be a temporary lull in the snowfall now, though. Maybe I will be able to make it in to the office this afternoon. It's fairly strange: I was kind of looking forward to going in today. I don't have hearings scheduled (they were cancelled anyway) so I was going to do some trial prep and write some suppression motions that have been waiting for weeks for me to get to. I even put some stuff in the crock pot to be ready when I got home! But alas, the best laid plans of mice and men do something or other, and since all the schools and courts and everything else are closed, I know there will be no plowing of the roads. Thus, here I sit.
It's weird for me to not go somewhere due to snow. Where I come from a few inches of the white stuff isn't unusual, and we carry on. Places don't usually close unless there are at least 8 inches on the ground, or an ice storm. But in places like that, they actually plow the roads as the snow falls, rather than waiting until the next day like they seem to do here. Thus, again, here I sit.
At least Betsy's enjoying herself. She's curled up under my desk chewing a Nylabone sleepily after playing with the snow for the past 2 1/2 hours. I believe she was trying to eat all the snow in the yard. Her buddy's inside still, so she made do by herself. She's quite good at entertaining herself, so she chased snowflakes, dug holes in the snow, unearthed ice chunks to eat, and for some reason started snorting snow up her nose. On purpose! But now, she's nearly asleep after the excitement.
(Betsy in repose below. It's rare, so I figured I'd best capture it!)
So now, I just have to think of something to do with myself all day. (It's snowing very hard now, so I don't think I'll be able to make it to work, or anywhere else, for that matter.) I actually cleaned house last weekend, and I don't need to do laundry. I don't even have any knitting to occupy me. I finished my last project: My first experiment with "stranded" knitting. Not stranded like on a deserted island, stranded like with different strands of yarn. 
I do have a lace scarf that I'm about half finished with, but Betsy stole it and I need to fix it. Fortunately, I rescued it before it was demolished, but I will need to pick out a fair number of rows due to dropped stitches. That's just too picky for me right now. What I really want is the yarn and needles for my next project to arrive. I order online a lot, because the yarn selection around town is quite limited, especially if you're doing a big project. I'm going to make this throw in a dark reddish brown color. Ten balls of a gorgeous alpaca blend. Super bulky! (Translation: thick and fluffy and very soft yarn)
I do have a lace scarf that I'm about half finished with, but Betsy stole it and I need to fix it. Fortunately, I rescued it before it was demolished, but I will need to pick out a fair number of rows due to dropped stitches. That's just too picky for me right now. What I really want is the yarn and needles for my next project to arrive. I order online a lot, because the yarn selection around town is quite limited, especially if you're doing a big project. I'm going to make this throw in a dark reddish brown color. Ten balls of a gorgeous alpaca blend. Super bulky! (Translation: thick and fluffy and very soft yarn)I seem to have written a lot, so I think I'll go make oatmeal for breakfast.
Monday, January 07, 2008
On Puppies and Snow
I am not what you'd call a cold weather person. I live in a desert, after all. I dislike winter and cold weather, and I tend to dislike snow as well. It's cold and wet, and it is usually accompanied by clouds. I need my sunshine! However, I will grudgingly admit that today, I like it. It means that although I did have to go to court this morning, I'm not about to drive accross the county to the office, since the roads have not been touched by plow, sand, or salt, and it's snowed about 2 inches in the last hour. It was all I could do to make it home. I'm also liking the snow because it's the first real snow Betsy's seen in her short life. She loves it. She tries to pick it up in her mouth and play with it, but of course this does not work well. She also periodically looks up into the sky as if to find the source of this strange form of precipitation. But the most fun seems to be just playing with her buddy from next door in it. Partly because her buddy seems to be more clumsy than she does and keeps falling down. This makes her easier than ever to catch!
P.S. In case you're wondering, Betsy's the one with the brown legs, and both she and Adagio have Betsy's tail in their mouths. If you look closely, you can see Betsy's face peeking out from between Adagio's head and her own rump.
Tuesday, January 01, 2008
Musings on Time
And so, 2007 is gone and 2008 is ahead. I realize that many people make resolutions to do better for the following year. For some reason, I've never been one to set personal goals like this. I mean I can think of things about myself that I would like to improve upon. But it has never made sense to me to wait until New Year's Day to set about improving upon them. To me, a person's life journey is just that: A journey. One goes along and makes decisions as they come up about who one is and what one does, and these decisions rarely, if ever, coincide with a date on a calendar. Many people also seem to like to look over the past year and evaluate it in some way. I tend not to do this either. The past year hasn't been one I particularly enjoyed, although I did enjoy some things that happened. But why would one evaluate a year? There were some things that happened this year that I will remember forever because they either brought me joy or sadness, and there is nothing wrong with remembering such things. They form a part of who I am and who I will be in years to come. But what is the purpose of an evaluation of a year? As in a good year, or a bad year, or the year when some event happened, or the year of the ______? A year cannot be summed up and evaluated like a test, just like a person or place cannot.
My faithful dog, Bo, died in 2007. That was sad, but that does not mean that 2007 was sad. I also got my first ever puppy, and am learning how to raise her. That is fun, but that doesn't mean that 2007 was a "fun year." I started knitting and playing my violin again this year. And these things will probably be part of who I am and what I do for years to come. But this does not mean those things are the year.
I guess I tend to view years (and weeks and decades) much as I imagine Betsy would. I tend to ignore them. I live my life as it comes: taking pleasure in things of the moment that are pleasurable to me and sorrowing for losses that occur when they occur. I don't feel the need to analyze things that have been, or strategize about things that have yet to occur. The things that have happened, both good and bad, are past. I will remember them, but not dwell on them. The things that have not yet happened, may never happen. But when they do, either good or bad, I will deal with them when they occur, and either enjoy them or not. There is no point to worrying about them until then.
Time is a strange thing. It is moving and constant, but it does not seem constant. Over Time, we have no control. It controls us, in some respects, but we do not need to be enslaved to it. We cannot turn back the clock or move it forward. But why does that matter? Why should we want to? We should see Time as a puppy sees it: It affects us, but it is irrelevant to who we are.
And with that, puppy pictures! See how time flies for a puppy. It is the same toy that she has in both pictures, by the way, so you can see how big she is now. And yes, she de-stuffed her stuffed toy, and that's what all the white fluff in the second picture is about.
Then:
And Now:
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