projects come together — or so I’ve heard. I think perhaps I’ve had an alignment or two too many. If it weren’t for Susan and Cheryl’s Chase-herding stories and photos, I probably would not have blogged for the past three weeks.
Yes, I think there is a deadline to get the VST premium to AKC — and I think it’s now; the guys working on the house are doing a lovely job BUT need to call me at least half a dozen times a day and yesterday I had to “run” down there (40 minutes each way). The move to the new office went well except I still can’t find everything; I must pack at home so I can move –really? The moving fairies aren’t going to take care of it? Holmes and I are in an Obedience Class — it could have waited, but it’s my break for the day. He is still firmly planted in conformation and thinks sitting is evil. It would also be nice if he came when called (at something other than break-neck speed with a leap to lick my face).
Inca comes to work everyday because I am keeping her separate from Leidy still — just can’t handle a repeat dog fight. She loves being at the office with all those people for whom she can care. What a funny red girl she is.
If Leidy is pregnant, her puppies are due October 19th or 20th. I have a Federal trial set in Santa Fe beginning on October 18th (which is the day after the VST test for which I’m secretary). My Los Lunas vet has agreed that Leidy can come to day care while I’m in trial — just in case she decides it’s time to have her puppies (I hope there are puppies). I think I’ll have to make arrangements with one of his vet techs to get the dog to him/her before the clinic opens and get her back after it’s closed because the drive to Santa Fe is two hours from Los Lunas. All the motions, witness lists, jury instructions are due this week.
I’m really not sure how this all happened at once. I need to look at the stars tonight and see if they are aligned. If Amy hadn’t used “Crazy Cardiness” for her Blog name, I’d be taking that one.
Insanity is a way of life.
Chase is here handling his job well. He prefers to lie at the top of the stairs so no one can come in or go out or get food without his knowledge. I’m not sure how the inmates will manage for the next year and a half without Chase’s attentive presence.
My Chase.
We visited Dr. Larry this morning. Chase weighed in at 37.4 pounds, was declared disgustingly healthy. Dr. Larry issued him a Hall-Pass. We sent off some blood for a Brucellosis test. Chase spent the rest of the day at my office, racing down the steps to greet everyone who came in. Matt brought his little rescue Chihuahua “Lola” to work. She was afraid of Chase, so he laid on the floor as flat as he could get, trying to entice her to play with him. He napped on the loveseat in my office and curled himself around the legs of my chair. I took him to my friend’s grooming salon. I bathed and dried him, trimmed the hair on his feet and Dremeled his nails. He licked my neck while I brushed him out.
He’ll spend tomorrow at the office — and then — Saturday morning — very early, I’ll take him to Delta Cargo and send him off to Camp Susan. He’ll come home eventually, with new skills and new tricks. Cheryl and Susan will sent photos and videos. I know they’ll love and care for him. We’ll use Skype to talk — so he and I can see each other. But, no matter how frequent the sharing of information about this dog, I will have an empty spot in my home and in my heart. I hope the time passes quickly.
Inca is today’s office dog. My new office mates think she is sweet and cute, plus cannot get over those little 3″ legs going up and down the stairs. My office is now up 22 steps. We have counted them. (I tell myself it is good for me.) Inca has navigated the stairs 15 times today. Apparently she feels an obligation to be each person’s office dog for part of the day. So she spends time in Matt’s office, and then moves into Jennifer’s, comes back to flop on my floor, goes downstairs to keep Debi company, then hangs out with Haley. When someone comes in the front door, she goes down to greet the guest. When someone opens the refrigerator (which is downstairs), she has a hopeful attack and heads down. She’s not nearly as stiff as she was for the few days following the dog fight, and this exercise might be good for her.
Cell phone photos — forgive the quality, please.
So — here’s where we are. My client found a 3 bedroom/2 bath home (about 1500 square feet) on just over an acre of land in Los Lunas. The acre is completely fenced. Unfortunately, the house has only a one car garage, but the master plan (all in my head, of course) includes turning the existing garage into a dog room and adding on a 2-1/2 car garage. The house-warming will be a “bring a tree and shovel” party because this was farmland, but it can be so very cool. . . . maybe some ducks for the dogs to herd, and an agility field. One of my longest-time friends suggested planting peach trees and have “Penni’s Peaches — U Pick ‘em”. The house is right around the corner from the site of the Valencia Valley shows.
My client also found a cash buyer for my townhouse. The buyer has kids that will be going to school at UNM and they decided it made more sense to purchase an investment property than to have the kids rent for four years. The townhouse across the street is occupied by a brother/sister who are attending UNM — so the plan is very logical.
I should know tomorrow whether this whole plot is really workable. Think good thoughts! I want me a tractor (John Deere, of course).
Other stuff:
Leidy is coming into season — Chase thinks she’s absolutely charming and she just wants to cavort.
Holmes will be going to the Topeka cluster with Wendy — but I’ve not found a ride back to Albuquerque for him (or to Amarillo where I could pick him up).
A criminal case on which I’ve been working since 2005 was dismissed today — talk about a happy client!
Carolyn (and Shelley) have posted an “Analyze your Writing” feature. So I plugged in a piece from my blog. That’s it — I quit being a lawyer right now so I can write best sellers full time.
Your Badge
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Great job! Do you want to get your book published?
“I have personally read through thousands of book proposals in my career as a publisher and agent. I know what these professionals are looking for—and what they are not looking for.”
— Michael Hyatt, Chairman and CEO of Thomas Nelson Publishers.
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I am tired of the dog show — it went on forever — or so it seemed. Here’s a report for the final day. There was no obedience today so Chase was deprived of the opportunity to be creative on the Recall. Poor Chase! The puppy won his class again, but nothing more. Leidy was 4th in Open — no cigar! Chase earned a Major Select toward his Grand Championship. He showed well today.
Interesting to look at the results for all four days of conformation. One bitch was Winners Bitch one day and Reserve another. Other than that, there were no repeats. That tells me that there was no consistency in the way the judges looked at Cardis. I spoke with the show chair for both clubs and we are invited to submit a proposed judge list. We’ll put together a list of all-round judges who like and understand our breed. Next year, we should have far more consistent results — I hope so. It’s frustrating when you cannot understand what a judge is looking for!
Chase’s mini-world tour has begun. He’s off to Durango, Colorado, Casper and Laramie, Wyoming, Longmont, Colorado, then to Colorado Springs. I’m to pick him up in Colorado Springs so will enter Novice B Obedience there to try to finish the CD. I’ll enter Leidy and Holmes — perhaps pick up a couple of points for them. I already miss my happy boy — this will be a long four weeks!
Yesterday there was a professional photographer at ringside. I went to look for shots of my dogs and found a few I really liked. I ordered them digitally and will post them once they arrive in my email.
Tomorrow it’s back to the office. Holmes will be the office dog.
First, I just learned that Chase’s half sister the beautiful Dolly (CAN BIS/CAN CH/AM CH* Yasashiikuma Smoky Mountn Maid) was Winners Bitch for the second year in a row at the CWCCA Nationals to finish her AKC Championship with three 5-point majors (two of them at the Nationals — wow). How Amazing is that? We may have to send a construction crew up to Ontario to extricate Shelley’s head from the ceiling.
I got up at 4:30, left the house at 5:30, got to Las Vegas a 7:55, testified at 9:00, left the courthouse at 9:30, and made my noon appointment, which just finished up. I have a 6:30 appointment, a 7:00 dog club meeting, and am picking Leidy up at the airport at 11:00 (yes — PM) — oh, and Adrienne is spending the night! Tomorrow we are going to pack up Chase’s TV dinners.
A word about being a witness. When you are the lawyer, you know how all the little pieces of evidence should fit. When you are the witness, you just know the part you know. Everything else is a mystery. I have no idea whether the puzzle piece I provided fit with all the other puzzle pieces. I expect my client will call me with a result though that will probably not be until Monday.
I took two pictures between 7:55 and 8:00 when the courthouse door was unlocked. The first is of the courthouse — it’s new and boring. The second is of the older church across the street. I didn’t have time to go explore it and take more photos. Las Vegas was a big railroad town at the turn of the century and has a very large section of Victorian homes. I need to go up, visit my sister, and wander around with my camera.
In November 2008 I went to a pre-trial conference in northern New Mexico. After it was over, my client asked if I wanted to see the land that had been in his family forever. I love the northern part of the state — it’s beautiful — so I said, “of course.” We went to the tiny village of Ojo Feliz (”Happy Eye”) and I saw the little adobe home in which he grew up. Someday when he retires (he’s been a police officer for 36 years), he’s going to restore the house. It would certainly be worth the effort.
We then traveled down the road near the home of the man that had filed a private criminal complaint against him (the reason we were at the pre-trial conference). In Mora County,almost all disputes center around property or love interests. It’s a land grant area, the deeds are a “little” loose. The complaining party had bought some property, paid cash, not ordered a title search or survey. His deed showed he had purchased three acres of land, but in reality, the seller had only an acre and a half to convey. The additional property he thought he owned actually belonged to my client’s family. Major mess!
So, Al and I drove onto his land, up toward the tree line, it was a gorgeous sunny fall day. I was standing outside the car, drinking in the beauty when I noticed a white pickup truck driving down the County road — graded, not paved — but the main drag nonetheless. The truck stopped at a gate, a passenger got out and opened the gate. He got back into the truck and they drove on down the road. In this part of the world, you leave a gate the way you find it. When it’s closed, you close it after you pass through — that’s a rule. That’s an absolute rule. So, I was being outraged when my client said, “Some guys are suing me for blocking the road.” I asked him where he was blocking it — obviously, it wasn’t at the gate through which they had just driven. He said, “I’m not.”
Well, things moved along (very slowly, obviously), and I received a subpoena. It turns out the pickup/gate incident is pivotal in the lawsuit about blocking the road. So,tomorrow morning at 8:00, I need to be in Las Vegas (NM) to testify. To make that happen, I’ll have to get up at 4:30, drive 2-1/2 hours, testify for five minutes, and drive 2-1/2 hours back to Albuquerque. Unfortunately, I can’t unsee the pickup driving through the gate.
I don’t wanna be no stinkin’ witness!
Chase is at the office. He has paced ever since we arrived because he has a piece of dried trachea. It’s healthy and it helps keep his teeth clean. He loves the trachea. However, today he doesn’t want to chew on it — at least not now — so he is looking for a place to store his prize. He has (so far) hidden it under a pile of magazines — put the trachea down and then pushed the magazines over on it, under the computer wires under the desk, between the cushions of the loveseat, wrapped in the pad in the crate I keep here, rolled in the little rug in the bathroom, under a bookcase, behind the dog bed. Not one of those places has been satisfactory, so he continues to pace looking for the perfect hiding spot. It doesn’t really matter where he puts it because tomorrow Holmes is the Office Dog. He will promptly find the prize and chew it up. Take that, Chase!
I almost forgot to mention that this morning when putting the coffee away, a dozen or so beans spilled onto the kitchen floor. Chase immediately vacuumed them up — perhaps I’m seeing a caffeine high.
Chase came to work with me today. I had no idea how worn down he was from waiting for his and Magic’s puppies to arrive. I was working away at the computer, turned around, and there he was — exhausted on the desk. Part of his complete relaxation may have to do with Holmes being absent from the office.
Taryn asked a question about Chase-on-the-desk that I thought I’d answer in the post. Chase has always liked to go UP. That is his preferred direction. Since he was a youngster, he has seen chairs, end tables, and boxes as shortcuts to higher locations. I’ve been bringing him to the office since he was a puppy. He uses the seat of a client chair as the springboard to my desk. He’s very athletic/graceful and can land amidst the papers and books without moving any of them. I often turn back from the computer to see him smiling at me from the desk top. I’m sure the training folk think I should correct him, but he’s the best company — so I put up with it (read: “enjoy it!).
Fatherhood takes a lot out of a dog
PLEASE, don’t make me get up
What was I thinking (as Dr. Phil would say)? I took both Chase and Holmes to work with me. All they do is frap non-stop. I had picked up office supplies, thrown them on the loveseat, and Holmes made himself a nest amidst the files and envelopes. It’s lucky most of my clients are detained in local jails and never see the chaos from which their defense emanates.
Don’t feel sorry for Inca. She LOVES being home without the bad boys.
Yesterday was a demon! I had accepted representation of a long-time business client for a DWI. He actually wasn’t driving, but had made the wise decision to sleep in his car because he believed he wasn’t capable of driving. In this enlightened State, if you are in your vehicle, the keys are anywhere within your reach, and you have a blood alcohol level greater than .08, you are still guilty of DWI. There were some interesting facts in the case, and we had obtained security video to show that the vehicle never moved between the time my client climbed into it and the police arrived. So, we opted for a trial.
I rarely go to Metropolitan Court because the caseload there is absolutely out of control. The short story is we started the trial at 3:15 yesterday, but had to end at 5:00 (building closes). Today we will begin at 2:30, but cannot possibly complete all the testimony, so will resume at 2:30 on Friday. That kind of scheduling plays havoc with one’s life.
Grumble, grumble, grumble . . .
When what to my wondering eyes should appear, but a Priority Mail box on my front step.
It weighs next to nothing — hmmm
It’s Sandy and Bruce’s Kettle Corn
So glad I didn’t shoot myself — or a Court official — yesterday because I would have missed out on this absolutely wonderful treat. I was tempted to carry the entire bag to the couch when Chase and I returned from class — and just munch my way through it, but cooler heads prevailed and I took only a bowlful (at a time).
Thank you Sandy, thank you Bruce. This is absolutely the best.
. . . the behinder I get. I talked with one of the 48 Hours producers for nearly two hours today. The story behind the murder case is so compelling — you may be seeing it on television. These long phone conversations, and one of their people flying in for a meeting, sound like down time for my practice. Whether we sign on truly depends only on the value to my client. Regardless of that time out of my day, I promised other things that will get done.
This weekend is the final proofing for the CWCCA Handbook — a paper copy will be here in the morning with my FedEx man. Adrienne will be here in the morning and since today is Holmes half-birthday (6 months old), we must take some photos. I’m spending a few minutes every day working Chase in Novice Obedience. Tonight at run-throughs he was just super — he would have Q’ed in the high 180s or low 190s. He sits in a chair waiting for his turn and watching all the other dogs put through their paces. I think he’s critiquing. We have two months before he must have it all put together — I think we’ll be ready.
I want to stop by to see Kip this weekend and lend moral support. Kip’s showing a little movement in his tail as well as in his rear legs. Sarah said when that tail’s awaggin’ we’ll know he’s recovered.
Once again I-40 east of Albuquerque is closed due to another winter storm. I’m so ready for spring — this has been a long, long winter, but our farmers should have plenty of water for the growing season.
Photos tomorrow.
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