Recovering from Vacation

The problem with going on a two-week vacation is that you really need another two-week vacation to recover from your two-week vacation...

We got back on June 25. That was a long time ago! But I have not had one moment to myself since we got back. It seems that every single one of my cases went bonkers while I was way. I know I'm a lawyer and I don't mean to say bad things about my profession, but I have to say that sometimes lawyers can be SO sleazy. In my absence, one slimeball tried to convince my supervisor (who was taking care of things while I was away) that we had agreed to something we would NEVER have agreed to. She was not fooled. And just today, other tried to do an end-run around us to get some outrageous agreement approved by the head of our section without my case team's input. Again, we were lucky that he knew what was going on and did not agree. I have never seen so much of this kind of behavior before. It's like everyone is taking a page out of the W Bush playbook and trying to ram their trash through before a new administration takes over. It is unbelievable what goes on in the last few months of an administration. I am proud to be a public interest lawyer, but it's not necessarily an easy job.

But enough about my case load. Kira is doing incredibly well! I can't believe she is the same dog! When we picked her up at the doggy hotel after our trip, she was very excited to see that we had not gotten rid of her. She has been extremely well-behaved. It's all so interesting. No longer is she eating the expensive venison canned dog food ($2.50 a pop!)...instead, she is eating very high-option dried dog food. It is really what she wants. Also, she no longer likes to eat anything in the morning. It just sits in the bowl until the evening. So, now she is eating three cups of dried food every night. She now weighs 65 pounds...we need to put another 15-20 pounds on her. And the best part is NO MORE ... well ... diarrhea. No more accidents on the kitchen floor. It's wonderful! Another thing is that she now brings her toys to us so we can play with her. She is really cute when she pounces on her ball, with her ears straight forward and her big paddle feet. She's not barking madly at people when they come in. She starts to bark, and stops when I tell her to stop...usually, anyway. We had a bunch of my colleagues over for hamburgers on Sunday, and Kira took it all in stride, like she was used to having so many people in the house. I've never had a dog attached to me like this. She's my shadow. I almost don't even need a leash for her now! Almost.

What a sweet beautiful dog. Well, I must leave. Before I started this post, I was reviewing and commenting on a 100-page settlement document that is woefully inadequate. Gotta get back to it. I have lots to write about, but it's going to take a while.