Friday, August 28, 2009

Th Doldrums


OK, so the term might not actually apply to my life currently, as it's pretty hectic, but the blog is definitely going through a period of the Doldrums.

Since returning from my brief vacation in the frigid North, where they have to write the current water temperature on a board at the entrance to the beach so you can decide if you really want to risk hypothermia for a chance to say you went swimming, things have been a little hectic. The trip it self was a lot of fun. We hit the beach almost everyday. The water was not unbearably frigid, though it was cold. To a good Southern boy, it was down right freezing, however, the temp board did say it got up to 70 degrees Fahrenheit one day. I don't know if I wholly believe that, because I swear there was ice in the water, but whatever, it was a good time.

Since being back to work, I have literally had to hit the ground running, and not really let up much. I've written out at least twenty warrants in the last two weeks. It seems like the majority of my knuckleheads who were going to give in to that summer madness, gave in while I was on vacation, so I'm playing catch up, trying to track them down and get them in front of a judge.

My supervisor is taking a personal interest in my caseload, she eyes it with a goal of reducing the numbers, and is finding all sorts of violations to write people up on. On the one hand, it's really nice having someone go behind and pick up all of the small details I don't have time to delve in to as much as I should. It's also nice to see my caseload numbers dropping below 170 for the first time in almost two years. On the downside, I now have hearings scheduled for offenders at least 2 days a week, every week from now until Thanksgiving, with some weeks having hearings scheduled on 4 consecutive days.

While this will definitely assist in reducing my caseload, it just liable to break this camel's back. I'm trying to get everything organized in advance, but will likely be scrambling to have all the paperwork in order, and forms filled out, and ducks in a row for the next couple of months, scrambling from one hearing day to the next. The organization is where I'm lacking. Luckily, my supervisor excels in that department, and will hopefully be able to help keep me sane :)

With all the scrambling, I've really only gotten out into the field one good day since returning from vacation. I had to drive all over creation, but nothing really interesting occurred. A few houses with dogs, one with a menagerie of dogs, cats, goats, and horses, but nothing really noteworthy. Well, except maybe for the burn pile out back of the menagerie house with a lot of aerosol cans in it. Nothing else obvious, but that pile will keep us on the look out for some other things.

I try to keep up on things when I come up for air, and I see that MaryJo's killer is finally having to face justice for that horrific act. Via the Coroner, and Wiki, I see that the horrific act may have been even more terrible than I thought. Drowning would be bad enough, but struggling in an air pocket, hoping for a rescue, and having it never materialize, seems to make it just that much worse.

I guess it's at least a break from the Pedophile Lovefest on the news anyway.

I guess I'm going to try and hold back this mountain of paperwork that's threatening to overwhelm my desk, and also try to catch up on all the blog posts I've missed reading recently. Hope everyone has a great weekend!


Casey