oh yeah

And in the middle of all this newness, we got a dog, Thrall. Rob and his sister, Rachel, adopted Thrall as a puppy before he and I met. When we married, Rachel's family took the dog with them, and Rob's pined for a dog ever since.

One cute time, he even brought a puppy home to the condo. I laughed and told him he'd better take it back to his owner. He was wide-eyed and disingenuous, wondering why that owner couldn't be us, and I laughed harder and sternly reminded him of the no-yard, 1000-square-feet we lived in, his 55-hour/week job, and my lack of desire to raise a puppy by myself in the current situation. He sadly returned the puppy to the owner and I agreed to revisit the dog idea after we had a house with a yard, kennel, and fence (not just the house - I knew I'd have to be very specific). Unfortunately, the fence is outside the budget this year, but he was just confident that we'd have the dog on so many walks, it wouldn't be necessary.

I suggested that, rather than getting a puppy, we float the idea of taking Thrall to be our dog past his sister. She willingly agreed (with two daughters, a job, and being in school, she has no additional time for a pet), and Thrall came to live with us last week. It's been stressful on all of us (except Blake, who thanks God for Thrall in every prayer), but I think we're rounding a bend. He got a haircut and shots today, so he's not only getting used to the new digs, but he's no longer in danger of heatstroke any time we take him on a walk, nor of contracting rabies from a random animal bite. Here's hoping he adjusts to being an excellent pup for our family and that all the other people that filter through can love him too (I'm looking at you, Joel!).

We believe he's a German Shepherd/Leonberger cross, so summer haircuts will be a regular thing for him, both to alleviate the heat and to reduce the risk we'll all die from the massive hairballs taking over in our sleep (though he's an outside dog, the hairballs are thisclose to becoming sentient and opening doors).