Why we love our pup

besides the fact that he is darn cute...

I was musing upon this today, as this week, Scupper turned 5 months old - which means he's been with us longer than he was at the shelter. Here are some great reasons for owning a dog:
1) I get a 2-3 mile walk with him everyday. If that's not a good workout, I'm not sure what is. I, however, come home and write more on the dissertation, instead of taking a 2 hour nap.
2) Watching him try to bury a bone is the cutest darn thing you have ever seen. He gets all anxious going around the whole house and yard looking for that "perfect" place. When he finds he, he does the requisite digging, and then pushes the dirt/stones/grass back over the bone to cover it up.
3) Coming home is a wonderful thing. There is nothing like pure, unadulterated puppy joy at your returning to the house.
4) His little noises when he's thoughtful or grumpy are hilarious. If i could upload sound to this blog, I would.
5) He's a great food vacuum. Except of course, if it's mushrooms. Other than that, he likes most anything that gets dropped to the floor in a moment of cooking flourish. Like, cantelope. Or peaches. Or pea pods. Or carrots.
6) Sometimes, you just have to find joy in chasing your tail. Scupper does.
7) Although tempted by many other doggies at the park, he always checks back in to make sure we're still there. I like that someone checks in to make sure we're here. It's a good feeling.
8) He's got the best nails around. Who else can have black, white, and gray nails? He was punk before it was punk.
9) He doesn't need the fancy things - his favorite toy recently has been empty milk cartons. Go figure.
10) He lives each moment to its best. I think we can all take a lesson from that. Play, sleep, eat, receive attention, play, sleep, eat, receive attention. I think i could get used to that.

A new kid on the block

Meet Evan Pettigrew, born on a very auspicious day - 08/08/08. Here is his "big" brother Jayden holding him for the first time. Jayden is almost 3 years old, and Evan is about 30 hours old in this picture.

And did you notice the hat? ;)

Will it make me write better?

I'm a big dork, but I've always wanted a roll top desk, with all those cubbies and drawers and places to put things. My type-A personality loves that kind of stuff, but my procrastinating, lazy self thinks it will just be a mess.

However, searching randomly on craigslist last week, we came across this - for $50. Yup. Steal of the century. I spent more on gas las week to fill up the Honda. Older couple downsizing to a smaller house and just didn't need it. It's from the 1950s, we think, and has a beautiful oak patina and antique smell about it.

Will it make me write my dissertation faster? So far, i'm still pretty good at procrastinating and searching random websites instead of thinking astutely, but I'll keep you posted.
At least i can hide things away when i REALLY don't want to write. ;)