Last night I was coughing pretty bad again, so I went to sleep in the downstairs bedroom. I brought Bruce so he wouldn’t bark and Cobb followed.

I woke up this morning to hear Amanda banging down the stairs. The girl doesn’t do steps quietly on account of her knee. So at 8:00 I awoke. I was going to mow the yard and she wanted to rake up the pine straw, at least in part for our own personal use. After I finished mowing we were going to head over to Mike and Melissa Davis’s apartment to help them pack up for the move to their new house in Leland. We stopped at Dunkin Donuts for some breakfast foods (coffee and a bagel for Amanda, a smoothie and a donut for me). We got a call from Matt while we were there to let us know what was going on for the move today. Amanda was planning on going to help, but Matt told her (I let her answer the phone since we needed directions and she’s better with them) that all that was really left was the big stuff. So Amanda figured she’d go back home and maybe go to the beach.

While we were walking back to the car we heard dogs barking at PetSmart so we thought we’d drive by and look at the adoptable dogs. Driving by turned into getting out of the car and looking, and getting out of the car and looking turned into getting one, so welcome home, Harvey Dotsey!

Yes, we got another dog. We’d talked about it before and Amanda just fell in love with what you see above. He was really sweet and very affectionate. We’re not really sure what he is other than the fact that he’s obviously got some terrier in him, but he’s pretty big at three months already, so he’s got to have something big in his breeding too.

They needed cash or check for him, and at $100 for a dog who’s already neutered and has all his shots and has been checked for heartworms, it was really not a bad price for adopting a dog. As I was saying though, they needed cash or check and we had neither on us, so we went inside the PetSmart and made three separate purchases and got extra cash out with each one.

He was a bit shy when we went into the store. He took a few steps in then just laid on the floor, so I had to pick him up and carry him around. I also rode with him in the back of the car. When we got home he followed me to the backyard and I let Bruce out. They sniffed each other first thing then Harvey (whose name was not yet definite) licked Bruce. Bruce was wagging his tail the whole time, so we took that as a good sign. He tends to like other dogs.

I was about an hour late getting to Matt’s apartment at this point, so I had to take off. On the way there I called Andra’s house but she was working, so I talked to Josh. We discussed our fantasy football league and his new job, which seems to be going well for him. He put Jackson, with whom he’d just been wrestling, on the phone. To everything I said, Jackson would yell, “NONONONONONONO!” He would then laugh. He was having a good time. He did that again when I asked if he wanted to go to Wilmington, but then when I asked if he wanted to go to the beach he said something about a sand castle. I told him he had to go to the beach to build a sandcastle. There was a slight pause then he asked, “Why?” I told him that’s just what you do at the beach- you build sand castles. Shortly after that the conversation denigrated back to “NONONONONONONO!” I got to the apartment and tried to tell him goodbye, but since all Jackson would do is say “NONONONONONONO!” I just had to laugh and hang up on him. Josh called back a little later, but I was getting to work then.

Evan Vetter was there, as well as a guy named Mike from Matt’s small group. There was another guy too, but he’d sprained his ankle or something like that. He was a big guy from the sound of it. Long story short we got the big stuff all packed up in a couple hours. Melissa’s dad drove a big truck over to their new house in Leland. Mike followed in his loaded-up truck and I followed them in Melissa’s Cherokee. I actually got stopped at the first light, although they both made it through. I got caught at the second one too, but I was able to catch up and follow them on over.

Matt and Melissa’s new house is cute. They’ve got a nice deep backyard and an open kitchen. They painted a lot of the same colors we used in our house too. The only thing I’ve say about the place is that you can look up the street and down the street and it all looks exactly the same. They’re in a cool little community though. There’s all kinds of shopping very close to them and there are a lot of other young couples nearby. Evan and his wife live i think one street or one neighborhood over and Sarah and Jeremy Beakes live like twelve houses down or something. Sarah is with the small group coordination at church and I’ve met her a few times and Jeremy was there to help unload the trucks. This was the first time I’d met him.

So we did some unloading then ate some pizza lunch then finished getting all the big stuff out. The other guys took off and Matt gave me a ride back to the apartment. We talked a little business and I waited while the people moving into his apartment got back. He had a few more boxes to get.

That reminds me- those stairs at that apartment were very busy. Matt and Melissa were moving out and another family was moving in. The people across from them were moving in, and the people below them were moving in.

So I drove on home. I called my dad on the way just to chat with him. We were talking about Jackson and I told him about when we were at Southpoint. I had asked him something and he said, “Huh?” I asked if he were ignorant and he said, “I’m not ignorant, I’m Jackson.” So Dad told me about one time when Mom had said, “Jackson, you’re awesome.” Jackson told her, “I’m not awesome, I’m a big boy.” Adorable.

Dad also mentioned that Schatzi and the other dog, Elmo I believe, had somehow gotten out and away from the house. Mom was out looking for them.

I got home and finally got to play with our new dog. Amanda had Wikipediaed Batman villains and we went over a few, but we ended up sticking with Harvey. (Harvey Dent, aka Two-Face.) We rearranged a bunch of stuff in the kitchen to make sure Harvey couldn’t get into it. We also moved the crate downstairs into the orange room. He did pretty good with it. We took both of the boys for a walk and they did really well together. Harvey pooed in front of us for the first time. His poo is really quite a bit bigger than Bruce’s.

After that Amanda and I went to PetSmart to get a name tag for Harvey (along with a new food bowl and a water bowl with a jug attached to it) then we went to Target to get some odds and ends, including Knocked Up. We saw it in the theater, but we both wanted to get the DVD. Michael came over to meet Harvey. He hung out for a little bit then took off, so we watched Knocked Up.

Amanda and I both worried about being able to feel as much affection for Harvey as we do for Bruce. I mean, it’s ridiculous how much we love Bruce, and it’s hard to imagine giving a fair shake to another dog. He is really sweet though. He can already sit and possibly shake and I think he’s already crate trained.

Zach Dotsey