We decided after meeting him that Rocket was our dog. He was delivered Saturday afternoon following Travis’s birthday party.

Rocket (or “Rocky” as I like to call him) is a super-sweet dog. He’s a two year old black Lab, and a rescue dog as I mentioned before. He’s playful, strong as hell, loves exercise but is also quite content to snooze on the floor.
Kelly’s been taking him on afternoon runs and reports that he’s very well behaved around other people and dogs.

He is also quite attached to his humans and desperate to please them. He greets us with a friendly lick to the face and full-body hugs. And he cries when he gets put in his crate when we leave. Boy does he complain! This boy’s got a bark that will send shivers down your spine!

We’re still getting used to his mild snoring and snuffling at night, but on all accounts he’s a wonderful addition to our family!

Just looked out and saw a huge hawk sitting on the top of the Raleigh Times building. I’m used to seeing hawks near woods but this is the first I’ve seen downtown.

It was bigger than any other hawk I’ve seen. Didn’t seem to be a red-shouldered hawk or a Cooper’s hawk. I’ve got to check my bird book.

CrapCam pic courtesy of my officemate’s iPhone.

There have been days recently where I’ve felt like dancing down the sidewalk.

Today is not one of those days.

I was in a funk most of yesterday: Monday night I got some discouraging news about my new cholesterol results. Rather than improving after months of regular exercise and better eating my cholesterol has gotten slightly worse. Now I am facing medication. Is it the end of the world? Not by a long shot, but I assumed things would trend better and I’m puzzled when they did not.
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Every now and then we’ve talked about adding a dog to the family. We wanted to be sure the kids were ready for it, and that we had the home and yard that would support it. We had reached this comfort level about the time I got an email saying Lab Rescue of North Carolina was looking for foster homes for labrador retrievers. We checked out their website, found some dogs we were interested in, filled out their comprehensive application, and waited.

We got an interview call this weekend from one of the facilitators and was referred to a foster dog owner here in Raleigh. Another call Sunday night and we arranged to meet this dog. We prepped the kids beforehand, letting them know this might not be the right dog for us. They seemed to understand, though, and looked forward to the meeting.

Last evening, the dog and its foster parents came over. We watched as Rocket, a 2-year-old lab, explored the back yard and got to know us as we got to know him. The kids gleefully chased the dog around, patting him on the back and tossing sticks for him to “retrieve.” Rocket also seemed to feel at home inside, and before long was lounging on the floor and licking faces clean.

Kelly and I think Rocket might be our dog. We’re going to wait until tonight to share the news with the kids, maybe to give us more time to consider things. Getting a dog is a big commitment but one that should reward us for years to come. Judging by the looks on our kids’ faces its the right thing to do.

I got the tire fixed today that went flat Friday night. Turns out it was a tiny hairline cut at the base of the valve stem. Bizarre.

Glad we had road hazard coverage, since it was fixed for free.

Whoa! A B-2 Spirit stealth bomber just overflew my house. I sure hope there’s an airshow somewhere and “the bubble didn’t go up” while I was working in the yard!

Update: I forgot about RDU‘s open house of Terminal 2 today.

Had a flat tire on the way to Durham yesterday evening. A good test of bravery is to change a tire on the side of the Durham Freeway in the rain while cars zoom by at 70 MPH. I passed the test, but boy was I challenged! In another half hour I had the tire changed and actually made it to my appointment on time.

I looked the tire over thoroughly but couldn’t find any sign of a puncture or leak. I’m completely stumped.