Merlin dog!

My parents just got a new dog!

After our old dog Carmen passed away at age fourteen, my mom has really missed having a dog around the house, and she finally determined she was going to get another one. She decided she didn't want a puppy with all the accompanying puppy behaviors, so she thought it might be nice to find a rescue dog, who would be slightly older and in need of a good home. We'd had wonderful experiences with Brittanys because of Carmen, so she thought they might get a similar type of dog. So she contacted the Mid-Atlantic English Springer Spaniel Rescue Service and they connected her and my dad with a sweet, energetic six-or-seven-year-old boy that they just brought home yesterday. They went to meet him yesterday, saying they would get to know him a bit and decide if he was the right dog for them, and it turned out that they loved him, so he is now our newest animal family member. They didn't know what his real name was at the rescue and had given him some placeholder name, so Mom decided to call him Merlin. She always wanted a dog named Merlin. :-)
 

( Picture of Merlin behind the cut. )



They say he's very obedient, always looking to someone for direction, though they think as he gets more used to his new home he'll be a lot bolder. He particularly loves my brother. He likes chasing balls but doesn't like to give them up once he's caught them. I wish I could meet him, but it will probably be a long time before I get a chance to visit home again. My parents, particularly my mom, are very happy with him, so I am very happy they've found him.

Kitchen cart!

Yesterday I bought myself this lovely kitchen cart. I've always wanted to get one, and now that the house is getting reordered for the new year, I finally decided to go for it. It can act as mobile counter space, something sorely lacking in the kitchen at Elsinore, and the built-in cabinet makes for a bit of extra storage space. I want to tuck it under the window next to the door in the kitchen and pull it around with me when I need it for cooking. I've been calling it a "rolling butcher block," but that's not exactly accurate. It would have to have the big thick wooden chopping block on it in order to qualify as that, and as much as I would like to have one like that, they were all out of my price range. But I'm very happy with the piece I bought. It wasn't terribly expensive for what it is and got very high reviews on the website. I'm really looking forward to having the extra workspace wherever I need it in the kitchen.