Sumner Breezes In

As was mentioned back at the end of February, it has been a hard year since the loss of Roediger House mascot and sweet bundle of snug Cyprus. It is a breaking of the heart that was unlike any other loss in my life and it still catches me off guard. She was pretty awesome, and that's an understatement. I've heard it said that it can take a good year before a dog lover can move on when a much-favored pet passes. Turns out, that's true for me.

Blame the wild but adorable neighbor dog, Hambone, for putting serious cracks in my steely resolve not to have or fall in love with another dog, when he took temporary refuge here a few weeks ago. I could not get over the intensified feeling that there has been a huge hole in the heart of this house for a year now, and the only way to fill it is to welcome in a new addition to the family.

Say hello to Sumner, who arrived at the Roediger House today to take up residence. Like Cyprus, Sumner comes from the Animal Adoption and Rescue Foundation here in Winston-Salem. Last weekend, when Saturday afternoon had turned sunny and warm and bright, he was preciously stretched out in a grassy gated area at AARF, in all his blonde glory, intently mangling a rawhide, and effortlessly sold himself as the right guy for the job of bringing pet love back into the homestead. As of now, it's believed he's a whippet/lab mix but I'll have the DNA run on him when he makes his first vet visit. He's younger than I'd prefer, at about a year old, but I sure do look forward to his long and happy tenure here.

Within his first hour in his new domicile, he was already looking pretty happy and content. And so was I.

Oh, and he's a cover model, too: