There has been a post about Mercy, sharing her story. There has been a post about Rosie, sharing her story.

The 9 people who read my blog have spoken: they want to hear Stormy’s story. So, turn on the the wayback machine, step into the Delorean, warm up the flux capacitor, we are going back in time!

We bought this house in January, 2013. We weren’t married even 3 years yet; our first year of marriage we lived in a basement. The second year we lived in a townhouse. Taylor did not like the townhouse. She probably had merit in those thoughts. The carpeting was terrible.

I am not sure if it was from the new house, or from still being kinda newly married, or just because I am pretty stubborn about things, but we were bickering a bit. Small disagreements. We both wanted things a certain way in our new house, and men and women think a little differently on these things.

And that’s the power a dog can have: We stopped bickering. We focused on the dog a bit more than we focused on our own needs/wants. And there were many.

We both worked. The dog had to go on walks. We didn’t have a fence. The dog had to be let outside during our lunch breaks. There were thunderstorms. The dog had to be let inside.

And there were snowstorms. What do you do with the dog and the work and the snow shoveling then? I remember this day: stormy sat outside on that pile of snow for about 4 hours.

But back to Stormy’s adoption story. Taylor and I talked about a dog. Our friend Anna Lehnen knew all about dogs- I think her parents were breeders? But wither way, we went down to the Staunton pound, “just to look”. The website had a dog named Charlie that looked like a sweet dog, so Taylor and I went down to see him.

Charlie was gone. Of all the critters in that noisy kennel, there was one that was quiet. She stood on her back legs, and watched Taylor walk all around.

So we went home. Without the dog. But Taylor kept saying “I can’t stop thinking about that dog Shira”. You see, that was her pound-name. Shira.

So, we got her. it was October of 2013, and Stormy was 1 year old.

We stayed in that house less than 2 years. It was a great couple years- the federal government said that our income at the time was below the poverty line- but I didn’t feel like much was missing.

But something was missing. We were actually pretty sad during that time, trying for a couple unsuccessful years to get pregnant with Rosie. And Stormy was a delightful addition.

Ted and Deborah (Taylor’s parents) opened their doors for us to live there while Taylor was pregnant, with Stormy, while we looked for our first place in Greensboro.

Stormy made best friends with Jager. They were really an inseparable pair. In fact, to this day, the Register’s house is stormy’s happy place.

They were besties for 5 or 6 years, until Jager passed away. Even today, if Stormy hears the name, her ears perk up. Dogs are the best.

We got our first house in Greensboro.

We had a house; we had a dog; we had a kid. Stormy was living in her 4th place at this time:

• She was a puppy in the kennel. Maybe born there? Adopted by a family with small kids.
• Lived in a house with her first family. They named her Shira. Shame on them. She is obviously a stormy.
• The family surrendered Stormy back to the kennel. Shame on them. Never surrender!

Stormy had a best friend named Jager. And Rosie had a critter named Stormy to make her own.

There are dozens of these pictures.

Dogs are the best. Stormy is the best for what can be seen in this pic:

She loves to be AROUND people, but will always hang off to the side.

Anyways, time is running short here. We moved to our new house (the current one), putting stormy in yet ANOTHER place to call home.

Stormy was there to greet Mercy when she came home from the hospital too:

Ok, she isn’t 100% awesome. Stormy does have a flaw. This part isn’t in the pics, so you will have to take my word for it.

Stormy loves trash. Loves it. When we were walking in Harrisonburg, she would find any scraps on the side of the road. For some reason, there was always a chicken bone around and Stormy would find it.

I spanked her for getting in the trash in the kitchen. You know what her response was? Nothing. She did it again. For 5 years, then tay finally said “I don’t think it’s working.” Tay was right. It didn’t work. So we just had to get a garbage can that could lock.

There are so many pictures, it is hard to choose which ones tell the story the best. She is a good dog and has been great for the girls.

My only peeve is that she seems to ignore them. She won’t run and greet them, or kiss them (that may be a perk, that stormy doesn’t lick). Maybe this is because we had her before we had kids?

Stormy has a few more gray hairs than she did before. She doesn’t chase the squirrels as often as she once did. She is a great dog and I think the one thing that really absolutely makes her the happiest is a fall afternoon, when the weather is nice, and I am doing yard work. Stormy will just sit nearby, and move to be close enough, but not in the way. She will watch the people pass by on the street, and enjoy every moment “working” with me in the yard. Love her.