Look what I found by the side of the road.

Well, not this exact little fella, but one that looks much like it. Minus a collar, so we had no way of knowing where he lived. Plus a super-friendly wagging tail and the sweetest little black eyes you've ever seen. He was standing in the road and wouldn't move, and when I stopped he ran under my car. I opened my door...and pop - inside.

I drove up and down the country road, looking for missing posters and hoping to come upon his owners, but no such luck. "Daddy's gonna kill me," I muttered.

"Can we keep him?" the boys asked.

"We need to find his people," I said. Hopefully we will. But honestly, we used to live near where we found him and it's a notorious site for people to dump dogs. I can't tell you how many strays came up to our door when we lived there.

"Is Daddy really going to kill you?" Little J asked, wondering, no doubt, how Daddy would murder Mommy. Note to self: stop saying things like 'Daddy is going to kill me.' I assured him that Daddy wasn't going to hurt me, just that he'd be really annoyed...

"We'll put up signs," I said. There's also a county-wide listserv where I could post, I thought, plus I can call the vets...but he's really darling and you know what? I hope he can stay. He's so cute. And so little! My kids are calling him Pepper.

And yes, my husband was really annoyed. But he also went to the store to buy dog food, so maybe?