Sam

Sam is our dog.

We've had him for about two months.

I was still at school when we first got him and tried to decide on a name. Of course the matter of the name was a BIG deal. We all wanted our ideas to be considered and we all wanted something different. Julia wanted a "Human name," I wanted one that wasn't a name of someone or something we already knew, Mitchell wanted anything Spencer didn't want, and Spencer wanted Jeberkiah. We went all over the place trying to decide. I'd get a new text with about ten different names every five minutes. Finally I got the text. All it said was "Sam."

I'm not much of a dog person, but, believe it or not, when I came home for the first time when Sam was there I actually played with him for a bit. He's a good dog.

He found the right family, that's for sure. These few stories prove it.

Story #1:
Mitchell climbed into Julia's bedroom window and left the screen on the ground outside. Sam got a hold of it. When Spencer went outside to find a missing cord he came back and said, "I found the screen, but not the cord. Sam chewed up the screen and then hid it under his blanket." He was ashamed of what he had done and figured the best hiding place was under a blanket. Yep, he's a Goodworth.

Story #2:
About a week after setting up a shock collar so Sam couldn't get into the garden, my dad was so impressed with how well Sam had learned. He was so excited that he removed the shock collar and called it good. However, that weekend Spencer saw dog prints in the garden. Sam went back to his old ways.  When Mitchell went to put the collar back on and make sure it worked he discovered that Sam had dug up all of the wires around the garden. He did all he could to get out of that pain. Yep, he's a Goodworth.

Story #3:
One morning I woke up to see the sprinklers in the back yard were on. I figured someone had turned them on and they'd make sure to turn them off. However, after talking to everyone I realized that no one had turned them on. This happened again two other times that week. I honestly think it was Sam. He could have figured it out, after all, he's a Goodworth.

Sam doesn't always get fed. With so many people running around we just assume someone else did it. But, sometimes he gets over fed. With so many people running around we just assume no one else did it. Like I said before, I'm not much of a dog person, but Sam will do. :)

Stewart.

Once upon a time (two summers ago) in a land not too far from here (my house, actually) I sat in bed reading. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a winged creature flutter by.

Something you readers must understand is that I have a terrible fear of moths. And that is what I thought the winged thing was. I called out for Whitney and she came running to my rescue. After we took a closer look at the bug and realized he wasn't a moth we of course had to name him. And so we chose the name Stewart.

Stewart was a different type of bug, one we'd never seen before. He flew very slowly and almost appeared to have wings all around his body. We grew fond of him. But when we woke up the next morning Stewart was gone. Never to be seen again.

Until, that is, last night.

Whitney was home and we were sitting at the counter. I was writing a letter, she was on the phone, and my mom was making rice crispie treats. Spencer walked by and freaked out about something. A bug, he said. When I looked up and saw the bug I was so excited! STEWART WAS BACK!!!!

Not even a minute later my mom whacked him with a fly swatter.

And that was the end of Stewart. :(