We have a new addition to the family. Say Hello to Hank.

Hank, originally uploaded by partiallyblind.

Joshua has always wanted a Basset Hound ever since he was a little boy, and though I'm not much for close encounters of the slobbery kind, I also think that such a good man deserves to get what he wants out of life now and again. Now don't get me wrong, I love dogs. I'm just not the biggest fan of the slobber that gets flung and dripped and dragged all over the place with the floppy-faced ones. The dogs I've loved most in my life were the relatively neat-faced ones that never slimed me or the furniture and never stunk up the house. But just look at that face. It can melt even the iciest of Cruella De Vil hearts.

We took him to the vet yesterday (with fingers crossed) to get him up to date with his shots and make sure he didn't have any major health issues. The woman at the shelter told us he seemed to have a bit of a cold, and the vet confirmed that he did have a bit of an upper respiratory infection (which is not uncommon in sheltered animals). We walked out of there with one helluva vet bill and a 10-day supply of puppy anti-biotics, de-worming medication, and a six-month supply of flea treatment and heartworm pills. So other than the green projectile snot coming out of his nose, he's a perfectly healthy hound. Funny how since I'm not a huge fan of doggie face fluids, I've been given one helluva sneezing, wheezing snot factory to fall in love with. The Universe is quite the little prankster, and silly little me has fallen for it. Snot, slobber and all.