Senior Family Analyst Adelaide

Adelaide Macaroni Padgett is a puppy, specializing in sleep and play. She is author of The Perils of White Puppies in New England and Growling at Windmills. Her series for this blog, "From the Floor," strives to provide a commonplace-if not subaltern-view of newsworthy events.

Pembroke, NH--Let me tell you about life in my neighborhood. It's winter right now, so their are far fewer motorcycles shaking our street with their noise so that they can "enjoy the nature." In their place, we have have the guy that likes to scrape every single piece of ice from his driveway either late at night or early in the morning. There's also a guy that appears in a bright pink truck to gas up our house once a month. I give him a really hard time.

I've got two furry neighbors. Katie lives across the street. She's hip and always excited to see me. Sam is the bulldog next door. I actually haven't met him yet, but I see him come and go. He looks pretty nice, but I'm positive that I can outrun him. There are actually ten more dogs at the other house across the street. The city doesn't know about those dogs ($6 annual fee per dog), so I won't reveal their identities here.

My house has a backyard where I chase tennis balls. For a small puppy, the yard is huge. Our road has a loop where we take some walks. Other dogs leave messages along the path. I leave some messages of my own. I also enjoy several of the local parks and the state park hiking paths, where I am allowed as long as I am leashed. The other field trip we occasionally make is to the "Exchange." We load up a bunch of junk that we don't need (like boxes) and hike down to Suncook Village. This moustached guy in a yellow shirt looks at us like we don't belong and points to the biggest box I've ever seen. We put our boxes in that box. Though we call it an exchange, we don't really get anything back for our boxes. Except maybe for that funny look from the yellow-shirted gentleman.

For now, I've got to stay inside. It's cold outside, and there is snow everywhere. I can't wait for warmer weather--though I remember that bringing on the slush, the mud, and the blackflies. It doesn't matter; some of my favorite times are when we have visitors come and visit. We've had several people over this month, and the calendar reveals that several more are on their way (including my fellow curly-haired friend Wendy).

A Few Notes

On the picture: This is the Padgett Manor amidst the first snow storm of this winter. There is much more snow on the ground now. Anyone interested in owning a beautiful and spacious New England bungalow? Since we're talking real estate, why does the concept of a "bonus room" automatically make me think of pinball machine going nuts with lights and arpeggiating sounds?

On the domain name: It seems that there has been a lot of blogspot-squatting going on. Of course, I've come to this pretty late in the game. Our domain name is supposed to be read as "The 'A's Have It." The reason: All of our names start with the letter A. Austin, Anna, and Adelaide (the puppy). It's hokey; I admit it.

On the upcoming week: I might be going to the New Hampshire State House to sit in on the hearings for a bill proposing mandatory seat belt requirements. If you don't know, the state's motto is "Live Free or Die." I'll try to let you know what I've learned about these people in future posts. It's a funny place to live--and I don't really mean "ha-ha funny." For now, rest assured that Anna and I always exercise our right to wear our seat belts.

Greetings and Catching Up

Greetings. We've joined the ranks and have started a "family blog." We're hoping that you'll feel updated after visiting. I'll make every attempt to boil down every post to a single, Doogie Howser-ian truth, but I make no promises.

I'm using my first post to get you, my reader, up to speed on our lives so far. For the sake of your time, I've created a few categories that may help you:

If we haven't spoken in a few days/weeks: My car died a brutal death, but it has been resurrected by the local dealership with the help of some money.

If we haven't spoken in a few months: Padgett Manor is on the market. We are trying to sell our house in one of the worst markets in recent history. As you may or may not know, I've accepted a position at a firm in Cincinnati, OH. We shall soon move. Also, my car recently died; it's been taken care of.

If we haven't spoken in a couple of years: We live in New Hampshire now. I'm finishing up my third year of law school. We bought a house here (widely known as "Padgett Manor" or "Old Man Padgett's"), but it is currently on the market. 'We will move to Cincinnati after graduation, so we're hoping it will sell soon so I may buy a new car. Mine recently died, but it's been taken care of.

If we haven't spoken in 3-5 years: Anna and I both moved to Cincinnati. We tied the knot in 2005 and immediately got Adelaide (our puppy). After I finished my MM course work (thesis on Elgar), we moved to New Hampshire for law school. We moved into a house, but we're currently trying to sell it in preparation for our move back to Cincinnati. We also hope to soon replace my car, which recently died. But it's been taken care of.

If we haven't spoken in 5+ years: Forget everything you knew about us and catch up with the above descriptions. Things are going well with the Padgetts, save for my car. It recently died, but it's been taken care of.

From here, we will start posting on some of the milestones and trivial events of our short time on this planet. Put us on your Google Reader or other blog subscription service, and keep in contact with us.