January 10, 2011

White Dog was not at all interested in running at the Park this morning; Steve kissed her in gratitude since the temperature was a mere 12 degrees. They took the extra time to make a nice hot oatmeal breakfast for all of us and steaming coffee for me.

Nuka napped all day under the computer desk, in front of the heating vent, her senior bones appreciating the blowing warmth.

The day's high was only to be 25 degrees F, terribly cold for where we live. The effects of these unusually cold past two months are obvious in the wilted cacti and burst pipes throughout town. At the shelter where Michael volunteers, they spent much of Saturday breaking ice in the water bowls of dogs and cats which are housed in unheated "stables."

Quinn seems to find the cold invigorating and comes back in doing zoomies to warm up. Both TOWD and WD have developed a shorter prebed walk route for the really cold nights. We are so glad that Puff has decided that being a house dog isn't so bad; when she first came to us she had spent the last several years as an all year round outdoor dog in Kansas. She seemed afraid of being inside and for weeks tried to find a nesting spot in the yard instead of sleeping indoors.

This weather has made us all more interested in cuddling...and in eating heartier foods. Everyone has enjoyed the increase in comfort food from my childhood traditions...meatloaf with mashed potatoes, paprikash, hunter stew, chicken goulash with dumplings, and thick dense soups, but we fear when things warm up we will be working extra hard to remove the additional insulation we are now packing around our waists to fight the cold.

All of this, Khyra, and no snow to show for it!