October 26, 2012

White Dog huddled closer to me, nesting deeper into the blankets. Puff and Oso were snuggled side-by-side in the corner surrounded by pillows. In the other room, Quinn and Nuka shared the closet space. Only YoYoMa, curled up like a sled dog with tail over nose slept with his back against the outside wall. It was COLD in the house!

All of the states north of us have been blanketed in snow and were pushing cold air down into our happy little desert. To the East, a Frankenstorm was being predicted to bring cold and snow to much of that half of the country.

Steve got up to walk with YAWD and came back to rummage in his dresser. "It is only 40 degrees!" he complained. (When we first moved to NM 15 years ago from Chicago, we used to laugh at a reactions like this and Steve mockingly wore shorts and t-shirts well into January...times change). He was looking for his ski gloves and his earband.

The windows have been closed for a while now and the doors no longer stand inviting the weather into our house from morning til night, but we have been happy with just the touch of warmth cooking dinner adds and sunpuddles through the windows provide. In other words, we have not vacuumed the ductwork, cleaned the filters, shut down the swampcooler vents or fired up the furnace yet.

The White Dog Army stretched and moaned about the temperature, but not a single White Dog was willing to change our fun Friday-Is-Saturday plans in order to get the house warmer. "That is what blankets are for," Puff in her new blue sweatshirt concluded as she dug into the dog blankies by the hearth. We will see how everypup feels if the weather stays cold.