Only the two blind Huskies, Dusty and Mitch, weren't complaining about the 32° below zero temperature this morning. But even they, like the rest of us — animals and humans alike — were anxiously waiting for the sun to rise over the ridge to the east and begin warming things up a little.
Here's what the thermometer showed:
Yep, 32° below zero (-35° C). Working outdoors in this kind of cold "builds character," as my mother likes to say. (Alayne says I'm a "character" alright, but not necessarily in the positive way my mother meant.) Even with "Arctic" gloves on, I could only scoop poop for about 10 minutes before having to go inside to warm up frozen fingers. I finally switched to double-layered mittens to make it possible to do the barn chores, which take close to an hour to finish. Needless to say, by the time Alayne and I finally headed in, we felt like human icicles.
The dogs, for their part, do the three-legged tap dance in these temperatures. They'll stand outside, holding up one leg, then putting it down and picking up another one, as blind Priscilla is doing here:
They do this because the ground is so cold and they want to keep their feet off of it as much as possible. We put them out first thing in the morning just long enough to do their business, and then usher them back inside. Even Dusty and Mitch put their Husky hubris aside and were ready to head back in.
Today's high was minus 3°(-19°C) but tomorrow we're going back up to 3° above zero (-13°C) and all the way to 14° above zero (-10°C) on Thursday, so we're getting ready to put the Bermuda shorts back on!
—
Still No. 1 — But That Iowa Group Is Moving Up Fast!
Please keep voting for the ranch every
day in The Animal Rescue
Site/PetFinder's Shelter Challenge. Thanks
to your votes, we came in third nationwide and won $3,000 for the
animals in the previous contest earlier this year. Now we have a shot at No. 1 and the
$20,000 grand prize in the current contest! Enter
"Rolling Dog Ranch" and our state postal code, MT for Montana,
and it will bring up our listing so you can cast your vote. Please ask
your family and friends to vote, too.
You can see how fast the rankings can change, so we really need an
extra push in the last two weeks of the contest to hold that No. 1
spot. It ends on December 20th, so we're in the home stretch — and $20,000 for the animals is in sight! Thank you!
Rolling Dog Farm Blog 
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