A funny thing happened on the way to New Hampshire. Our Montana-hardy dogs turned into a bunch of complete weather wusses. For dogs who were used to frequent outbreaks of sustained sub-zero temperatures all winter long, they now act as if they'd just moved here from Florida. It's like 20° above (-6 C) has become the new 20° below (-29 C). When I took that photo this morning, it was 16° and they'd been out for just a few minutes … but by the way they were trying to get back inside, you'd think we'd abandoned them on an ice floe in the Arctic Ocean.
That's blind Cedar and blind and deaf Spinner closest to the door; the blind Poodle sisters had been there, too, but turned when they heard me come up with the camera. That's blind Madison behind Molly. Back at the ranch in Montana, Cedar would happily be wandering the yard at Widget's House in a raging snowstorm, seemingly oblivious to the elements, and we'd have to go out and bring him inside. Now we have to peel him off the door. As for Spinner … you might think a blind and deaf dog wouldn't be able to communicate much, but she sits at the door and howls to be let inside … starting approximately 45 seconds after being put outside.
How they do this weekend will be interesting to see, because we're finally going to get a taste of some Montana-style winter — Sunday night is forecast to be -19°. I suspect the dogs will be saying, "Hey, we're from Orlando, not Ovando!"
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