Pets At Home

Our weather has been so very cold, snowy, icy and windy that I let the dogs out only for short periods. I try to do it often, but no dog wants to stay outside for long in the brutal cold. Fergus enjoys his time outside, but quickly wants back in:

Other than having to go outside, they live a lazy, warm, comfy life:

Clover and Daphne get cold much faster than the two dogs with the thick Poodle hair:

And as soon as they're back inside, they huddle together to warm up:

We've had much more snow since this photo was taken - snow, in fact, nearly every day and it's piled up to amazing depths. There are now snowbanks alongside the driveway seven and eight feet high. Yesterday brought us what was called "freezing fog" and everything is now coated with a white matte finish. That's why I let the dogs back in quickly:

Upstairs in my bedroom, Dixie the Guinea Pig stays warm and comfortable on a bed of clean pine shavings:

And Dixie's neighbor, Chirpy the Parakeet, keeps her company:

These fleecy dog beds get tumbled in the dryer every morning. It helps me keep them relatively clean, and a dryer sheet helps them smell better:

Old Snoozey is the only "floor cat" of my five. The other four are climbers and prefer to be up on something. Poor old Snoozey gets less petting as a consequence of not being at eye level. So I try to remember to seek him out for a little attention, which he surely enjoys:

I should amend my comment on the first photo to say that gigantic Seamus, with his sheep-like wool, seems almost immune to the cold. Unlike the other dogs, he'd stay outside in the coldest of weather: