Baby, It's Cold Outside...

My house is warm. Very warm. Occasionally, we even have to open a window to cool off, and this is no small statement when it's 30 below outside.  Nate and I were sitting on the couch tonight, trying to decide what our plans were going to be this Friday evening. The conversation went as follows:

Nate- "What do you want to do tonight?"
Me- "I dunno. What do you want to do?"
Nate- "I dunno. That's why I asked you."
Me- "Do you want to do something out of the house?"
Nate- "Uh uh. It's cold out there."
Me- (Laughing) "It's the warmest day we've had all week! It's only negative 10!"
Nate- "Only.  I think I'll read for a while."
Me- "I'll fix dinner."

I'm fine with this. I'd rather stay in anyway, but we do manage to find entertainment within the house, and by entertainment, I mean the dogs.

It may sound like animal cruelty to some, but if you've never watched a dog go outside to do its business in sub-zero temps...it's a sight to see.  Our dogs are small (8-15 lbs) so they scurry a lot. They run the house, have taken over the bed and pretty much do as they please. Kahne was an only child for four years and lived with his Nana and Poppy (My Mom and Dad) for a few months, so he's definitely the most spoiled dog on the planet. As I'm typing this he is laying beside me, running in his sleep, no doubt chasing that piece of roast beef at Nana's house.

Anyway, the dogs are housetrained (of course...Ick if they weren't) and so we let them into the backyard to go potty.  Last week, during the ice storm, the back steps and sidewalk turned into their own personal skating rink.  They absolutely cracked us up. One would run into the other while sliding down the steps and it would result in a horrendous crash and pile of pups.  It took Sadie all week to get her bearings on the ice. Now that the snow is back on the ground and the temps have dropped, it's like pulling teeth to even get them to go outside.  When we finally force them to go out, they run straight down the steps, potty and come straight back. 

All that being said, Kahne has a ritual.  He cannot simply go outside and poop. He has to dance first. This dance consists of squatting, taking about ten steps to the left, shuffling his feet, ten steps to the right, still shuffling, giving up and taking a lap around the yard, then squatting and repeating the shuffling process.  When he's finally ready, he shuffles forward for about five steps until he's found the perfect spot, then graces us with what we like to call the "stop, pop, and drop."

Since the temps have dropped, Kahne has had to shorten his dance. He has decided that in an effort to spend as little time outside as possible, he will simply not go at all.  My poor child will hold it until he is shaking in order to avoid going out.  Eventually, we have to put his shoes on him so he can go out and dance without freezing his paws off.  Did I mention that he's a little sensitive??  After the dance, we now have to wrap him in a blanket and hold him for 30 mins to an hour...until he feels better...before he will get up and play.  My spoiled child.

All of this has become a source of amusement for us.  Of course, we baby them, but we laugh the entire time. With each new type of weather we rush downstairs in the morning to let them out and see how they will react.  They never disappoint us.