A hunker down week has begun

It was snowing overnight Sunday, with a dusting accumulated by morning.  It continued actively but lightly falling all day.  Ember went out and froze like a pointer with her eyes on a squirrel who was atop the far fence.

We had only one "middle of the night" trip outside, about midnight, and I got up about an hour early to let her go explore that new snowfall.

I can tell she's feeling better, but also that it's the fourth day she's been cooped up with "just me".  As such I can tell she really needs more people and other dogs!  

We played indoor fetch down the stairs, and she got bored.  She begged to go out into the garage, and in the afternoon, we drove out to get Dexter's tank filled.  Coffee and a dog biscuit treat completed the trip, and after supper, as though she has a clock in her head, she hopped off the couch and trotted into her crate for her pre-last call quiet time.

While she chilled there, her hu-mom went out and did the first session of shoveling.  I estimated there was about two inches of new snow at that point in time.  

I did all three sections of the sidewalk, but with fingers ready to freeze, did not clear the steps or the driveway.  I'll save that for tomorrow.  Hopefully we won't have a lot more overnight.

Monday morning my personal trainer texted that he was cancelling his sessions for Tuesday, due to the predicted extreme cold (we're under a warning from the weather service), and I texted back I'm thinking cancel the whole week for me... it's a "hunker down and survive" week.  Between the interruptions to sleep and fretting over Ember's tummy troubles, plus not being able to even see what her poos are like in the snow. We'll take it one day at a time.  

I did do a sleep on the couch "just in case" again on Monday night, and when I got up to potty a bit after midnight, offered her an outing in the sparkly night.  The moonlight, streetlights, and snow still fresh from Monday made it so.  The contrast of dark dog and bright snow was magical, but it was cold so I did not stay out for the whole time, preferring to start unloading the dishwasher.  When Ember came back in, we snuggled on the couch for a bit before I put her back into her safe den (crate) and came up to my own bed.

Tuesday morning BRRRR!

Would you believe minus 9, Fahrenheit?  Yep!  Nobody wants to be outside.  Ember came back in promptly and curled up on the couch.  She didn't even beg for her normal "threshold" spot.  Nonetheless, when it came time to go to daycare, she was OK with putting on the harness and getting in the car... OK, I played a game of "chase the broom" to get her into the car.  But she seemed happy to see her greeter and headed back to the daycare area without complaint.  

At home, the emboldened kitty sniffed around the dog toys.  The Prisoner doesn't want much to do with the outside, either.  

I vacuumed, shifted furniture, did laundry... you know, the usual housekeeping chores I prefer to do when the dog is out of the house.  So she won't, you know, chew up the dryer vent outside if it's puffing steam out.  

The weather man says we might get more snow this afternoon, so I'm planning a dash to the grocery store before I go back to collect my canine fur-baby.

Wednesday morning arrives

Still frigid out there.  Mr. Weather Man says we are likely to break the record low temperature overnight Wednesday night. Brrrr!   

I slept the first half of the night on the couch again and got up about midnight and took Ember out in the backyard for a bonus trip, then spent the rest of the night in my own bed.  Didn't waken until after 5 a.m.  The adventure of the overnight was "losing" my keys.  Being old enough to know better, I looked only in a couple of spots, told myself I knew I had them when I laid down on the couch, and I'll find them in the morning.  Which I did.  They had fallen out of my sweatpants pocket onto the floor under the couch.  Seeing Ember sniffing in that spot found them.  Good Girl!

I woke up congested, so it was a slow start to the day.  Ember was very nice to me, not going crazy, obediently coming when called, and playing mostly quietly.  She kind of turned up her nose at "indoor fetch" and we played "gentle tug" and then did a couch puppy watch of an old Murder, She Wrote episode before I fixed my own breakfast.

I started feeling a bit better.  Ember was sitting with an expectant gaze at the garage door, so we went on a quick store run.  She was pretty good about getting into the car.  I think she was hoping for another daycare day, but this was not it.  I picked up a new toy for her to destroy at the store.  I let her play with it for a while, before calling crate time.  Then I gave her the "thank you" cue, to give me back the toy.  I picked up and discarded the non-food bits she had already chewed off it. The toy is not wholly destroyed just yet, so I put it away for later.

She's getting better and better all the time at manners.  She recognizes when her mouth is on my hand and lets up on the pressure or lets it go easily.  She's even getting better about some distractions.  The weather is not freaking her out as much.  Methinks my puppy is growing up.

Now I'm heading for a bit of a nap myself!  Hope you have a good mid-week, all.  Stay safe and warm, best you can.

Life is good.  Spark on!