More Cold Stories

So you're gonna keep hearing stories about the cold until, well at least until it stops being insane-clown level of cold. At 11:45am weather.com is reporting the official temp at -3, with a wind chill index of -19, and it ain't even that windy today. But there are a few cold related stories (since it's dominating our lives right now) to pass along.

We had our first cold related equipment failure, the doggy door that leads from the mud room to the outside world. On Monday morning, with the mercury in the negative double digits, Alycia informed me that the door "wasn't quite working right". Mind you this was at 6:45 in the morning and her eloquence and my mental cognition were both worlds away from optimum functioning. After some mutual clarification, I went out to check the door, and gave it one gentle nudge with my foot, and watched as the door snapped off the upper plastic flashing with my second nudge.

It was so cold, that the malleable plastic door had become a slab of hardened polymer goodness and couldn't swing more than a couple inches from perpendicular. My foot nudge (which I can assure you gentle reader, was gentle) pushed it a few inches to far and it pulled the flashing off from the top where the door hangs.

Verily I sprang into action since we couldn't have a gaping hole into the mudroom from outside. So I fashioned a makeshift door from three eye hooks mounted into the door, three of those ring things that you use to hold note cards, and an old towel. Calling it deliciously ghetto would be an understatement. I'll let the picture below speak for itself.
We have Alycia's Mom, aka The High Priestess of Craftiness, at work on a more permanent fabric covering. I don't think that the plastic door is going to be able to remain during the winter, so we're going to abandon it for a heavy fabric one instead.

Our second cold related failure was Shaak Ti, who finally had to give up on walking due to cold toes. On Monday afternoon we only made it to the park (just a few blocks away) before she stopped and picked up her feet, unable to go on even though she had her sweater on. Since then she hasn't been able to go more than a half a block before being done, afflicted with cold toes. I have gotten some good exercise carrying her though, since as soon as she stops I have to carry her back home. We already have an assortment of sweaters and jackets for her, but we need some doggie booties, we'll pick some up this weekend. Now whether or not she lets us put them on her, that's another story. Stay tuned.