That pretty much sums up January.
The polar vortexes came in and gave us dangerously below normal temperatures then they went away and gave us normal temperatures with snow or above normal temperatures with rain. Then they came back and repeated the cycle. We had a -16 degree day (without the windchill) and a week later we had a 44 degree day. A week after that we had a 9 degree day. When I was younger I'd have loved this weather, but with my arthritis in my back these wild shifts have not been helpful. Also, the ice that forms over everything after you go from 44 degrees and rain to 20 degrees in a 24 hour period makes walking really hard when your back feet tend to go wherever they feel like no matter what you are telling them to do. I've had to wear my lifting harness and boots a few times and I've been wearing my coat and boots a lot. On the below zero days Mommy had me me wear socks under the boots. On the -16 day Mommy even wrapped a scarf around my ears so I wouldn't get frostbite on the tips. We got a lot of looks and honks and comments that day.
I refused my coat and boots one below zero morning and then, when we got about two houses down I was so cold I started shivering and picking up my feet and glaring at Mommy because it was all HER fault that I wasn't wearing the right clothes. When I smiled at her and dodged she should have chased me down, tackled me and forced my boots and coat on me and not just said, "Fine. Go out without your coat and boots and freeze."
We got about 17 1/2 inches of snow in one snow storm
It was so deep that when I tried to go out and potty in the backyard I fell and got stuck in the snow. Mommy had to shovel a path for me to a tree and then a big spot for me to poop in and another for me to turn around and head back to the door in. Even though she made that potty area for me I did mostly decided it was easier to poop in the house. Mommy was not pleased.
Because of the cold days Mommy got a couple days off work which was nice. I always like it when Mommy stays home because of bad weather because that means I get to walk as slow as I want in the morning and then we stay inside and there is a lot of snuggling in bed time.
The 19th of January was my Gotcha Day and would you believe it MOMMY FORGOT!!! I've been with her for 13 years and she FORGOT!! I didn't get any special treats or even a "Happy Gotcha Day" from Mommy. I had fallen out of bed the night before and landed really hard and Mommy spent my Gotcha Day rearranging the house so that our mattress is now on the ground and not on the box spring (Mommy took away the bed frame about a year ago so I could get in and out of bed easier).
The new bedroom arrangement
Little known fact: box springs can be used as bulletin boards
Since Mommy was so busy that day she bought a chicken at the grocery store and I always get a lot of meat from a store chicken on my meals and as treats so Mommy said that should count, but I don't think it did since she didn't know it was my Gotcha Day. So a few days later when Mommy realized she had forgotten she gave me extra treats and some more chicken that night and we celebrated then.
Finally this month a couple days after my FORGOTTEN Gotcha Day Mommy came home from work early. I was sound asleep in the bedroom and I didn't realize she had come home for about a half hour. When I woke up and heard noises in the other room I came out to see what it was and there was Mommy, but she smelled weird and she looked like she had been fighting with a big dog or something. I refused to come near her and say hi and I avoided her the whole rest of the day. She told me I was acting silly because she had only gone to the dermatologist to have a growth removed from her lip and they decided that two moles on her face had to be removed too. I didn't care. When I had to poop I refused to tell her and instead went into the puppy room (dining room) and pooped. Then later that night when Mommy tried to get me to go out in the backyard and potty I refused to go because I wouldn't walk past her while she held the doors open and it was too cold outside to leave the doors propped open for me. Instead I went into the bedroom pooped on the bed. After Mommy cleaned up the bed she went to sleep and I waited until she was asleep before I went into the bedroom and joined her in bed.
The next morning I got up and avoided her as soon as she woke up and then I refused to go outside again. A few minutes after Mommy gave up on getting me to go outside I snuck back into the bedroom and peed on my bed and pooped on hers. Mommy got mad at me and I got locked in the puppy room for the day. That night Mommy was allowed to take a shower and after she did she still looked kind of scary, but she smelled normal so I wasn't afraid of her anymore and we went back to being friends again. If she was smart she would have just rubbed her face against the couch
until the lip thing had fallen off and then we wouldn't have had all that drama.
