My First Winter Storms

A blog post by Josiah, the chillin’ Yorkie puppy

Wow, wow, wow! I just went through my first winter storms. Two storms in a row. That’s a lot of winter packed into one long week. It sure has been chilly. Let me tell you how I weathered those storms.

On the first storm weekend, the cold front monster called his cousin, the ice storm monster, to come and visit. Yikes! I’ve never felt so chilly outdoors. But Miss Janet worked really hard to keep me warm indoors.

The day before the ice storm, Miss Janet was busy piling up blankets, storing water, and rearranging furniture. She put my giant human/dog bed in the big closet, closed the door, and said that room was for emergency only. With a heating vent and no windows, the big closet is the warmest room in our home.

People were coming and going, bringing heaters, a sleeping bag, and working on ways to keep us warm if the power went out. Our power has gone out before, and it gets quiet, dark, and slightly chilly for a few hours. Miss Janet said this time, power could go out for a longer time and be a lot colder inside. Yikes! While I didn’t want to be super cold, I had fun visiting with all the people that stopped by. I love playing with visitors.

I could tell Miss Janet was very nervous and stressed. So I tried to be on my best behavior. She made me a cozy area in my playpen with a double-decker bed, fleece blanket, and a blanket roof! I settled right in and figured the best way I could help was to take a nap.

The ice storm arrived late at night. Miss Janet watched the weather forecast, listened and looked out the windows, and took me for my pre-bedtime walk right before the storm arrived. Bedtime was a little different because she put my crate right next to her bed so we could share body warmth. She kept two blankets on standby, one for inside my crate and one to partially cover my crate if needed.

We slept a really long time. Normally I sleep eight hours overnight, but this time we slept 10 hours because Miss Janet wanted to be sure people were up on the farm before we ventured outside in the ice storm. She felt safer knowing people were around. As an eight-month-old puppy, I showed her I can easily sleep longer than eight hours now. She said that has the potential to change her entire life!

Miss Janet wrapped me up in my winter jacket, and we went outside. Wow, again! The whole world was covered with ice. I love eating ice cubes. It looked like the ice storm monster had dumped a giant bucket of ice cubes everywhere, and they all stuck together.

I had never walked on ice cubes before, but I figured it out pretty quickly. I slid a little bit, but it was kind of crunchy and squishy, so mostly I could walk through it. I left huge paw prints.

I picked up an ice cube to chew while I was walking. The icy ground was very cold but so pretty. The short pine tree had its needles covered with ice. The tree was bent over because the ice was so heavy.

We didn’t stay out too long. Our home felt nice and toasty when we got back inside. Miss Janet put a tiny amount of doggy coconut oil on my paws to keep them from getting too dry. I love the smell of coconut oil and wanted to lick my paws. She said I couldn’t lick for five minutes, so she just held me still while I stretched and squirmed. It was good exercise.

I spent some time napping in my playpen. Miss Janet set up half my playpen for staying warm and the other half for cooling off, in case I got too hot. While I get easily chilled outdoors, as an eight-month-old Yorkie puppy, I know how to regulate my temperature indoors. I’ve learned that when my cozy dog bed gets too warm, I can flip it over to the cooler side. I love having choices.

When I woke from my nap, I sat on a blanket on the couch with Miss Janet and played with my favorite chew toy. Our power stayed on, and Miss Janet kept saying thank you to God. I could tell she was really grateful. I was grateful too. I love cozy chillin’ in my playpen. I don’t love the other kind of chillin’ when the heat doesn’t work.

The storm lasted the whole day. Normally we go outside for a walk and playtime every three hours. Miss Janet switched it to five hours so we wouldn’t be out in the cold too much. I showed Miss Janet I could handle the new schedule. I didn’t whine or get restless. At eight months old, I can chill just like a grownup dog.

In the middle of the storm, trees started dropping their branches. I could hear them falling. When we went outside, we hugged the house so nothing would fall on top of us. I saw branches all over the yard.

The power stayed on the whole time, but the next morning our heater went out. The indoor temperature dropped to 65, which is perfectly comfortable for a pup like me, but I could tell Miss Janet felt chilled. I was perfectly content in my double-decker dog bed inside my playpen. Thankfully, the heater just needed a breaker reset and we were toasty warm again.

The sun came out and melted some of the ice. I got to walk a little bit farther and jumped over some of the fallen branches. The short pine tree stood up straighter as the ice melted from its needles.

Miss Janet wouldn’t let me walk in the meadow. She was worried about the power line overhead. She said if it still had ice on it, things could go wrong and we shouldn’t be near it.

I’m glad Miss Janet knew not to walk near the power line. The next morning, when the coldest night was over and the sun was bright, that power line went Pow! And our power went out. I’m glad we weren’t in the meadow when that thing blew up. Some really nice people from the power company came out and fixed it. Miss Janet said they are heroes, bringing heat back whenever it goes out.

The next day was calm with lots of sunshine, indoor heat, and melting ice. The backyard was still half frozen. Miss Janet found a walking path for us that didn’t have ice. We zigzagged through the yard. But I enjoyed walking on the ice right next to her path. It was cool and fun. And I’m a chillin’ pup.

I even got to visit my favorite elm tree and catch up on all the scents in the moss. The elm tree had patches of ice near the trunk, but my mossy area was clear. The elm tree only dropped a few tiny branches that I immediately investigated. It’s a sturdy old tree, and I’m glad it’s doing well.

Just when everything had melted and the ice storm monster disappeared, a new monster came along the very next weekend. This time, it was a snow storm monster. I’m not sure I like having so many winter monsters visit so often. They really should give us a break between their visits.

The snow was pretty cool. I liked it better than the ice. I got to walk in my first snowfall. The snow was very quiet and gentle as it drifted down from the sky. It landed all over my face. I liked how my paw print trail looked so pretty in the snow. But it sure got cold and windy at night.

Miss Janet and I were very grateful and glad the power and heat stayed on through both winter storms. I’ll be even more glad when these chilly monsters stop visiting and spring comes back!

Woofs and warmies,

Josiah