The Chill Factor
It is so cold here now 18 degrees as I type, that even the barn cats have abdicated the hay barn and taken shelter in the house. Cleo amazed me last night- fourteen years living outside and last night, I opened the back door to go feed the horses, and this manx-cross darted inside! He spent a very nervous night by the back door. I finally just got an old laundry basket and filled it with soft rags. He slept there till this morning and when I just now got up, he was anxiously pacing to go outside. Last night we dipped down into the single digits. 
The horses are confined to their stalls. Racer is about lamed up from trying to navigate all the sharp, icy ground. I need to call Clint today and see if he can fit in a trim soon, or Racer will be lame. So for right now, mom is a mean mom and they stay in their soft cushy, sandy stalls. The worst problem right now is water. All the outside lines have frozen. We are keeping the inside lines running by leaving the bathroom faucet on a small trickle. But it sucks having to carry water to the barn for the horses. No easy way to do it, and by morning what we have hauled that they haven’t already drank is frozen solid. Mike tried to help me last night to haul water, but of course he fell. I wish he understood years ago the toll diabetes takes on the body. I guess that is why they call it the silent killer. The people who have it don’t “feel” sick. His saving grace was he fell in a pile of just removed horse manure so it was warm and soft.
It is so strange to still see snow outside. Thought we left Alaska ten years ago?
Chloe is doing great until bedtime. She simply will not go into her cage. I had to lift her in there last night. It broke my heart to do it. She just hates being confined. Living on a chain as a puppy, and then in a concrete kennel for the remainder of her life till she came here, took a toll on her spirit. She even had a hot dog in her bed last night, and this morning it still remained uneaten. She is right next to Lei and I almost let her sleep in Lei’s cage with Lei last night. But, they are still alpha-sparring with their teeth and I didn’t think that would be wise.
Well time for coffee and work- three articles due in 30 days. Need to call Mark today and get some contact information on that one memorial quilt-