Heat stealing dog
Growing up in Arizona , I
have never appreciated the cold Kansas
winter. Seriously, I could do without winter all together. Spring and summer
work for me all year long.
So, it’s no surprise to my family when I drag that little
space heater out when temps start getting below 50 degrees. Yeah, I guess I am
a wimp when it comes to cold weather. But I challenge anyone to a heat contest.
Lol!
My favorite thing about winter
I remember the days of my youth. Growing up in what I call a
boy’s paradise. I have often regaled my children with stories of my childhood
and the area I grew up in. I lived in the desert, about two miles outside a
tiny town in southeast Arizona .
There were hills behind my house and a river in front of my house. All summer
long I would leave my house shortly after dawn and spend the day hiking,
hunting, fishing, swimming, etc. I grew up really enjoying the outdoors and the
warm summer weather.
After moving to Kansas
at 16 years old I quickly found that the winter here is frigid! I’m talking below
zero! For days! Sometimes weeks! What do people do when it gets that cold? They
go outside! No kidding! Native Kansans are used to these blistering cold
winters and they embrace them. They break out the snow sleds and have a ball.
I’ve seen people attach a rope to the back of a truck and sit on an old car
hood that they had removed and hold on to the rope and go sledding around town.
They have really made an art out of enjoying this cold stuff.
I really don’t blame them. If you are going to live in it,
you might as well enjoy it. And I try to enjoy it. I go sledding. I go sliding
around on frozen lakes and ponds. I’ve tried ice fishing. One thing remains the
same through all of it. I am constantly thinking “Wow, it’s cold!” I just do
not enjoy the cold like the rest of the people I am with.
So here I sit, inside, next to my little space heater,
waiting for April to roll around.
Just waiting for Spring
Just like two children fighting for the attention of a
parent, I have an adversary fighting for the heat from my little heater. My dog
Angus is wimpier than I am when it comes to cold. He was born and raised in Kansas but he doesn’t
like the cold any more than I do. He has actually learned how to cover himself
up with a blanket! He will drag the blanket out from the basket it is sitting
in, hold it in his mouth, walk around in a circle to wrap it around him and
then he crawls under it until only his head is stick out. Then he looks around
at everyone and pulls the blanket up over his head! Ha ha! On really cold
morning I find a crumpled up blanket in the floor and my dog is no where to be
seen. When he hears me I see the crumpled up blanket move as he starts to slink
out from under it.
He IS under there...
The space heater has three switches on it. You have to throw
all three switches to get the best heat output. These switches make a profound
“click” when thrown.
So I come into the living room and see the crumpled blanket
in the floor. I quietly and cautiously carry the heater from its little spot in
the corner. I set it down near where I will be sitting. Even though I try to be
quiet I see the crumpled blanket start moving. I sit down near the heater and
throw the first switch… “CLICK”. Angus pops his head out from the blanket!
Did I hear something?
I pause, hoping he won’t realize what I am doing. He waits.
I throw the second switch… “CLICK”. Angus comes out from under the blanket and
sits, staring at me. We have an unspoken mental conversation between the two of
us.
I know what you are doing
Angus: “Well, are you going to throw that third switch?”
Me: “Go back to what you were doing. Nothing going on here”.
Angus: Come on man! It’s cold. Throw that switch!”
Angus: “Come on, I’ll share the heat with you this time.”
Me: “Go back to your blanket and let me get warmed up here!”
“CLICK”, I throw the third switch and before the heat even
starts pumping out of “MY” heater, Angus is all up in it.
He's quick to find the heat source
The problem is he sits right up against the vent that the
heat pumps out of. His hair is black and really course and he soaks up every
bit of heat coming from the heater. I am completely blocked out in the cold. He
turns and looks at me like “What?”
What? Were you sitting here?
So begins the battle of the heat! I’m sitting near him and I
will push him out of the way so I can get warm. Before long I notice, “Hey, why
am I cold?!” I look down and there he is again, blocking the heat. I’ll nudge
him to the side and begin to feel the sweet warmth once again. But my warmness
is short lived as, once again, Angus move to block. Back and forth, back and
forth, the whole time the heater is on.
It is a stubborn rivalry for the ages. But in the end, we
are just two beings trying to make it through another cold, Kansas winter without freezing to death.
Just two cold fellas trying to get warm
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