A One Dog,Six Cat Florida Night

Cold Florida Dog

Our dog had never experienced cold weather, being a Florida dog. The coldest he has experienced was about 60 degrees. We had a heavy frost last night, down to twenty degrees and our dog and 6 cats did not like it at all. I was not all that thrilled about it either, but I still had my Alaskan parka to keep me warm.

The bed we have is one that my grandfather had made over 80 years ago. It is a walnut spool bed that was made from a walnut tree that he had cut down on his Indiana farm. The old farm house granddad lived in had small bedrooms, and granddad made the bed to fit one of the bedrooms. The bed is what is called a ¾ bed, the bed width is ½ way between a twin and a double bed.The bed was 6” shorter than a standard bed. The bed had a straw tick base and a feather bed on top of the straw tick to sleep on, both made by grandma. When I got the bed I had to special order a mattress and box spring for the bed and make new side rails so the mattress would fit in it.

My wife and I are small so the smaller bed was no problem and it also promotes spooning. We put on an extra blanket when the weather man’s forecast said it was to felt down to the 20’s. About a ½ hour after we went to bed I felt the dog hop on to the bed. By 2 AM the cats had joined us. With the cats and dog and us in the same bed there was little extra room. They did make it warmer, and as long as you did not try to change positions we all were comfortable. Then the cats and dog became blanket stealers. I would wake up with some part of me cold and would have to struggle to get that part covered.

The next morning I had to force the dog to go out. He took two steps away from the door, did his business and wanted back in. That morning the dog and cats were all competing for any sun patch coming through the windows to keep warm. The dog curled up in a ball on a chair because the cats had all the sunny spots. I took heart and put a blanket over him. He did not move from that spot all morning.

Up in Alaska the local Indians would describe how cold it was by how many dogs it took to sleep with them to keep warm. They would say it was a two dog night or if it was really cold a 3 dog night. We had a Florida one dog and six cat night last night.  

What do you mean, its time to go outside!