Dog-Gone-Winter

As winter is fast approaching I am scrambling to get all the items that will be necessary for a long and cold winter. Things like studded tires, snow shoes, clothes, and beer. You know, just the bare essentials. I am trying to put everything off as long as possible (except the beer…) in hops that the prices will drop at the last minute. Dianne calls this procrastinating. I like to think of it as bargain hunting. In any case, I really don’t think I have much more time left. I believe there was more snow on the mountain tops today, and from what everyone tells me, it is not getting any warmer. Since I have not been here a full year, I can’t say for sure, but I have heard that the snow actually comes down off the mountain, and makes its home in the Anchorage area for a while (some even say that it covers the entire state, but that is just crazy talk…). If this is in fact the case, I may need to get some warmer clothing. My current wardrobe is the one that I used to cut grass in Florida in. It was usually 95+ degrees when I would cut grass, so you could say that my wardrobe is for a slightly warmer climate.

I did however go to the Sportmans Warehouse to find a pair of winter boots/shoes/footwear. What I found was amazing. In Florida my choices were either running, or walking. Not too difficult of a decision. I thought I was familiar with shoes. That is until I entered into the realm of the winter footwear. I believe there were 400+ types of shoes on display. I looked around, got dizzy, and left. If this was the gun section, I would have just stared and drooled for hours, but since they were shoes I decided that I had no idea of what I was looking at and left. I came home later that day and told Dianne of my discovery. She laughed at me and made little snickering noises. Apparently she seems to have more knowledge in the footwear arena than I. Being that she is a woman, and therefore should like shoes, I did not challenge her authority. It does seem strange that she had knowledge of winter snow shoes though.

I advised Dianne that I will be looking for a pair of winter boots that are ankle height and studded. I have no idea if they make shoes with studs in them, but if they make them for tires, why not for shoes. I figure that if I can’t find any studded shoes, I can always drill some holes in my shoes and bring them into a tire store to be re-studded, or in this case, just studded. Now that I think about it, I wonder if a shoe repair shop might offer that service. Who knows, I will have to check into that.

The dog is more prepared for winter than I am.

Dianne decided that the dog was getting cold, so she went to the local Petco and bought him a parka and dog booties. Yes, they actually make booties for dogs. I swore that I would never dress my dog up in clothes. So far, I have not dressed him up in anything - Dianne does that for me. Now not only will he be wearing a parka, but he also has little booties. All this got me thinking. As I was staring at the dog laughing uncontrollably, I realized something. The dog is now better equipped to handle the winter than I am. If winter were to hit full force tomorrow I would have to walk a nice warm dog in shorts and a tee shirt in 3 feet of snow. He would be nice and warm, and I would be frozen. If all else fails I could always try to fit into his little parka. I think the booties are a little too small for me though.