Winter Rays

Cold weather tempts me to steal the couch. Sometimes I climb over Joan when she's sprawled out under the electric blanket. But, usually I wait until she gets up. Shane thinks a lot about the couch, but he’s too nervous to get up there when it’s occupied. Me, I don’t mind. I live here, too, don’t I?

Today, however, Shane beat me to the couch and I’ve had to take refuge on my lowly dog bed. To compensate for my second-place status, Joan decorated me with this blanket, which clearly is a little overpowering for a patchwork dog of black and white.

It’s very still outside. Everything has come to a frozen halt, even the people down the street who fix cars and long for the hot days of ice-cream trucks and lemon-flavored slurpies. Thankfully, the trees know how to hibernate, the ivy is cuddled up under the fall leaves, and the squirrels are too smart to peer from their hidden nests. It’s almost always dark except for an hour or so in the early afternoon. That’s when Joan opens all the curtains to let the sun spread its rays across the living-room floor. It gives us all hope.

Best wishes, Juno