Last night, Aki and I froze in place as a 50 mile-an-hour slammed into us while we left the house. Neither poodle or master had spent much time outside yesterday. We were both intimidated by a heavy wind that had been slamming down 7^th Street for a week. 

            Aki hid under our double bed as I pulled on my warm snow machine suit and beaver hat. I wore both of them when wintering in Western Alaska. They were just the ticket for a walk with the poodle on such a cold night. 

Aki, who was hiding under our bed, eventually answered my call for her. After giving me a “you have to be kidding” look, she crawled out. I dressed her in winter-weight gear and she trotted over to the door. After pulling on my heavy-weight mittens, I joined her on the porch, where we both had to freeze in place under the impact of the cold and heavy wind. When it stopped, the little poodle-mix growled at nature and made her way to her favorite place to pee. She kept low to ground to avoid the worst wind gusts, slipping for time to time on street ice that had been polished slick by the wind. I had to freeze into a statue in the high gusts to avoid being blown away in the wind.