Icepocalypse

Dear friends.

It’s your furry friend, Lola. As Shortie already told you, we had an ice storm here in Nashville. The first loud crash on Sunday morning had Shortie and me flying out of our beds and running into the living room. Shortie went to the back door and stared outside sleepily.

What’s going on, Shortie?

It’s an ice storm, Lola.

I still didn’t know what that meant so I kept barking every time a tree limb crashed in the distance or when a transformer exploded. Shortie said I was being too dramatic and I should shut the hell up. But I could tell she was nervous too. Especially when that large tree limb came down and barely missed Shortie’s expensive AC unit. Every few minutes, she would go to the window and stretch her neck out to see if more limbs were falling down.

What do you think Lola? Do you think that tree is going to come down?

I’m just a dog shortie, I barked as another transformer exploded in the distance.

Then the lights went out.

We hung around in the house, drawing and listening to an audio book until Shortie detected that the temperature was dropping. She put my sweatshirt on me, ate some cold food from the fridge and then she gathered blankets, laptop, phone, drawing supplies, and thermos and closed us up in the tall kid’s room.

Let’s stay in here Lola to keep warm. I went and lay on the floor but Shortie invited me to climb on the bed. I looked behind me confused.

Who me? On the bed? Shortie you always snap at me for climbing on the bed.

Just get on the damn bed, Lola. It’s cold.

So I got to sleep on the bed. Like a human.

Shortie wrapped me up in blankets, adorned herself in several layers and lay next to me.

We stayed like this for a long time. Shortie got up a few times to use the bathroom and took us outside so I could do my business, too.

That in itself was an adventure. You ever tried finding a good pee spot on a sheet of ice? It doesn’t exist. I slipped and slid over the ice and finally gave up and peed. It was humiliating leaving a big yellow spot on the glistening ice.

Sometime on Monday, Shortie walked over to Neighbor Wanda’s house. Her dogs were so excited to see me. The humans chatted and we ran around and around trying to stay warm. Then Shortie and I climbed back up the hill to our house.

Shortie started complaining that she couldn’t feel her fingers. I’m not sure what she meant but she pulled some thick socks out of a drawer and used them as gloves.

This is not good Lola. It’s getting colder.

Turn on the heat then Shortie, I said and went to lie down on the vent. But the vent was cold.

This was serious.

Shortie opened her thermos and poured herself a drink of hot water.

I cautiously climbed up on the bed and lay down.

Shortie covered me up with blankets.

I think we may need to go to a hotel Lola.

What’s that?

Never mind. I’ll figure it out.

I took a nap and when I woke up, Shortie was frantically piling clothes and toiletries into a bag. Let’s go, Lola.

I started towards the garage but Shortie pulled me to the front door. We climbed the hill, slipping and sliding on the ice. We look ridiculous. Shortie was bundled up with a backpack and a large black Victoria Secret bag with my blanket hanging out of it. I walked along wondering of all the billion people in this world, how did I end up with the this crazy woman. We stood on the side of the road at the top of the hill until a nice guy in a Honda Accord came and picked us up. I looked out of the window as we drove off and the neighborhood looked different. Some of the trees were bent almost to the ground. At one point the driver slowed down as we drove over downed power lines. We spent the night in the hotel and since our power was back, we came home the next morning. It was nice being at the hotel. People kept stopping and saying hi to me and complementing my sweatshirt. I saw lots of other dogs and got to ride in an elevator. I even got to sleep on my own bed.

It’s nice being back at home though. It’s even better now that the ice is melting. I’m hoping that Shortie will start taking me for walks again soon. That’s all friends.

Lola