Doggy-back ride

Yes, it is just that cold. We took our dog and the neighbor's for a long walk to the university library so I could drop off my books from finals, and then walked all the way back. Took us about 2 hours and by the final third of the trip, the neighbor's dog was over it. Poor pup kept getting ice stuck in between her toes, causing her to limp, and when we went to clear her feet for the third or fourth time, she lay down and looked at us with eyes that begged, "ARE WE THERE YET?"
We weren't, but fortunately S has a sturdy set of shoulders, so Kali got the Steve's eye view of most of the walk home. It is a testament to how miserable Kali was that she only struggled a couple times against being carried like a little lamb. Tika had her momentary ice-limps as well, but being the half-husky she is, shrugged it off and forged ahead. If we'd had a sled, she probably would have towed us all the way home.
I went home with the realization that I need to invest in long underwear. Turns out it was about 10 degrees out during the whole walk, and any part of me that had more than one layer was fine. My thighs thus took about an hour to thaw out completely, and last night I noticed a slight rash on my cheeks from the cold.
S is the only one of our little snow posse who proved not to be a delicate flower -- on the outside at least.
A couple hours after I snapped this camera-phone photo, all four of us were fast asleep. That was some walk.
(*~ _ ~*)