Why I Hate Winter

I get quite depressed in the winter.  Not that there is a specific cause or a valid reason, but as the days get shorter, somehow my spirits plummet in direct proportion to the diminishing hours of light.

The depression starts at five in the morning.  Five in the morning here is pitch black night.  But for some unfathomable reason, the dogs seem to think that five in the morning in the winter and five in the morning in the summer are the same  – time to get up and start running around.  The dogs outside start to bark and play, and I get poked under my nice warm comforter by a wet, cold, and persistent nose – Habibi agrees, it is time to get up and on the move. “But it’s dark outside”, I grumble, as I try to burrow deeper under the covers.  Useless!  Within seconds, not only is there a nose poking at me, there is a wriggling whole dog. 

Not that I have anything against early morning hours.  In the summer, I am very enthusiastic at being up with the sun.  But in the winter, there is no sun at that hour. And it is cold – maybe not like in the far north, but for me, cold enough, especially when my bed is so nice and warm…Can’t you all wait until six, at least then there is some light…!

And then at four thirty in the afternoon, it is dark again!  The day is already over, when I feel that it has hardly begun, and I have certainly not managed to do the things I was planning to. 

The dogs are perfectly satisfied to go to bed with the daylight, they have been running around all day, since it is cold and fresh and they love it.  Come to think of it, that could be one reason they are up at five…maybe I should go to bed at four thirty also….

I don’t know how you people in Alaska or Finland and places like that survive the winter!

And then, there are two of the most depressing words I know – wet dog.  True that we don’t have as much rain here as in other places, but there is enough to have plenty of days in the winter when I can enjoy that indescribable smell of wet dog… The Canaans are not so bad, they dry off relatively quickly, but when the collies are wet, it takes them a long time to dry.  They are perfectly comfortable, they have their thick undercoats which keep them warm.  But the outer coat can take hours to really dry off, and meanwhile, anyplace in the house that they have decided to lie around on absorbs that dampness, so added to the wet dog, there is also wet carpet, wet dog blanket, wet sofa…

And they look so miserable when they are wet, even though they aren’t!

It isn’t even necessary to mention the mud…

The dogs love the winter. It is cool, the sun is pleasant and not too hot, and they have lots of energy for running around and barking. Habibi loves to get out on the grass with his pack of girls – Tutti, Jenny, Chance, Flash, and they all run with great enthusiasm, stopping to graze on the green grass and tender plants that apparently are very tasty.  He is full of energy and playfulness, bringing me all his toys tirelessly, while I am bundled up in my sweaters and coats trying to keep up with them all, wear them all out, and get back into the relatively warm house.

Well, one good thing – we are almost at the shortest day of the year, so soon the days will start to get longer again, and then it will be spring, and summer…so there is still room for optimism!