These are cold days in Northern Virginia (emphasis on Northern)! A person (or a dog) might have every reason to bound out the door, trot across the deck but then screech to a full stop at the top of the stairs.

Hesitation is in season.

“Do I really want to go out in this?”is what I imagine Copper is thinking.

Which is similar to my thoughts this morning:  It’s 6 a.m., 4 degrees F. — and, of course, it’s dark. “Do I really want to go out in this?”

And the answer, for both of us, for different reasons, is yes!