The dogs navigate the stairs, slowly. We are getting at the snow and ice with shovels, animal-friendly ice melt and sand. It is deep and rock hard. We couldn’t open the barn doors today to get hay or the let the donkey out and we had to mount a sand-and-sledgehammer assault on the ice frozen under the doors. That’s a first. No snow in the forecast for the first time in a few weeks. Storm Center is dozing.