I recall letting the dog out in this sort of weather. She usually moved about normally before getting around to doing her business. There were time I remember going out to collect her after she froze in a snow drift. Certainly we never walked her below -5 C thereabouts, and even then we put on her booties.
Remembered all this as I went outside to do the afternoon feeding of sunflower seeds and broken peanuts for the squirrel and birds. The sparrows arrive pretty fast–immediate seating! I could see their little breaths rising from the suspended tray on the backyard tree. No, it’s not easy being a bird or squirrel out there in this kind of polar vortex weather. You’ve got to feel for human beings like kids and the homeless, naturally, but birds and animals have it pretty rough, too. And some won’t make it through without human help.