Remember the comedy series “Seinfeld,” often described as a show about nothing? Well, this is a column about nothing in case you want to stop right here.

My dog, Rabia, was born in Cabot, Vt., when we had the good fortune to live there in what they call the Northeast Kingdom. It is a spectacularly beautiful northern region marked by mountains with sharp ridges, and valleys with powerful creeks and rivers emptying into “ponds” that anywhere else would be called lakes. The NEK borders Quebec and, in addition to its beauty, is cold.

I moved there from Buffalo so I knew about cold, and would often check the temperature difference between the two. Ten degrees in Buffalo could be zero in Newport, where I lived. Five degrees in Buffalo would be minus-5 in Newport. There were........

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