20th May 2026
Henry forgot again.
We were due to meet up for a coffee and a mooch around an art gallery that is just across the road, but as usual he forgot.
As I sat with my 16 ounce latte, and blueberry muffin, he didn’t show. I messaged him only to get a reply that said he was sorry, and suffering from a cold. Not wanting to smear him as an old forgetful git, we said that we will do something next week instead.
This gave me a chance to carry on sealing the panels for the sofa.
Another job I needed to do was prep the front lawn, or what is left of it. I raked all the dead stuff ready to reseed it with a mixture of grass and clover, clover being good for bees.
This take more effort than you think. Whilst I was doing that, a couple arrived to look at the bench.
Originally from Tennessee, they followed the “Lord” and relocated in Zeeland. There were a fun couple, who even laughed at my jokes, well being from Tennessee, they didn’t get many jokes down there.
After they left we had the idea to hitch up the dog trailers and take the hounds to the local dog park. That is a whole logistical exercise of wheeling the trailers from their parking places and connecting them to the bikes, pushing in lock pins and attaching safety straps. Then the next task is to load the dogs. That can be done with handfuls of dog treats. They have to be tethered just in case they want to leave early.
We then started, Kelli in front, that is when Winnie started howling. I was sure if it was because I was behind and she could see Kelli, so I accelerated and rode alongside, but that didn’t have much effect. I the. Overtook and put on a bit of a spurt, just in case the speed was the problem, the howling continued. It was loud, I thought her barking was loud, but it paled into insignificance compared with the ear piercing screeching coming from her inner body.
It was ear torture, but we got to the dog park.
As I unhitched Winnie from her restraining belt, she exited the trailer so fast her lead(that I was holding) almost burnt my hand with the friction.
What followed was a lot of ball throwing, and dog running, I really thought that would wear them both out, but as usual, I was wrong.
The journey back was equally bad, Winnie’s howl echoed around the houses, there was not turning down the volume, it was way over eleven.
Right there we decided that the dog trailers were not a success, they were stressing our animals out, so our only option is to sell them both.
This is a shame, because we thought it would be fun for them to join us on our bike rides instead of leaving them alone, but of course they don’t understand.
Maybe, like some people they want to be in control, they want to be the ones peddling and us humans in the trailers. I can’t imagine that scenario working because one sight of a squirrel and they would take off through the woods, and we would never seen again.
Another Lifetime to go 