Questionable Decisions

I feared the blog was dead, but due to some questionable decisions (hence the title), we have a last-minute post for March.

With premature Daylight Savings and the occasional equinox, it is getting dark late enough that I decided to let Eric out after dinner. As you know, he has a fancy for nocturnal wanderings, so we hadn't been letting him out when the sun was anywhere near the yardarm. But it was such a nice day, and he really wanted out...

After it got seriously dark and there was still no sign of him, I decided to use the Ultimate Weapon to flush him out: the bike. He loves to run with me when I ride the bike, and since I hadn't ridden outside for months, I was sure he'd come running as soon as he heard its brakes squeal. Not so much. I rode back and forth in the pasture, hoping to get his attention without riding down to the dark and scary woods. No luck. I braved the meadow, and he finally turned up. But as I should have predicted, he thought we were on our normal bike ride, so he ran right into the woods. I rode very slowly through the woods, almost falling over roots, carrying my bike over the creek, and again losing sight of Eric.

I made it through the woods and decided to just ride back up the hill and hope that Eric was already at the top. Halfway up the hill, he appeared out of nowhere. I was afraid he wouldn't follow me on the bike, so I hopped off and got him on the leash with the promise of a belly-rub. When we were in the UK, I saw people riding bikes with their dogs running beside them on a leash, and I decided that now would be a good time to try that experiment: in the dark, starting up a hill, with a dog who is, shall we say, a bit exuberant on the leash. I got the bike started with Eric on the left. This lasted two seconds, then he crossed over to the right. Just before Eric and his leash got tangled in the spokes I abandoned the experiment and walked Eric up the hill with one hand, and the bike with the other hand. So, there is a happy ending.