It’s Merlin’s not-very-good bad day.

He started sneezing yesterday morning. By evening, I was worried about him because I’d said, “Bless you,” all too often that I was tired of it, so I checked out his nose. I couldn’t see anything which might have been causing his sneezing like a weed seed. But, it did look a little swollen and red behind that. I suspected either allergies or a sinus infection.

Last night, he crawled up into my lap for a bit before I went to sleep and just lay there with his face in the blanket. Then, when I went to lie down, he went to his normal sleeping place and I don’t think he moved all night. Even this morning, he wasn’t acting like his normal buoyant self. So, I called the vet and he has an appointment for next week. He doesn’t often go to the vet. He doesn’t (or hasn’t) gotten sick enough to require a vet.

Still, even though it’s easy to see that his energy level is down, that didn’t stop him from wanting to go for a ride today. That’s when his day got worse.

His chariot had a flat tire. I suspect a goat head puncture. I pumped it up and gave it a few minutes. It is a slow leak, so I thought we might be able to make it. He jumped in on his own, proving that he really did want to go even feeling a bit off as he was. We made a quick trip back to the park, but I kept it short.

On the way back, the tire went fully flat and I had to walk the last bit holding up that side of the stroller to keep it off the tire. It’s a good thing he’d a light dog. I could have probably let him out to walk, but he’d run around quite a bit at the park and I didn’t want him wearing himself out.

Tomorrow the tire will get patched and Merlin will have his chariot back. I have the protective strip and new tubes on order, so the next time the tires go flat, I can make certain it happens a lot less. But, I do take it as a good sign that Merlin is willing to jump in the trailer and enjoys going for rides in it. Soon I will try attaching it to my bike and we’ll see what happens with that. Today was a good sign that I’ll be able to do that soon. When he’s feeling much better.

For now, we’ll take things based on how he’s feeling.

Cheers.