Yvonne Fleece: Heidi’s Happy Holiday

Heidi’s Happy Holiday

Once upon a time on a small farm near Billingshurst…

Heidi the Schnauzer had been having a holiday on the small farm because her mum was poorly in hospital. Truth be told Heidi was having a great time. First of all, she could go outside any time she liked and although she didn’t go on many ‘real’ sort of walks she found herself busy, tired and starving at the end of the day. Of course, that didn’t mean she was left outside all day; she came in and huffed herself onto the sofa for serious snooze time whenever she wanted to.

She’d been helping too, looking after Poppy who could be quite naughty, because she harassed Magnus who grizzle-growled at her all the time. Naturally, she had to put Poppy in her place occasionally but thought that the little one was shaping up quite nicely.

She was also helping Nanny in the garden, supervising the completion of the little pond which looked quite smart with its fountain. She heard Nanny had used that fountain in lots of different ways over the years but this was the best.

But her best helping came with supervising the builders who came to take away the old porch and put up a new and bigger one. She made sure Nanny gave them cups of tea because it was so cold and it even snowed. Now that the porch was bigger, there was more comfortable space in the sun. They all loved lying in the sun in the morning, and it wasn’t too hot (when it was warm) because it had a nice roof.

There was one thing she wasn’t quite sure about. That was the time just after she had arrived when Grandad and Nanny packed the trailer full of stuff, harnessed the three dogs in the back seat and went on a long journey, nearly an hour and a half. When they stopped they were at the caravan.

Nanny left them in the car which she and Grandad unpacked all the stuff (bags and bags of it). Then she took them for a proper walk. They went down to the

big field and had a good run. Then they came back and the humans had lunch. There were two things that Heidi wasn’t that happy with. One was the space and lack of it. They all had to share the two sofa chairs with Nanny and Grandad, and when it was food time it was agonizing when they didn’t share any with the dogs. But it wasn’t all bad… at night time Poppy had a cage on one sofa chair, Magnus had a bed on the floor and a blanket if he wanted to move and Heidi, perhaps because she was the biggest dog, had a whole sofa chair to herself so she could stretch out and have quality snooze time. The other thing was Nanny had to put them on leads to go out, even to the toilet! They went out on stretchy leads and Nanny couldn’t keep them straight. Poppy’s fault of course she darted back and forth and tangled them all up. So Nanny tied two dogs, Heidi in her home from home Heidi and Poppy, on one lead and Magnus on the other. It still tangled but not nearly so much. Heidi really enjoyed making Poppy go at her pace and pushed and pulled her where Heidi wanted to go. Imagine going out at night. What a rigmarole! Nanny had to put on shoes, coat and head-torch, and ensured she had enough toilet bags in her pocket. Poppy and Magnus had to wear blinking collars. Opening the door was easy enough but then she had to keep Poppy in check while opening the awning door. Heidi thought the walk was worth it though because there were lots of new smells. Heidi was missing her mum a lot, and her cat Mr Darcy but, as she snuggled into bed at the end of a busy day, munching her bedtime biscuit she was very pleased she was having her holiday not in some kennels somewhere but on that small farm near Billingshurst. Yvonne Fleece

Plumbing • Drainage • Heating

All plumbing work undertaken. No job too small. Specialists in complete bathroom installations and heating systems

James: 01403 823058 07737 892400

M.W. Wingate Painting & Decorating

Interior & Exterior Specialist in all Wall Coverings

City & Guilds qualified

Over 30 years experience Fully insured Tel: (01403) 780360 Mobile: 07973 433725 markwingate95@gmail.com www.mwwingate.co.uk