Untethered Dog

31 Friday

• A mowed lawn.
• Perfect nights.
• Night lights.
• Your health.
• Your gut.
• Your bed.
• Your dog.
• Your moods.
• All the birds.

30 Thursday

• Perfect mornings.
• Plenty of time to walk.
• Recovery day.
• Snout soccer.
• Bosch episodes — the second-time through. When you can follow it all.
• The anticipation of a new book.
• Digestive breaks.
• Repetition.

29 Wednesday

• Being relied upon.
• Confidence.
• When you no longer have to worry about whether you can handle it — you can.
• Boundaries.

27 Monday

• The chance to care for your little buddy.
• Your dog’s cardiologist. So kind. Patient.
• The people who work at places that care for companion animals with a smile on their face all day long. A special place in heaven awaits, no doubt.
• Warm, sunny days.
• Cars that get you there.
• The technology that gives doctors the ability to see inside bodies.
• Ladders.

25 Saturday

• Breakthroughs on a piece.
• Turmeric.
• Squat practice.
• Bench practice.
• When you focus on form and leave outcome to be what it is.
• Aluminum foil.

24 Friday

• Fast day.
• Fast days.
• Writing all day.
• Helping out a colleague.
• Helping out a stranger.
• Doing your best.
• Beating the heat.
• Your cool house. Temperature-wise anyway.
• Manageable Fridays.
• When you talk to your insurance agent and it’s not agonizing.
• A long weekend.
• Meat in the mail.

23,Thursday

• Self-education.
• Talking insurance with your father.
• Making a plan.
• Scrambled eggs with cheese. Just a little cheese, please.

22 Wednesday

• Wrestling with ideas.
• Losing yourself in thoughts.
• Paying the tab fee right away.
• Walks to the post office box.
• Cool mornings.

21 Tuesday

• A capable and reasonable mechanic.
• The ability to drive down the street.
• Light rail.
• Greg: a guy who takes the extra step to make it work.
• Work from home. A dog saver.

20 Monday

• Neighbors who look out for loose dogs.
• Acceptance.
• Running with your dog.
• Curry.

19 Sunday

• Having a friend who answers your call.
• Strangers who let you use their phone when you are in a spot.
• Emotional challenges that come when your day is upended.
• Signs of growth.
• Escape.
• Big meals.
• Leg raises.
• A hungry dog.
• Fiber.

18 Saturday

• Sumo deadlifts.
• Pull-up progress.
• Memories.
• Baseball.
• Brussel sprouts.
• Short walks.
• Writing while walking.
• Naps when you are behind on sleep.
• Summer storms.
• Fans blowing on your body — the hum of a fan — at night.

16 Thursday

• The chance to fumble with written words all day.
• A good workout after three days off.
• Farmer Carries.
• Fasting.
• Your digestive system.
• Memories of baseball.

15 Wednesday

• When your dog shows you a blue jay sitting on your fence. Is there a prettier shade of blue in the known universe?
• Sun time.
• People who don’t light firecrackers during the dinner hour because they know they are not the only people (or pets) in the world who can hear them.

14 Tuesday

• The moment you know you are on your way back up to baseline after a dip.
• Water.
• Lemon Ginger Honey Echinacea juice. A little glass of heaven. Especially when your tummy is unsettled.
• When things fall into place.
• An assignment you are jazzed about.
• Clouds.

13 Monday

• Cleaning house on a Monday night.
• Confidence without arrogance.
• To-do lists.
• The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
• Cod sandwiches.

12 Sunday

• Jazz.
• Extra time.
• Extra rest.
• Going to the Falls.
• Cod.
• Sunshine.
• The chipmunk that dared your dog.
• Looking for advantage in everything.

11 Saturday

• Fast weeks.
• Early mornings.
• A break from the humidity.
• A break from food.
• The benefits of squat practice.
• A mowed lawn.
• The confidence to criticize.
• 90 minutes of escape at just the right time.
• The strength to be constructive.
• Good conversation.
• Electronic boundaries.
• Waiting until you are ready.
• Tater tots.

5 Sunday

• Talking about writing.
• Realizing you did more than you accounted for.
• Meeting deadline.
• Counting everything.
• Discounting nothing.
• The way reading fills the well.
• Chocolate-chip cookies.
• Good conversation.
• Extra coffee.

4 Saturday

• People who read the Declaration of Independence.
• People who care about the idea of America.
• People who push to bring us closer to our founding principles.
• People who fight against the current regime, which, by any sober definition, is anathema to those principles.
• People who put country over party.
• Frederick Douglass.
• Harriet Tubman.
• The moment the fireworks end. Editor’s note: dog entry.

3 Friday

• When you correct yourself: no, it’s not Saturday today.
• Being safely away from fireworks. Your little buddy added that entry.
• A new way to serve your dog food.
• When you check in before anger rises and then find a new, better way to go. Such moments are nothing short of minor miracles.
• Oatmeal. With cinnamon.

2 Thursday

• Reminders of what needs to be done.
• Carpenter ants.
• Having enough.
• A cool basement.
• Sharing when not sharing is an option.
• Having just enough butter.
• Wind chimes — intended and not.
• Saving for a rainy day.
• Active recovery.
• Cucumbers.

1 Wednesday

• Canada.
• Rides with your little buddy, widows down.
• A/C.
• Getting your reps in.
• Steak sandwiches.
• Sound sleep.