Our dog Porter had been ailing for a time—a mix of allergies, bad legs and joints, a ruptured disc, and possible Cushing’s, among other things—and sometime in the wee hours of Friday morning last it all finally caught up with him and he passed away fairly peacefully.

I’m not delving into sentiment or stories, suffice to say it was an odd weekend and I wanted to mark the passing here. And no, there are no plans to get another dog.