Fall guy.

What's a good way to celebrate the first day of fall?

Well, I don't know, but I got ready for it yesterday by taking one.

AUGHtumn

The little dog, Nipper, and I were playing in the backyard, or mostly he was while I stood around like a dork, throwing balls for him to ignore. I usually have him on the tether when we're playing, as we have no fence; this keeps him from following the scent of miscellaneous critters into the woods. Suddenly my little dog -- and when I say "little" I mean "relative to the big dog but still about 100 pounds of muscle" -- shot across to the other side of the lawn, his Puppy Sense clearly tingling like crazy. The tether caught me in the back of the leg while I was off balance, leading to the embarrassing scene above. Classic butt-first pratfall.

HOW DOES HE GET THAT STRONG? It's not like he goes to the gym. Sometimes we'll play tug, or he'll pull against me on his leash, but I'm not exactly turning into Young Ahnold here. He doesn't do doggie kettlebells. I just don't know.

Fortunately for me, the ground was soft after the 8,000 days of rain we've had this summer, so no injury. But that ground won't stay soft forever. We know what follows fall. And there's just 94 shopping days till Christmas.