Modine the Great

The first dog Alice and I had after we got married was when our first child, John, was 3 years old. My wife and John went to a bad section of town to see the dog. The ad in the local paper had said 'part basset.' When they arrived at the owners trailer, they saw a medium size dog---that was about, let's say, 20 percent basset at best. No, it wasn't a classy looking dog, but both Alice and John immediately wanted the dog. They put the dog in the back seat with John and the dog rode to our home with her head in John's lap. And what to name her. Modine, Alice's kind of wrong side of the tracks hairdresser.

Modine(Mody) stayed in the house all day, but at night she slept in our garage. She had a good bed, right next to a hot water heater. Everything went great for awhile, until we noticed the door to our kitchen was being badly scratched by Mody. Most night she was very contented; but some nights she was nervous and wanted in. She was afraid of thunder we found out, and so she spent the rest of her years IN the house. She was a great house dog. Always going outside for her 'business,' and always kind and gentle. She loved the classical music I played on my stereo, lying in front of one of the speakers every time I started a record.Her preference was Vienesse music.

Probably our greatest memory of Mody was the Craig White "incident." Young (5) master White lived about 3 doors up from our house, and was a regular playmate of John and our first daughter, Meg.  Craig was a nice enough kid, but was deathly afraid of Mody. His family had no pets. His mother told Alice that, of course, Craig was afraid of a large dog like Mody??? About 50 pounds at the most!! When Craig came down to play, he would knock at the door and timidly say,"Is Mody in." Meaning, is mody in the house and will she stay there.Mody loved to be in the yard with the kids, and they loved playing with her. But Alice, as the good neighbor, would keep Mody inside until Craig went home.\

 But one day when the kids were playing in our front yard, and Mody was having lunch, Craig knocked on the door. "Is Mody in" he asked.Meaning can she not come out. Alice knew Mody could hurt no one. So Alice said, "Go get him Mody." And like a streak Mody ran as fast as she could with her heavy body. On her own , she pushed over the front screen, and chased Master Craig home, barking all the way, as Craig screamed as if attacked by a lion!!!

When Mody returned, Alice congradulated her, and Alice insists Mody had a smile on her face.

Dog Stories

I believe it was Shakespeare who said something to the effect 'Never trust a person who doesn't love music.' In a way my wife Alice and I agree. But we were discussing the other evening what we thought was the absolute essential for us in evaluating any person. Surprisingly we came up with the same thing. 'We can't REALLY like a person who doesn't love and have a pet. Like a dog or cat.

And why? Well, even more than humans at almost any stage, a pet is the most helpless. Not only physically, but in understanding. You kick a child, and maybe they can 'rationalize' it, now or later in life. But a cat or dog; they just feel the pain, the fear and the insecurity.

Both my wife and my familes felt the same.Probably the only times in my life when I might have been taken to the local lockup involved dogs.My brother Bob (Bunny,as every one called him) and I were playing baseball 'catch' in our yard oner day when I was nine and Bunny was eleven.The man who lived in the house right behind us came yelling out of his house whipping his dog with a belt. No doubt for some misdead like peeing on the man's carpet. Looking back today---the fence is still there---I don't see how we jumped it. But we did. I had a ball bate and Bunny had himself, a super athlete and strong as any kid in our neighborhood. We ran up to the man, I, with a bat, Bun with just himself. Conversation: Bun and I: 'You hit that dog one more time and we'll knock every tooth out of your ugly face!!! The man ran into his house. The dog stayed in his yard and we never heard him yelp in pain again. Did the dog whipper call the police to have us taken 'in' for dangerous threats. No. And he soon moved away.

My second escape from the law occured about 17 years ago. I was sitting on a bench in my front yard about thirty feet from our quiet residential street. A man and his wife came down the street with their "fashionable" dog on some type of lease.Apparently, the couple were "training" the dog. It was a big dog, and everytime it walked in front of the couple, the man would jerk hard of the lease and the dog would rear back in pain.Good training, I guess. I yelled "Hey, buddy, come here." He came over , with his wife, to my bench. " Listen, buddy, pull on that chain again and I'm going to take it off your dog and put it around your neck, walk you down the street, and jerk it every five steps!!!" They left and, at least, never came down my street again. Did they call the law? No.

Real close scrapes with the law? You bet. But both threats on my part and Bun's were in the interest of helping, at least for a short time, those least capable of defending themselves.

In my next several posts, I'm going to pay tribute to Alice and my 'best' friends. Our human pets.

Einstein/Fudd

Guys that have been following my college picks and advice: I will be terning things over to Dan F. and Father Will.Both are just as anxious to help you as much as they can. So, I'll leave, for now, and mention ten colleges I think you should look at depending on your particular situation. Dan and Father has the formula I worked out for you. Using it should be fun. Here are the schools for the above average---you ain't Einstein, but you're not Mr. Fudd either---student. And to all of you "Prayers Ascending." I'll explain that later.
 Ten Colleges You Might Look At.
 Not in order of preference. Several in Ohio. I was offered job at one, so kind of know scene.

Hiram College (Ohio)
Marietta College (Ohio)
Wittenberg College (Ohio)
Emory and Henry (Virginia)
Hendrix College (Arkansdas)
Baker University (Kansas)
Benedictine College (Kansas
Saint Edward's (Texas)
Drury College (Missouri)
Lynchburg College (Virginia)

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 Several of you have suggested I post some questions on college picks, give them numerical value,and, just for fun, and maybe a little enlightment, and see what results.

So here are the factors I am considering now. Remember we are taling about "above average" students, not the super smart or--well you see what I'm getting at.

At this point, these are the questions.

Would your SAT or ACT score be above average for the school?
Will you probably graduate in the upper two/fifths of your class?
Do you want a good majority of your college classmates to live on campus?
Do you prefer a school of 3,000 or less undergraduates?
Do you plan on joining a sorority/fraternity?
Do you have a maximum percentage of Greeks you would like at your college?

I have a couple of other ideas I'm mulling. I've been reading college profiles 'till almost blind.

See you later here, or in B...... Saturday.

Blog Notice.

I am blogging at the present exsclusively on college choice. My son(who many of you met in S......Sunday is using the blog "Franklance" for a religious discussion. Continue to send your questions by e-mail. Thanks

The college "Greek System"

The sorority/fraternity system at many colleges is something I believe potential students at the college should look at. Why? Well, at some schools these "Greek" groups are very dominant socially and prestige wise. And the Greek system is hierarchical. In other words, WHAT sorority or fraternity you belong to may be a factor in your campus life and recognition. Graduates of almost any college with a Greek system can, rather easily,"rank" these organizations from 'most desirable/pretigious' to be invited to join to 'least desirable/prestigious' to be invitedf to join.' And, at many schools your 'prestige' is important; going all the way to what parties you are invited to, to who you date.(I'm dating a Chi Omega---oh, yes, this is not uncommon).

Okay, call me a hypocrite, but I belong to a fraternity, as did my wife, and part of our choice of which one was determined by the 'prestige' of that group on the campus.We both did very well in the 'prestige' Greek organization we joined; but we both know today that the 'prestige' factor ir absurd in most cases.

Another factor: At a 'large' college/university (say over 5,000 undergrads) a sorority/fraterity membership can be important. Such membership gives you a "community" to attach to. The smaller the school, the less significant to you should Greek membership be. Sure, membership is okay at any school, IF, you don't get caught up in 'social/prestige' emphasis.