I suppose the logical place to start would be Friday when I was invited by Butler University neighbor, the Christian Theological Seminary (CTS), for their annual Blessing of the Animals service. You may have noticed that this past weekend there were these types of services going on all over the country. Reason being, the Feast Day of St. Francis occurs annually on Oct. 4th and just in case you don’t know who old St. Francis is, he was a friar known for his love of animals. Unfortunately, he’s not with us any more (he passed away just a few years ago in 1226), but his teachings as well as his love for animals and God’s creation lives on and thus the reason why we have these services today. There’s a free little history lesson for you…don’t say I never taught you anything.
Anyway, it was a good service, but my dad was real serious during it. He got real emotional and kept hugging on me, but I just wanted to go play with the other dogs that were there. My parents always tell me how blessed and fortunate of a dog I am, so I’m not sure why I needed to go get blessed some more, but I was happy to get out of the office and outside for a bit, so it was fine with me.
A photographer from The Indianapolis Star was there along with a videographer from WXNT-TV FOX 59, but I never saw if any of those images made it in print, on television or online. Fortunately Chris Varnau, the Sr. Director of Communications at CTS, took some photos of the event and I’ve included those below.
I guess the blessing must have worked because the Butler Bulldogs went on that Friday and Saturday to go 5-0 on the pitch, in the field, and behind the net. Our men’s and women’s soccer teams both took victories on Friday, as did the volleyball team and then on Saturday, our football team took down the Drake bulldogs and the volleyball team again took victory. Besides the blessing, my presence in the Butler Bowl on both Friday and Saturday might have had a little something to do with it as well. Regardless, I’m proud to be a Bulldog right now as our fall sports student athletes are doing a great job this year.
As I mentioned last week, the changing weather has allowed me to get out more and make it to more of these athletic contests. Below is a picture of me and my dad getting ready to run the football team onto the field for their big win over Drake. There’s nothing like a pleasant fall day in the Butler Bowl for some football. It’s a bulldog’s dream! The next home football game in the Bowl comes at Homecoming on Oct. 25th versus Morehead State. I hope to see you there!
On the home front, I was just as busy this past weekend. My parent’s friends, Jason and Betsy Weatherly came up from Nashville, Tenn. and brought their miniature daschund, Reese (like the peanut butter cups). You may remember some of my escapades with Reese from this past summer when I went down to her place. I really enjoyed getting to see my old friend. I wasn’t the best at sharing my toys with her, but we had a good time tearing through the house and around the yard together. I rather enjoy being an only “child,” but it is nice to have some four-legged company once in a while.
Sunday, some of my parents’ friends and colleagues came over to the house for a little Indianapolis Colts viewing party. That was a lot of fun as well…plenty of attention, table scraps, people to play with me, and lots of excitement. Not to mention, the game turned out to be fairly entertaining and successful as well.
Needless to say, on Monday I was pretty exhausted, but as they say, there’s no rest for the weary. So dad and I headed north to Carmel, Ind. for the men’s basketball Blue Team golf outing at Plum Creek Golf Club. In addition to greeting guests and welcoming the players, I also got to hang out on the golf carts, attempt to chase golf balls on the putting green and see old friends like former Bulldog standouts, Julian Betko and A.J. Graves.
As I alluded to earlier, it wasn’t all treats and toys this past weekend. As you may remember from my previous post, I was all set to appear in the annual Circle City Classic parade. My good friend and Butler colleague, Barry Rector, was kind enough to lend me his beautiful 1991 Corvette to ride in for the parade so early Saturday morning we made our way downtown to join the Butler contingent who was also set to represent BU in the parade. Unfortunately, the parade staff denied me access and forced my dad to turn the Corvette back around and take me home. Can you believe that? Their loss.
The other setback I had is the discovery of a double ear infection, so after my trek to the golf outing, I headed across Hamilton Co. and over to Woodland Animal Hospital to see Dr. Phillips who gave me some medicine to get better. I’m not too fond of the meds, but if it helps my ears from itching and keeps me from wanting to shake my head all of the time, then I suppose it’s worth it.
As you can see, minus a few small speed bumps it’s been a pretty good couple of days for me. I hope that you enjoy some good fortune of your own and here’s to a hope for a little good fortune on the horizon for America after all of this economic crisis stuff I keep hearing about on the news.
As a matter of principle, I tend to refrain from discussing politics and religion. After all, I’m a bulldog, and my expertise lies in animal behavior and school spirit and not worldly things. But I already touched on religion tonight, albeit objectively, I might as well as speak to politics given that as my dad types this blog post, I’m snoring through live coverage of the presidential debate and wondering about these politicians who are vying for your vote next month.
I like to think of myself as a pretty good judge of character (a lot of dogs are) and from what little I saw of the debate tonight, I’d vote for that Tom Brokaw guy...just some free advice from your mascot.
Here's to a blessed week of your own,
Blue II
I like to think of myself as a pretty good judge of character (a lot of dogs are) and from what little I saw of the debate tonight, I’d vote for that Tom Brokaw guy...just some free advice from your mascot.
Here's to a blessed week of your own,
Blue II
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