ASHLAND — My wife and I were in Cincinnati last week doing some dog-sitting for my daughter.

Amazingly, her wacky beagle Ace was quite calm this time around.

No deft-defying acts at all.

Ace is our adventuresome granddog who once jumped out of a second-story window when my daughter and her husband first bought their home in Covington.

No such craziness this time around, thank goodness.

Meanwhile, my mother came to our house to dogsit for Mopsy, our 17-year-old poodle.

It’s a wonder how these dogs control our lives!

My son, who also lives in Cincinnati and has two dogs of his own, took us to an Orange Leaf for the first time and we were quite impressed. Then, a few days later, I learned we were getting one here in mid-September.

Nice.

We ate well last week, enjoyed some of what the Queen City offers and heard much about Marty Brennaman getting his head shaved last Friday night. It was all the rage on WLW the entire week.

The Reds and Marty made it a special night, that’s for sure, with the sizeable donations to the Reds Community Fund.

Chick-fil-A

Say what you will about the Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day last week — and I’m sure there are some who loved it and some who didn’t — but at least it wasn’t a demonstration of violence and looting.

Unlike other grassroots movements in recent memory this was a peaceful and heartfelt reverse protest.

It’s time to take that same kind of attitude — and enthuisiasm — to the voting booth on Election Day.

And wouldn’t it be nice to have to wait an hour or more to cast your ballot because of long lines like those experienced last week at the chicken restaurant? When is the last time you had to wait even five minutes to vote?

It won’t be long until we’re bombarded with commericials from both presidential candidates and others running for office.

Hopefully they don’t turn us off from going to the polls on Nov. 6.

Tomcat Reunion

Lafe Walter, who has long headed up the Tomcat Reunion, says the annual event will be Aug. 26 at the same place, the former Elks Country Lodge area off 29th Street.

The reunion has become a summer staple for Tomcats of all ages and sports.

It was first started as a football reunion but has since morphed into much more. There are usually more than 100 in attendance.

Walter reports that Donnie Sparks from the class of 1950 is coming this year and he’s also heard that Earl “Brother” Adkins of 1953 Tomcat basketball fame will also be in attendance.

Activities start at 1 p.m. with the Tomcat Booster Club providing hamburgers and hot dogs. Those who come are asked to bring a covered dish.

Walter said even Tomcat foes are welcome to join in the festivities.

“We’ll even give them a hamburger or hot dog,” he said.

The Tomcats will have already played two games but coach Leon Hart is expected to make a few comments to those gathered at the reunion.

Supporting PLD

Moe’s Southwest Grill is working with Poage Landing Days for a fundraiser tomorrow night.

Yours truly will be among the “celebrity servers” on hand at the restaurant.

Others scheduled to be there are Tim Preston of The Independent, state Reps. Kevin Sinnette and Tanya Pullin, WTCR’s Clint McElroy and other Ashland city officials.

We will be there from 5 to 9 p.m. serving up tacos and other good eats from Moe’s. Poage Landing Days will garner a portion of the proceeds from that four-hour window.

Stop by and support the downtown festival that has grown by leaps and bounds under the leadership of Phillip Stewart.

This year’s Poage Landing Days will be Sept. 14-16 in the streets of downtown Ashland.

Final word

The gold medals awarded to the Olympic athletes in London aren’t truly made of gold.

The last time that happened was a century ago in 1912 in Sweden. That was the year Jim Thorpe had his great Olympic performance with gold medals in sweeping the 15 events in the pentathlon and decathlon.

Just thought you might want to know.

MARK MAYNARD can be reached at mmaynard@dailyindependent.com or (606) 326-2648.