Goodbye Aunt Dodo

Today was bittersweet. I began my day by celebrating the birth of one of my dear friends Jessica, and ended it by mourning the loss of my sweet aunt Dodo. Sometimes I forget how funny it must sound to those who didn’t know my aunt by her nickname. Most people called Dodo (pronounced doe-doe) Dee, which is short for Dolores. Dodo lived down the street from Mer (my grandma), so when I was little, I always loved going to her house to play. My cousins were all older, but Dodo kept some of their toys around and I got to play with them when I came over. I remember she had the biggest collection of “my little ponies” all lined up neatly in drawers. She would let me get them out and play for as long as I wanted.

Lulu had a chance to visit Dodo at her house during our last trip to Tulsa. She didn’t get to play with the “my little ponies,” but I think she could tell that we used to have a lot of fun there. Dodo was a special aunt and she will be greatly missed by a lot of people. She had been sick for a long time, so it’s at least comforting to know she is without pain in Heaven. 

Sad puppy

Going for the gold

Come to find out, Lulu is a huge fan of the Olympic games! In addition to intently watching the coverage on TV, she’s been inspired by the great athletes to try out some new maneuvers of her own. Check out Lulu’s version of the doggie Olympics in the pictures below!

Gymnastics is her favorite to watch!

Water Polo

She's the goalie

Lu and her teammate Claire

Rowing

Lu took the front spot!

Rowing to victory!

Fencing? She's got the face-gear on!

"Hiding"

Soccer and/or wrestling

Lulu's best event, food stalking.

She's perfected the bridge move

Weightlifting. This is an old pic but I had to include it.
Look how furry and odd looking she was!

My sweet little Olympian has been busy!

Hunting Dog: The Bugs

Lulu has become a very skilled hunter. She takes a different approach depending on her prey. She stalks cats and birds, chases squirrels and harasses turtles. When she sees a bug, she prefers to sit as close as possible and observe it. She really likes it when they are injured and can’t go very far. I videoed her watching a big beetle stuck on its back one morning. She stayed outside for 20 minutes without taking her eyes off him. When we were in Tulsa, a locust fell out of a tree, so that was also really exciting for her. I took a video of that too, but I was afraid to get too close. It kept buzzing and I was afraid it was going to get me. Unlike Lulu, I do not like bugs!

yucky bug!

Lulu and the Beetle

Got him!

Proud pup!

Lulu and the Locust

Hunting Dog: The Turtle

We were having breakfast at Mer’s house and I looked out the window and saw Lulu really focused on something in the back corner of the yard. I put on my shoes and went out to see what she found and I saw this cute little guy:

He was minding his own business and munching on a worm. Lulu was behaving pretty well; she just sat in front of the turtle and watched him. I didn’t want anything to happen, so I picked him up and carried him through the fence to the front yard. I put him down in some bushes and we all went back inside. Not even five minutes later I heard Lu whining at the door to go out. I looked through the glass and that crazy turtle had made his way back under the gate and was crawling right across Mer’s patio! Lulu had a fit! I videoed her watching from inside, then I felt bad and let her back out. She wasn't so nice to the turtle this time (see videos below).

Please let me out!

trying to be good 

poor turtle

plotting her attack

After all that excitement, I decided to take the turtle far away. I walked him through the front gate and across the neighbors yard. I put him in a nice little flower bed where he would be safe. Sure enough, about 10 minutes later he came crawling back through the fence. We decided that "he" must be a "she" that had some babies in Mer's yard, because that was one determined turtle. Of course Lulu greeted her at the fence and got a little out of hand. 

Can I keep it, mom?

Finally Erik decided to just move the turtle to a safer spot in Mer's yard. Lulu eventually got bored with him and moved on to better things. I took a few more pictures before we said bye bye to the turtle. 

Bye turtle, I'll miss you!

Hunting Dog

I think Lulu has finally found her true calling in life. She tried the interior decorator route and that didn’t go so well. Next she decided to try her luck with landscaping. That’s become more of a hobby lately. Her full time focus is now “hunting dog.” Lu has always enjoyed chasing birds, and now she’s taking it to the next level. Her first order of business when she goes out in our yard is to run as fast as she can around the perimeter and scare all birds away. She also thought this was necessary when we went to visit my grandma (Mer) in Tulsa this weekend. She also enjoys stalking cats when we go for a walk. We visited some neighbors a few weeks ago and she chased their sweet little kitty up a tree. She was very proud of herself. 

As I mentioned earlier, we went to Mer’s house in Tulsa this weekend for a family Fourth of July gathering. Lulu was definitely in her element in Mer’s backyard. We had several critter encounters and I was lucky enough to have my phone handy for most of them. I’ll have to break it down into different posts because there’s a lot of pictures/videos. I’ll start with her crazy tree-climbing episode. I never actually saw a squirrel go up, but Lulu sure thought she saw something in the tree. Claire was a little puzzled too. 

Claire says "What on earth are you doing Lulu?"

Big tree, small dog!

Tired from all the hunting!