Where's Waldo

I've been meaning to write this post for quite some time, but have always kept putting it off in deference to something of more "importance."  Where's Waldo is such a silly thing, but then again in times of constant terrorist attacks, a continuing failed economy, self-important politicians who care more about re-election than improving the country, arrogant leaders who ignore the Constitution, and foreign governments who humiliate our military, I guess a little levity is not such a bad thing :)

Now that I have that off my chest.....

Meet Lilly:

Lilly is one of our four grand-dogs.  Lilly lived with us the first two years of her life, and then moved off with her "mommy", our daughter Allison, when Alli started a home of her own. Lilly is a spunky beagle with a huge personality. Lilly is like most beagles:

she loves to sleep on top of things...

she loves to eat...this is her please give me some of your food or I will die face...

and she loves to get into trouble!










I've read that beagles are like perpetual toddlers.  Imagine chasing after your two-year old, remember the energy that requires?  They are always getting into something and they never quit... it's exhausting, but they are also adorable... that's what life with Lilly is like all the time.  When she comes to visit, the first thing she does is beg for a peanut butter bone, then once that goal has been achieved , it's on to playing!  Sometimes she races outside to play with her friend Sudsy next door; sometimes she grabs the kitchen towel off of the oven door handle and runs around the dining room table hoping you will play chase with her. We always tire of that game before she does.  Sometimes she grabs a toy out of her toy basket and brings it to you to play a game of tug or throw and fetch; sometimes she steals dirty laundry out of the bin and races off with you chasing her frantically in tow.  By far, my favorite Lilly activity is Where's Waldo.  What's that you say?  She's a dog so she can't search for Waldo?  Well, that is true, but Lilly invented her own version of the puzzle.

Lilly has a favorite bone (I have to confess she first stole this bone from Sudsy...Lilly, unfortunately is also a thief) that she likes to hide.  We didn't notice at first that this was a game, until we began to find the hidden bone by happenstance after her visits.  Once we realized this was a game, we would watch her pick the bone out of the toy basket and race off with it.  We knew she was going to hide it somewhere; it became our mission to search it out after she left.  We have found that bone in just about every corner of our house:

under the bed in the spare room...

under the pillow of the day bed in the exercise room...

under the dining room table...

behind the couch...

then for the longest time we couldn't find it... we thought maybe she forgot about it, until... I was stripping the cushion covers from the wicker couch in the sun room the other day ( my grand-dogs got muddy on Christmas day and so did the couch) and...

There it was in all it's beagle-bone glory!!!

I laughed my you-know-what off... Where's Waldo is alive and well.

Oh...and just so that I don't get into grandmotherly trouble....Here is a look at all of my grand-dogs:

This is Lilly in front, with her sister Rexie

and here are my daughter Suzie's dogs, handsome Radar on the left, and pretty Emma on the right.

Dogs are wonderful people, don't you think!  I'd love to hear your dog tales...leave a comment!