Ollie Will Kick Lassie's A$$

Earlier this evening we're sitting downstairs watching Women of Ninja Warrior (aka: Kunoichi). Ollie had situated himself between us. After about 10 minutes, Ollie pops up his head and stares intently at the fire place. His eyes are so wide they began to bulge from its sockets. Slowly the hairs on the back of his... back... begin to stand up. We're looking at him like he's crazy.

After about a minute of accessing the situation from afar, he gets up and approaches the fireplace. He starts sniffing and cocking his head. Five seconds later, a concoction of anxiety mixed with excitement really starts to take over. The sniffing intensifies and I can see that he really wishes that opposable thumb came out at birth because he MUST get INTO the fireplace.

Casey gets up to help investigate, while I get the lights. We're both asking him "What is it? What do you see?" fully expecting him to respond like Scooby Doo. How awesome would that be? He will one day, I know it.

Right.. back to the investigation. Looking around Casey finally sees what is freaking Ollie out.. A BUMBLEBEE! One managed to find its way into our fireplace. Poor thing is covered in ash, but at least it's still mobile. So much so, it managed to escape Casey's grasp and start flying around the house, which lead to Ollie's immediate departure into the yard. In case you haven't heard the story before, Ollie does not like bumble bees, worker bees, wasps, flies, gnat, or any other small bug with wings. We believe when he was pup he got a bit too curious with a bee and was stung, which is why he refuses to join us on out on the deck in Spring.

Eventually, the bee is once again captured and Ollie is allowed to smell his "prize". No worries, the bee survives -- it was set free into our yard. But man, are we proud of Ollie and he is all proud of himself too. I mean, he heard and smelled a bumble bee that was trying to escape our fireplace. WTF?!?

We totally have to sign him up for that dog tracker class.