TURBO NEWS NETWORK: Take time to stop and smell the bacon . . . . . . . . .

Monday, April 03, 2017

Huricane Akara Turbofire 03.04.2003 to 03.27.2017

Tubey, around 3 months old
This is Tubey's Human posting. I'm sad that I have to post this inevitable post to let his readers know that Tubey has passed away Monday, a week ago (March 27, 2017). He was 14 years old and was my beloved canine friend for more than a quarter of my life. Obviously I will miss him and am still sad, but one of the benefits of the World of Turbo blog is that I can look back on his adventures, both real and fictional.

I stopped actively blogging when I started actively Facebooking. But I did allow Tubey to have a presence there. He declared himself to be Missouri's U.S. Congressional Representative for the fictitious 14th district after his unsuccessful bid to become President of the United States.

Speaking of Tubey's Presidential campaign of 2008, I tried to keep human politics out of his posts as much as possible, but his announcement that he was running was based on the one that Hillary Clinton used that year. When I decided that Tubey would be running for president, I wanted him to "visit" every state before his party's convention. Obviously, I couldn't take time out for being a human who had a job to drive my dog to 50 states just to photograph him, so I learned how to use Photoshop and Tubey e-visited many sites in each state; some of which had been suggested by other dogs and their humans who visited the website.

One of the most complicated blog posts that appeared on World of Turbo was the Great Debate held prior to the election on November 1, 2008. It was a unique post because I had to help of many humans and their animals, and (well) a couple vacuum cleaners. Kathryn Miles was a huge help as the moderator. She got questions from the panelists (a dog, a cat, a goat, & a vacuum cleaner) and sent them to me and Tubey (and my vacuum cleaner to answer). After that, I translated the entire debate into vacuum language. I've said that you don't have to be crazy to have a dog blog, but that I think you do to have a blogging vacuum cleaner. (I do think that if Tubey had run for President in 2016, it's possible that people could have thought I was doing a parody of Donald Trump, but Tubey came first.)
From the "Convention." with Khyra, his running mate.

Speaking of blogging dogs, I owe a huge amount of gratitude to Greg and Brooke Lee, who were the founders and maintainers of a website called Dogs With Blogs. For many years it was the best website to find the names and websites of dogs who had blogs all over the world. If it wasn't from the
Lee's and DWB's, I would have a lot fewer Facebook "friends." Most of use DWBers have never met each other in person, but anytime we have found out about one of the dogs and sometimes their humans having passed away, we would be as sad as if any actual friend had died. It is something that is hard to explain to people who had not had that experience.

A 14 year old napping Turbo.
Tubey in reality was a very affectionate dog. He probably wasn't as crabby as he came off in his blog posts, but I did base "his" writing style on his real personality. He often would yell at the other dogs...especially Meepie and Lex. And sometimes he would stomp his foot when yelling. I don't remember if I ever actually gave him any bacon. But he did occasionally end up with cheese that I may have dropped. His favorite human snacks were banana chips and salsa.

I appreciate all of the readers of World of Turbo and all of the comments that have been posted to the blog. It really does mean the world to me.


Tuesday, January 05, 2016

Happy 2016!

I apologize for not updating my blog in a long time. I've been slightly more active on my Facebook page.

Here's a picture stylized with an app called Superphoto of me to make you feel better:




Saturday, November 30, 2013

Just Cause

I thought you needed to see a picture of me on this couch.


Saturday, March 23, 2013

National Puppy Day

Today is National Puppy Day. As a result, you will get to look at these photos of me as a TurboPuppy.














Tuesday, March 12, 2013

10th Year

So, it is my birthday month again. And my 10th one at that! As is my custom, here is my annual Masks of Turbo picture for your education and amusement:


Here's a picture of my snooter for you, also.


Sunday, March 03, 2013

In Memory of Le Hedstrom

Please bear with me. My Human asked me if she could make this post.

A bit more than 20 years ago I went to my first dog show. Back then I didn't have a dog of my own, but really wanted one. I'd enjoyed watching the Westminster Kennel Club dog show on TV for years, but I never went to see one until that March in Columbia, MO. The dog that caught my eye was this Afghan Hound:

His name was Ch. Casbar Turbo-Charge. His call name was Turbo. I had never seen a dog as splendid as he was. The next weekend, there was a dog show in Kansas City, MO and I decided to go watch that dog show; in part because I wanted to see this dog again. I worked up my nerve to go meet the people behind this dog. At first I thought that the man didn't understand a lick of English because as I was complimenting him on his dog, he was motioning for his wife, Carol, to talk to me. I thought that he needed her to translate for him. Actually, if Le Hedstrom had known I thought that, he would have played it up because he was quite the joker.
Over the years, I became kind of a groupie of the Hedstroms and their dogs. I went to see them almost every year at the Columbia dog show, but I also would sometimes go to Kansas City, and St. Louis. I would get to hold their brushes and conditioning spray. And I also became friends with Le & Carol. I've never met people who were nicer and friendlier than the Hedstroms. They have influenced me in ways that I'm only now realizing.
I would have gotten a dog of my own even if I hadn't gotten to know the Hedstroms, but I don't know if I would have gotten my first Siberian Husky (Misha Meepenstein) had I not seen them at all the dogs shows I went to. I can say with absolute certainty that I would not have gotten my Turbo had I not become friends with the Hedstroms because I wouldn't have been at the dog show in March 2003 where I saw my Tubey's sire, Jessie, and met his person. Jeanne told me that she had bred Jessie and had some pups that were available. I decided to get one and to name him after Le & Carol's Turbo.
If I hadn't gotten my Turbo, then there wouldn't be this blog, and maybe none of my other blogs. And I wouldn't have gotten to know any other dog bloggers and their people over the past 10 years.
Sadly, Le Hedstrom passed away this past Wednesday. As I've read the many tributes his friends have posted to Carol on Facebook and on Legacy, I am struck by the great amount of love he and Carol have shown to people and they back to him and Carol. I think the best tribute any of us can give to Le and also to Carol is to be a great friend to others as they have been to us.