Goodbye Dr. Warde

I'm very sad to report that Dr. Charlie Warde, seriously one of my most favorite people in the world, passed away very early this morning from complications of pneumonia. He had a stroke back on September 11th and was showing great improvement. I was shocked to learn this morning that he was gone. I was already leaving for High Point tomorrow morning for alumni weekend so I am hopeful that I will get to attend his funeral.

Dr. Warde (he always wanted me to call him Charlie but I never have been able to flip the switch to it) was an amazing man. He always had the ability to pull me out of whatever funk I was in for whatever reason and make me believe that I was the most brilliant, amazing person who ever walked the earth. I roped him into being my sorority's on campus advisor. All of us loved his irish accent and his fun spirit. I cannot believe that he's left us.

Taken at my sorority's 50th anniversary celebration
Snapped at my friend Rosie's wedding rehearsal, he did a reading during her ceremony

Happy birthday Duke!

I can still remember exactly how it came to be that we found our Dear Dukus. We had literally just moved into the house and decided, let's look for the lab puppy we wanted to get. We wanted him to get to grow up with Fonzie since our little hot dog was only 4 months old. We knew the little weiner dog would get too spoiled being the only dog in our house. It was early December 2001, everyone was waiting to get puppies for Christmas morning puppies. We took Fonzie to "meet" Duke and the rest is history. Duke was already 11 weeks old so we have no itty bitty puppy pictures of him (which I hate!). This is the first picture we ever took of Duke.
I remember throwing them together and they actually stayed so I could get a picture of them. You should have seen how they used to chase and play with each other when they were close to the same size. That didn't last long at all!

We had no idea just how much we would love this little black furry guy. Very early on and still today, he only has eyes for Dad.

I don't know if he will ever forgive us for bringing home Roscoe who we bought to be his playmate because we thought Duke was bored outside all day by himself. Can you see the disdain in this picture?

This my favorite picture of you - your first time duke hunting. So handsome in your camoflauge. I insisted that Dad had to buy you a life vest because you were going out on a boat and I had read a story about a hunter's dog drowning earlier that week. You're a mess - you even have mud in your whiskers! You had so much fun though. You slept for days after your first hunting adventure.

You love your kennel and are always going in there for no particular reason. If you hear us yell, you run in there even though you're not in trouble. I think it's your little cave, your safe place.

You are always so happy. Always panting, tail always wagging. I think you're actually smiling here....

And you always have something in your mouth...I don't get it. Duke, you are our perfect dog. You love everyone and everything. Happy 8th birthday, we love you more than words can ever express!

The latest addition to the Turner family

Addison Lorraine Turner was born last night at 8:32 PM. She weighed in at 6 lbs 11 oz and measured 19 inches. We went up to Overlake Hospital today to meet her. We were lucky enough to see big brother Bryce and big sister Alexa who came to visit mom, dad and new baby at this hospital. Everyone is doing great and will be going home tomorrow.

The Wiggins came to town...

Mandy, one of my sorority sisters, came to stay with us on Monday and Tuesday night along with her husband Norton and her daughter Allie. They have been living in Spokane for about 3 years (Norton is in the Air Force) and they just got order to Germany. They had to put the car on a boat for shipping before heading east to visit family before reporting for duty in Germany. The dogs were on exceptionally good behavior and had lots of fun playing with Allie.
Fonz appreciated someone his size throwing the hedgehog of course!

Jason and I both took the day off on Tuesday to "Do the Puyallup" with them. Allie had lots of fun checking out all of the animals.

This was Allie's first fair so we had to document it with a family picture.

Allie was exhausted, look at her putting her head down on Daddy's head. She was so tired that she wanted to climb into the doggie couch on the floor and cover up to go to bed. It was pretty cute! We had a great time with our guests. I get to see them again in a couple of weeks when I'm in North Carolina for a sorority reunion.

Weekend on Whidbey Island

We spent the weekend on Whidbey Island. Both Jason and I had never been there before. I had a sorority meeting and one of the gals in my group has a house in Lagoon Point. Another of the gals' in-laws have a place over there too which is next to Smuggler's Cove Bed and Breakfast. We got there late on Friday after taking the ferry over after work. We woke to our stunning view on Saturday morning. We had amazing weather all weekend.
I went to lunch with the girls over in Greenbank and got this great shot of Mt. Baker.

We went shopping in Langley then headed to Reggie's for a BBQ. She served up lots of beer margaritas. I thought it sounded awful too but they are not. I drank many of them, they were quite tasty!

The sunset at Lagoon Point last night....

We drove around today to see the bridge. I was not too thrilled to walk across it to get better pictures as heights really get to me.

A nice lady with her baby took a picture of us. We had a great time but are glad to be home with the dogs!

If you're going to San Francisco.....

We took a trip down to San Francisco for the long weekend. We had never been before and were really excited to check things out. We had lots of fun riding the cable cars. Waiting in line forever at the one place, not so much.
We went to Chinatown for some dim sum and chicken chow mein....

I loved watching the sea lions, they were everywhere. They smelled pretty bad though....

We went on a bay cruise so we could check out the Golden Gate Bridge. Fortunately, the fog lifted a little so we could see it...

We hiked up the hills to check out Lombard Street, the crookedest street...

We took the bus to Coit Tower and checked out the view of the bridge....we should have waited a little later for our bay cruise!

We got our picture taken at Coit Tower....

A local on the bus ride up told us about some stairs through a garden with wild exotic birds, I loved the parrots...I love Victorian Houses so we took the bus out of the city to check out the "Painted Ladies." Now everyone keeps telling me about it being in the back drop for Full House. So do not remember that!

We went to the Boudin Sourdough Factory Bistro for dinner. Jason chowed down on some clam chowder...

We went and got dessert at a great little chocolate shop....

We took the cable car to the BART station to go home. We were sad to leave and hope to visit again soon!

Who's in charge in our house?

Note: he has possession of both his raccoon and hedgehog. He has also gained possession of the goose and the squirrel. Hmmmmmmm....Notice, no big dogs in sight trying to take them back.

The best part about baths....

Dog pile in the bed! Once they stink, they're not allowed up there anymore!

The big party

We had our "House Re-Warming Party" so everyone could see the changes to the house. We had a full house so I didn't get a lot of pictures but I got a few good ones. Roscoe had fun playing in the backyard. So much so that he collapsed in front of the water bowl. Ceci tried to help him.
I started Snow White on the TV upstairs. You can see that everyone was enthralled. Well, the girls were....

The girls wanted Grami to watch too.....

Bryce and Sophie threw the hedgehog for Fonz...

I had mini-drumsticks for the kids. Sophie and Ceci thought they were pretty good!

Sunset over Queen Anne

We went to a wine tasting for my sorority at my friend's house on Queen Anne with a rooftop deck. This was the sunset from that vantage point. It was a beautiful night but we ended up freezing our butts off! The highlight of the evening was fireworks from a wedding, the display rivaled the show that Ivar's put on for 4th of July.

He's touching me..

They must have been pretty tired. I can't believe that I got close enough to take pictures of them this close together.