TTG Home » Barbara Home » Diary Home » 29 October 2001 Diary Page
Week of 29 October 2001 Latest
Update: Saturday, 26 April 2003 08:53 |
|
|
Monday, 29 October 2001 [Last Week] [Monday] [Tuesday] [Wednesday] [Thursday] [Friday] [Saturday] [Sunday] [Next Week] |
| Yes, we are back. And what a wonderful time we had at the
Cape Fear Crime Festival. It was very much like being at a small library
conference. We left Winston around 11 on Thursday morning and arrived in
Wilmington about 2:30. After checking in to our hotel, The Hampton Inn, I
took a little walk around outside to stretch my legs and enjoy the
sunshine.
We ate dinner next door at the Port City Chop House. I had cream of broccoli soup, Bob had the shrimp bisque with both of us ordering the grilled lamp chops. I had asparagus with mine and Bob got the mashed potatoes. Very good food. Too bad the bread was sooooo good. I ate three rolls. Than back to the hotel to read and relax. We left the hotel the next morning around 8:30 to go to the library where the conference was to be held. The building holds the library, a large meeting room and a business/education branch of UNCW. Hard to believe it was a former grocery store. I stood in line to register us. The volunteer could not find Bob on the list but had a Richard Thompson. It turns out that was him. So, I left with one husband and returned with another one named Richard. We very quickly found the 9 am meeting. After that we spent most of the conference going in our own directions. I was on a panel about community resources at 10 and Bob attended another session. In between panel session there was book readings and signings. For dinner each night the authors sat a small tables grouped for six people. The first night we ate with Jan Burke, the second night with Ridley Pearson. Other authors I really enjoyed meeting and talking with include Sue Henry and her friend Kate Grilley, Tamar Myers, Peter Robinson, and Mari Ulmer. Everyone who attended from the authors to the fans were very nice. Both days we were at the conference from 8:30 in the morning until 9:00 at night. Nicki Leone and her band of volunteers and board members put on a very impressive first time conference. We left Wilmington at 9 am and got back home a little after 12:30. The dogs were very happy to see us of course. I spent the afternoon getting things organized and unpacking while watching the race from Phoenix. This morning I am off to get my hair cut then back home to take Lenore to the doctor. This afternoon I will clean this very nasty house. Between dog hair and leaves it is utterly disgusting. While the beautiful clear blue skies and cool fall weather is nice we are almost ten inches below normal in rain. There is now a ban on outside burning until we get some. [Top] |
|
Tuesday, 30 October 2001 [Last Week] [Monday] [Tuesday] [Wednesday] [Thursday] [Friday] [Saturday] [Sunday] [Next Week] |
| Busy, busy day. I returned home from Lenore's doctor
appointment right at noon. After a very quick bite to eat I got started
with the house cleaning. I finished up around 2:15 and promptly went
outside to get started on the lawn. Leaves, leaves, and more leaves.
It took about an hour or so to blow all the ones in the back yard. As I started moving them to the front curb up the driveway my neighbor was doing his front yard. He was helping me move them up the drive along with his. I went in to get Bob and while we raked the big piles to the street he blew the smaller ones behind us. Once we finished the back Bob helped me get started on the front. All in all it took about two and a half hours to get the leaves up. I plan on mowing the lawn on Wednesday. Most of the trees have dropped their leaves except one small maple in the back and the neighbor's Bradford Pear along the driveway. They are not all gone but what we got up yesterday constituted most of them. We had leftover pizza and Pasta Anytime for dinner. Than last night I paid bills and sorted out my desk while waiting on my call from Southern Foods to place an order. We watched Angel, walked the dogs, and I was off to bed. With the time change we were up yesterday around 6:30 instead of 7:30 and after the long day I did not make it through more than a few pages of my book. By the way I am reading the first Donna Andrews mystery Murder With Peacocks. I reported on her other mystery last week, Murder With Penguins which is her second. This one is equally funny. This morning I am off to SciWorks for a few hours. This afternoon I need to finish up some indoor stuff I was too tired to do yesterday and work on some other projects. Tonight is gym class, so early dinner.
[Top] |
|
Wednesday, 31 October 2001 [Last Week] [Monday] [Tuesday] [Wednesday] [Thursday] [Friday] [Saturday] [Sunday] [Next Week] |
| The rain situation, or lack there of, is becoming pretty
serious in the Triad area. We normally average around 38" to 41"
of precipitation a year. Most of that in the form of rain. Every few years
we get a winter where we have some decent snowfall but not all that often.
So far for the year we have had just over 27". It has not rained
significantly since back in late August with no rain in September or
October. I have cracks in the lawn big enough for a small mammal to fall
into.
This morning I am off to the gym to do a light workout. After last nights two classes Buns and Thighs and Spinning I need to work out those muscles a little. First I have to pick up the dogs heart worm medicine at the vet. After gym it is off to the library to drop of books and see if we have any reserves and then on to the grocery store. This afternoon I will mow the lawn mainly to clean up the rest of the leaves and catch some of the high spots. I have been watering since I put out the seed and fertilizer but it is just too dry to help much. If and when we get a few days of rain I am going to have to reseed the bare spots once again. Tonight is to be clear with a full moon. And Halloween too!. We are off to Bullington for some observing. Perhaps we will see a witch fly across the moon on her broom. According to the paper this morning this is the first time we have had a full moon for Halloween in something like 50 years and the next one will not be until the year 2020. Watch out for the ghosts and goblins. [Top] |
|
Thursday, 1 November 2001 [Last Week] [Monday] [Tuesday] [Wednesday] [Thursday] [Friday] [Saturday] [Sunday] [Next Week] |
| Bob and I left for Bullington around five o'clock. By the
time we got up there Bonnie was already there getting her scope up. We set
up just the 10" since the moon was pretty much all we would be able
to see. But what an awesome sight it was. Just before it came up over
Pilot Mountain you could see the glow from the moon behind the knob.
Slowly it rose above the knob first a little peak of it and then in full
view. As it rose the trees atop the knob were lit and shadowed by the moon
making the scene more wonderful than words can describe.
Once the moon was up full in the sky it pretty much made viewing anything else impossible. It was actually bright enough that you could read a newspaper by the moon light. We did not see any witches fly by but did see a couple of jets. After experimenting with several filters to see the moon blue, red, orange, etc we were pretty much done with our viewing. Around 7:45 we did see Saturn come up over the left side of the mountain and the Pleiades could be viewed through binoculars. We left to come home around 8:30 since I need to leave early this morning to go play golf with my dad. Than Bob and I are playing hand off Lenore this afternoon. She has a 1:30 doctor appointment on the other side of town. Rather than have to cancel my golf game just to get her to the doctor Bob is taking her over. As soon as I finish up I will go over and meet him there and he can come on home. That way he will not have to waste his entire afternoon waiting with her. I can waste mine instead and he can come back home and get some work done. We are usually finished playing by noon or so and by the time we eat lunch it should come out just right. Trouble is, you never know. We could get behind a slow group or something and be running late. When I get home I need to pack the car with the merchandise stuff for CBCR. We have a sheep trial we are selling our stuff at in Rural Hill which is only about 45 minutes or so from here. I need to leave pretty early Friday to get there and help Nancy set up the tent and get our stuff out. This trial draws a lot of people many of which are families and we usually do pretty good at this one. Guess tonight we will watch West Wing which we taped Wednesday night and then I watch ER. [Top] |
|
Friday, 2 November 2001 [Last Week] [Monday] [Tuesday] [Wednesday] [Thursday] [Friday] [Saturday] [Sunday] [Next Week] |
| First, my sincere wishes of sympathy to Brian
and Marcia on the loss
of Brian's grandmother. Our thoughts are with you!
Lovely fall morning to play golf here in the Carolina's. We finished up early enough for me to have time to go back by the house and pick up my mom who joined us for lunch. After I dropped them off back at their house I headed over to the doctor's office to meet Bob and Lenore. They had arrived early enough before me for Bob to get Lenore in and settled. He left and came back home. It was around 2:30 by the time we got back. After checking mail and other assorted tasks I went back down to the basement to load the car with CBCR stuff for the Rural Hill Sheepdog Trial. I participated in this event a couple of years ago and it is a lot of fun. It draws big crowds of adults and kids who come to watch the dogs work sheep, listen to music, eat good food, and just have an all around good time. We usually sell a lot of stuff at this event. I need to leave the house around 7:30. Nancy Jackson is meeting me with the tent, I have the merchandise, around 9 am. We need to get set up before a lot of the crowds began to filter in. I imagine I will not be home until around dinner time or later depending on when we decide to call it quits for the day. I will be going back down on Saturday but will pack things up and come home around mid-afternoon. [Top] |
|
Saturday, 3 November 2001 [Last Week] [Monday] [Tuesday] [Wednesday] [Thursday] [Friday] [Saturday] [Sunday] [Next Week] |
| Yesterday by the time we got the tent set up, the
merchandise out, and everything settled it was going on 11:00. We did a
fair amount of business from around 11 to 1. The crowd was pretty sparse
because of it being a work day. Most of the dogs running were in
beginning/nursery class. Today the higher level of herding ability dogs
will be running and of course we will have bigger crowds since it is a
weekend.
It was also hot as blazes with temperatures in the mid-seventies and sunny. It was supposed to be cool, cloudy, and near 70. There is a slight forecast of rain for today but we are under a tent so it does not matter. Just make everything damp and drippy. Tonight our vet friend, Sue Stephens, is coming for dinner. We are going to the Chinese place. I will need to pack up things and get home in time for a shower and change of cloths but she is not arriving until six. [Top] |
|
[Last Week] [Monday] [Tuesday] [Wednesday] [Thursday] [Friday] [Saturday] [Sunday] [Next Week] |
| I still have not got my body clock back on regular time
yet. I woke up yesterday morning around 6 o'clock. Since I was awake
anyway I decided I might as well get up, dress, and leave the house to
head back over to the sheep dog trial. By skipping paper reading/hall ball
playing with the dogs and eating breakfast I thought maybe Bob might get a
chance to sleep in a little.
I knew the garage door would wake him when I left but that he would go back to sleep. I closed the bedroom door when I left and kept the dogs out hoping my plan would work. I left in a pretty heavy fog which fortunately lifted by the time I got over to the Interstate. I arrived at my exit around 7:30 and stopped for gas and to grab some orange juice and a pastry for breakfast. I was at the sheep trial, set up and ready for the day by 8:00. It was hot, hotter than yesterday. Thank goodness we have the big tent we put up to sit under. Over all, we made $700 for CBCR. And, the best part is four different people came by with rescue dogs we had placed with them over the past two years. It is so much fun to see these dogs in good homes and how happy the families are. It is very rewarding. We talked to three new families willing to foster for us, several that wanted to adopt, and others who are going to apply later when they are ready to adopt. That is the whole idea behind the tent. Exposure. People learn about us and what we do for the dogs. Nancy and I started trying to pack up around 2:00 but people kept coming over to buy stuff. I was three thirty before I was finally able to get away. I plenty of time to get home before Sue arrived so I was not worried. I got home shortly before five. After a quick shower I played with the dogs and checked my mail. Sue arrived right at 6 on the dog. We went for Chinese at our favorite place then came home and set up the telescope in the front yard. Sue was able to view the moon and Saturn through the telescope and see the Pleiades with binoculars. She left at 9:30, we gave the dogs a quick out, got Lenore ready for bed and I went to bed to read until I was about to fall asleep. Again, this morning I woke up at 6:30. Guess it will take another week or so to get back on track with my body's time clock. This morning I will do the regular house cleaning. I also need to unload my truck with all the CBCR stuff. As usual after a busy week I have a nice stack of stuff to go through on my side table in the den and both my desks looks like a disaster areas. With fall winding down and winter on the way I have a long list of indoor projects I want to get done when I will no longer have the outdoor stuff to keep me busy. [Top] |