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Barbara Fritchman Thompson Diary Week of 7 April 2003 Latest Update: Sunday, 27 April 2003 08:37 |
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Monday, 7 April 2003 [Last Week] [Monday] [Tuesday] [Wednesday] [Thursday] [Friday] [Saturday] [Sunday] [Next Week] |
| Thank you Marcia
for catching my goof on my post for last Saturday. I told everyone to
turn their clocks back when I meant to type forward. Apparently my brain
and hands were not communicating.
Remember the ice storm pictures a few weeks ago? And last Sunday morning it was snowing. Well, here is a picture of that same backyard taken this morning. My baby dogwood has bloomed, the red bud tree has busted forth with color and my primroses have bloomed. Looks a heck of a lot better than it did the first week of March.
I have a busy afternoon today. When I leave work at noon I am going to Best Buy to pick up a combination TV/VCR for Lenore. Her television has gone south so we decided to get her one of these combined units so she could watch movies and other things we tape like Masterpiece Theater and Mystery. I also am going to purchase another cordless phone for us. After Best Buy I need to make a couple more stops before making my 2:30 haircut appointment. On the way home I will stop off to pick up Bob so we can go over and set up Lenore's television. Hopefully we can get this done in time for dinner early enough that I can make the 6:30 Body Pump class. [Top] |
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Tuesday, 8 April 2003 [Last Week] [Monday] [Tuesday] [Wednesday] [Thursday] [Friday] [Saturday] [Sunday] [Next Week] |
| If you have not read the latest Rhys Bowen mystery, Evan
Only Knows, I recommend it highly. She started this Evans book off a
little differently from her others in the series but it is equally as
interesting and entertaining to read. Evan and his fiancé, Bronwen,
take off on a holiday to visit his mother and her parents to announce
their upcoming nuptials. Evan was due to start plainclothes training
when the outbreak of hoof and mouth disease cancelled those plans. To
keep Evan from having to play the heavy in enforcing the Ministry of
Ag's slaughtering of all the sheep in his home village of Llanfair, he
convinces his superiors he should be granted passionate leave to visit
his "sick" mom. Upon his return to his hometown he learns Tony
Mancino, the kid who killed his father while on the Job five years
earlier, had just been arrested for the rape and murder of a local rich
families daughter. After Evan has a chance to talk with Tony he feels
Tony is not guilty of this particular crime. Angered because he only
spent four years in a youth detention home and released, Evan still
feels if Tony is innocent he should not go to jail for a crime he did
not commit. Rather than spend the week with Browen visiting her parents,
Evan returns back to his hometown to help the local police solve the
crime.
______________________________________________________ I found a television at Best Buy. Bob and I had it installed and back home back 4:00. I fixed an early dinner and then headed off to the gym. This afternoon I need to work on contract work and clean up my office. I have stuff stacked on my desk and the floor around my chair that need to be taken care of. The weather was absolutely foul yesterday and will remain so the rest of the week. Cold and rainy with the temperatures staying right at 42 degrees all day. We had to turn the heat back on and pull out those newly washed coat and hats. While I was out yesterday I picked up some soil at Lowe's to fill in some bare spots in the lawn and reseed. I hope to get to that this week while we are having these rain showers. [Top] |
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Wednesday, 9 April 2003 [Last Week] [Monday] [Tuesday] [Wednesday] [Thursday] [Friday] [Saturday] [Sunday] [Next Week] |
| With Bob doing head down in the dirt work on finishing up
the book he is not taking time to visit Lenore. That means I need to do
more than run over for an hour and leave. Yesterday I came home from
work, changed, and ate lunch at my desk while I checked mail. I then
took about 10 minutes to play with the dogs outside before coming back
in and getting settled in for a couple hours of work. I quite around
3:00 just as Tom called to let me know he was sending me a couple more
research assignments. After I got off the phone with him I took off to
visit Lenore, staying over there until almost 5:30.
By the time I got back home and fixed a quick dinner for us and we walked the dogs it was going on 7 already. I worked for another hour and half before calling it quits for the evening and getting this post ready. Today, I need to do the grocery store stop on the way home. After I give the guys some attention it will be heads down in the dirt work for me as well.
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Thursday, 10 April 2003 [Last Week] [Monday] [Tuesday] [Wednesday] [Thursday] [Friday] [Saturday] [Sunday] [Next Week] |
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After we unpacked the groceries yesterday and I gave the guys a chance to play outside I did a quick mail check then took off for the gym to work out. I needed to clear some cobwebs in ye old brain before trying to sit down and switch gears to my afternoon job. After the gym I visited Lenore then came home and worked for about an hour before starting dinner. I worked another two hours after dinner before finally calling it quits for the day. The dogs needs some evening ball playing time. It will be straight home from work this afternoon. I have a Friends meeting at 4:30 so I want to get in a good couple of hours of work before I leave for the library. Afterward I am meeting Betsy and Nancy for dinner at a nearby Mexican restaurant.
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Friday, 11 April 2003 [Last Week] [Monday] [Tuesday] [Wednesday] [Thursday] [Friday] [Saturday] [Sunday] [Next Week] |
| It's late Thursday evening. Bob is still working hard on
the book deadline and I am trying to hold down the fort. The weather
here is cold, wet, and flooding. AGAIN. Streams are out of their banks
again since it has been raining pretty much non-stop since
Tuesday.
I did not get my couple of hours of work in before my meeting yesterday. I came straight home from work and got started at my computer by 12:30. Around 1:15 I decided to take the dogs out for a quick walk since the rain had slacked off. While I was outside with them my dad called. He had called me Wednesday night just as I was going to bed because he had discovered his wall phone in the kitchen had not been ringing all day. He couldn't understand why he had messages on his machine but the phone hadn't rung. He called me just in case I had been trying to call him, which I had, but thought they had just gone off somewhere. I told him to check to make sure the ringer was turned on and I would call him back. I also told him to turn on the ringer on his cordless so he would know the phone was ringing. When I called him back, the phone still did not ring. At this point I told him the ringer on the phone must not be working and he would need to get a new phone. When he called me yesterday afternoon he was all confused thinking he had to call AT&T to get a new phone and did not understand about being able to just go to Best Buy, purchase a phone, and plug it in. I could tell he was hesitant about what to do so I told him I would be right over and go with him to get a new one. I got over to his house, took the phone off the wall, unhooked all the cords, etc so we could take just the base along to make sure we got a phone that would fit the wall plate. He looked at the base and saw "ringer" off. He thought the ringer was the switch on the handset that controls the volume and did know the ringer switch was on the base. Oh well. He does well for 81 years of age but I am seeing him get more confused about things. I hope it is not a sign of things to come. I told him not to worry about it, the phone was fixed, and I still had time to visit Lenore before my meeting. I got over to the nursing home about 3:45 and spent an hour with her before heading on over to the library. Nancy, Betsy and I had a nice dinner and visit. I guess I got home around 8. It's time to walk the dogs and get to bed.
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Saturday, 12 April 2003 [Last Week] [Monday] [Tuesday] [Wednesday] [Thursday] [Friday] [Saturday] [Sunday] [Next Week] |
| Hey, it's the weekend and the sun is shinning. What could
be better? Although I have to spend a lot of the weekend working I will
enjoy some of this fine weather being outside with the dogs and doing
yard work. I had already told my dad I would not have time to play golf
this weekend due to my contract work but with the repeat of the flooding
we have a couple of weeks ago all the courses will still be under water
anyway.
I am off to the gym this morning followed by the regular Saturday morning Lenore visit. This afternoon I am meeting one of our foster mom's to pick up a dog and take it out to the family I did the home visit on last weekend. Later on I need to mow the lawn. In between all these activities I will get some work in before and after dinner tonight. Things are rolling along at the Thompson Techno Grotto. Bob is hard at work on the book. He did take a break for dinner last night and went with me to visit his mom. We picked up take out at a nearby deli and had dinner with her. Last night we just sat around reading and relaxing after a very long week for both of us. I am taking a break from reading mysteries and picked up a non-fiction book from my TBR pile, The Hardscrabble Chronicles by Laurie Bogart Morrow. Morrow details her and her husband life when they move to this small New England Town. Laurie bases this book on the famous articles that were written by Corey Ford. For thirty years, from 1923 until 1953, legendary Field & Stream columnist Corey Ford owned the Lower Forty in a small New England town that he dubbed "Hardscrabble" to shield its identity. However, Laurie reveals Hardscrabble really is a small town of 623 people. Her stories chronicle her life in this small town, her love of the people and lots of funny, funny dog stories. She, like myself, feel like dogs are the essence of peoples lives by telling stories of events in the town always involving a dog or two. The stories are not just dog stories but recollections of events from the local town fair to the harsh winters in New England. It just so happens that a dog will also appear in the story as either a major or minor character. If you love small town life, dogs, nature, and good people I highly recommend this work. If, like me, you have had a hectic week you can leave your own world and "visit" this small relaxing New England town for a relaxing change of pace. [Top] |
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[Last Week] [Monday] [Tuesday] [Wednesday] [Thursday] [Friday] [Saturday] [Sunday] [Next Week] |
| Short post this morning. Bob started the laundry and is
off to visit Lenore. I have cleaned up my office and desk and will now
get started on the house. I will take a break this afternoon and watch
the race from Martinsville. Later this afternoon and tonight I need to
get some work done. I sent of one edited biography last night and need
to get the other one finished and ready to send off.
The family I delivered the dog to yesterday afternoon fell in love with him right away. I came home and mowed the lawn. For dinner last night I barbecued ribs and chops on the dinner and fixed broccoli and cheese to go along with them. I made enough to have one leftover meal for tonight. As usual it has been a busy and productive weekend. [Top] |
