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Photograph of Robert Bruce Thompson Barbara Fritchman Thompson Diary

Week of 5 September 2005

Latest Update: Friday 10, September 2005 12:10 p.m.


Monday, 5 September 2005

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Happy Labor Day. The weekly chores are finished, house cleaning and mowing. I edged and used the blower to clean up leaves and debris. It is very much like a fall day here in the Triad. Temperatures are in the low 80's, no humidity, and a nice 5 to 10 mph breeze with clear blue skies. A great day to be outdoors.

Last night we did go up to Bullington. The skies were partly to mostly cloudy when we got up there but a slight wind finally blew things on out. While conditions were not great we did get all the objects in Cepheus bringing out total weekend count of Hershel objects close to 30. I am also working on the Caldwell list, so some of the objects in found as Hershel's also overlapped on my Caldwell list.

We got home right at midnight.

Frances is flying in this evening from Salt Lake City. She has been gone a little over two weeks on part of the 28 day California bus trip with Holiday Tours. Al is driving the trip. She flew out to meet the trip in Colorado and will come home tonight. Al and the remainder of the group will be home this weekend.

I am picking up my folks around 4:45 to go out for dinner then to the airport to pick her up. Dad does not see well enough to drive the interstates at night.

Guess I go watch some of the U.S. Open tennis match, read, and relax for the remainder of the afternoon. Hope you enjoy your day whatever you have going on.

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Tuesday, 6 September 2005

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Another glorious day in the Triad with clear blue skies and temperatures in the low 80's. I walked during my lunch hour. This evening I was off to the gym for a good 50 minute workout.

I finally finished the Alpine Menace and started another mystery by an author I picked up at the library. Bob read it first and said it was good. The author, P.B. Ryan has written three mysterys so far in a series about a young Irish governess, Nell Sweeney set in Boston in the late 1800's. I am reading the first book in the series, Still Life With Murder. Nell gets a job with a wealthy Boston family after they adopt a baby born out of wedlock by one of their servants. In the early part of the book Nell's past history is alluded to only as being very bleak of which she is hiding a deep dark secret. As a reader I am guessing Ryan will gradually unfold her story along with the plot of the book which finds Nell helping her mistress prove her eldest son did not commit a murder he is accused of outside an opium den. The young mans father wants him to hang guilty or not.

The plot is fast moving, I love the characters, and Ryan writes very well. The library does not have the next two books in the series. I shall list them in my little "black book" to look for on future used/new bookstore shopping forays.

Duncan has been having a spell of less than perfect health. He hurt his left front leg or shoulder somehow and has been limping off and on pretty bad. Last Thursday he vomited then did so again both Sunday and yesterday.

While it is not unusual for dogs to throw up periodically, the frequency and content has me a bit concerned as it appears he was not digesting his food very well. He seems to be feeling better today along with eating a rather decent dinner but the limping has continued.

I will keep a close eye on things and if they do not improve and/or we have another bout of vomiting I guess I will have to call the vet for an appointment.

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Wednesday, 7 September 2005

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While we are very busy at work at least today was not a Wacky Wednesday. The weather remains beautiful. All these clear nights and not able to observe due to Bob not feeling well and it being work nights. Oh well.

I did the weekly grocery store run on the way home. Otherwise, things are pretty quiet. Duncan seems to be feeling better though he is still limping on the front leg off and on.



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Thursday, 8 September 2005

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Upon arriving at work this morning I did the usual opening of my Outlook mail program. Shortly thereafter up popped a meeting message reminding me of my Friends meeting. I thought my calendar reminder program had gone haywire or something when, lo and behold, it really is the second Thursday of the month. For some reason I had my weeks all mixed up thinking this being the first full week of the month it would also be the first Thursday.

I called Bob to let him know I would be late and to ask him if he would grab my Friends folder from my desk and bring it out to me as I swung by on my way to the library after work. We had a very long and busy meeting with the upcoming book sale preparations to finalize and getting the new branch head up to speed on how things operate. She had a lot of questions which we ran out of time to handle but by next month she will be a little more settled in.

My sister called me at work this morning. She had taken her new digital camera we bought her to the new processing kiosk recently opened by one of the one hour photo places near her house. I previewed the pictures quickly the other night when we picked her up and told her most of them looked like they came out really well. She was so excited to see the pictures processed from the card to prints and learned how to crop, fix brightness issues, etc. In addition to the 104 pictures on the card she had 8 little disposable cameras. I look forward to seeing the pictures from her trip.

Weather...well, we continue to have cool nights, warm but not hot days with clear blue skies. It is very dry on the surface which means the grass is looking a little pale and bare in spots but a good rain will bring it back to life again. 



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Friday, 9 September 2005

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No update.


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Saturday, 10 September 2005

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Happy 22nd anniversary to Bob. Last night we had a great time doing some in town observing. We drove around the corner, so to speak, to the soccer field in the neighborhood directly west of us where Steve lives. We set up chairs and the scope, grabbed out binoculars and spend a couple of hours hunting down deep sky objects and double stars. It was a very clear night though the transparency went downhill pretty quickly around 11 when we call it a night. I did a little bit of lunar stuff while waiting on it to get dark. Most of the objects we have seen before at Bullington or Fancy Gap but the trick is to find them in the city with local lights, etc.

It was a lot of fun and much less intense. We are, as my boss at work calls it, in the red zone here at the Thompson Techno Grotto. Bob is on short deadline to get the book finished in the next five weeks. While he cannot work all the time, I will try to take over as much of the small household stuff as I can to give him work time.

This morning was the usual house cleaning chores. We did sleep in until around 8 after not getting to bed until after midnight. I will help Bob with the laundry today. He changed the blade in my mower by to the catching blade. I set the mower down one notch and mowed up leaves and other debris down at dirt level from mulching during the summer. With the prolonged dry spell the grass was not very high but mowing it a 1/4 inch shorter cleans it up real nice. Plus, the leaves are already starting to fall. With the breeze today, they are falling like snow due in part to the dry weather of late. As you know once leave seasons starts I feel like I have as many in the house as I do in the yard tracking them in on our shoes and the dogs fur.

Speaking of dogs, today they get their fall bath and most likely last one for the year. Hope you have a great weekend.


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Sunday, 11 September 2005

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