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Barbara Fritchman Thompson Diary

Week of 23 June 2008

Latest Update: Sunday, 29 June 2008 1:00 p.m.


Monday, 23 June 2008

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Bob took time out from his busy schedule to download and post my pictures from my trip on Saturday.  

The sign behind the tall flowers indicates this section of flowers are deer resistant.

I told Bob when I took close ups I included the sign so I would not have to remember what I took pictures of. I might try to plant this next year.

One of the many test beds, this one of flowers. The veggies are to the left of the bed where those folks are standing.



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Tuesday, 24 June 2008

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I forgot to mention the movie we watched coming home Saturday. Holiday Tours has a license to show movies. I have seen some really good ones over the years that I most likely would never have heard of or watched. They also show a couple of really good comedians. Obviously the movies/comedians are good family entertainment. The one we saw Saturday was Eight Below about a guide who runs a sled dog team at a science base in Antarctica. While on a trip with a scientist both the guide and the scientist are injured during a blizzard. The team gets them back to base camp but all must fly out leaving the dogs. The pilot was to return immediately to get them but was unable to. The story goes back and forth between showing the dogs and the guide once he makes it back to the states. Another excellent dog movie.

I finished reading the Craig/Tapply last night and started a new Nancy Martin who writes the Blackbird Sister mysteries, Murder Melts in Your Mouth.

The Rescue Mission, a local non-profit that helps the homeless, picked up my two old lawn mowers today. They will repair them to sell in their outlet store. The one old mower was actually dad's at one time. When he bought a new one I kept the old one as a backup. I had to use it a couple of times when mine was in the shop.

Last night was gym night, tonight I came home and mowed. With the dry weather it was not all that high but the forecast for the rest of the week is to be back into the low to mid 90's. 

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Wednesday, 25 June 2008

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No update.



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Thursday, 26 June 2008

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Just dropping in to say hello. Not really much in the news other than weather. The temperatures at noon were in the low 90's so I skipped walking and read instead. When I left work it looked like a storm was coming in. But, by the time I got to the gym it looked like it was going to go past us. It has been like that all week, rain to the north or south of us. I rained a few drops on the way home. When we walked the dogs after dinner we checked the outside rain gage which read a tenth of an inch. Not enough to register on the inside gage.

We been watching Lovejoy, Eureka, and a new version of Robin Hood. All the actors and actresses are excellent but the actor playing the sheriff is really good.



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Friday, 27 June 2008

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No update.



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Saturday, 28 June 2008

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Around four o'clock yesterday afternoon I was checking the weather to see if any rain was coming in. A pretty good sized storm was just reaching us here at home. I called Bob to let him know in case he wanted to take the dogs out before it hit. We only got .33 inches of rain but evidently a lot of wind. I had limbs and sticks down all over the place when I got home. It had passed through here and downtown by the time I left work and headed to the grocery store.

Bob got up at 7 with dogs and I got up around 8. I had to made a trip out to Lowe's Home Center to pick up a few things I needed for yard projects today. I let the dogs help in front yard while I picked up sticks and limbs and pulled a few weeds from the flower bed and natural areas. Then I put them in the house while I edged. I will not be able to mow again until we get a substantial rain. Other than the Bermuda the grass is looking a little brownish and not growing much. After I cleaned up the mess from edging I came in to take a break and eat lunch. It was hot in the sun even though the temperatures were only in the low 80's. A good breeze would come up every once in awhile. 

After lunch I took the dogs down back while I cleaned and pulled weeds. We played a little ball in between the work. Malcolm has been bouncing off the walls the last couple of days. I wanted him to get a chance to really run around and burn some energy. Duncan is doing fair. I'm not sure if it is the actual heat or the humidity that makes his back end weak. He had several falls yesterday while outside on his walk. He did pretty good today. After I finished the clean up I planted the tree rose in the big plastic planter I bought at Lowe's.

I did some reading during the week on line and in my garden book about the tree rose. The area of South Carolina where Park Seed is located borderlines the zone 7 & 8. The rest of SC is 8 which usually on gets down to between 10 and 20 degrees in winter. We are in zone 7 which averages 0 10 10 degrees. From what I read tree roses do best in as low as 8. 7 and lower they need to be protected in winter. Now, we very rarely get the 0 to 10 here in the Piedmont. If we do it usually only lasts for a couple of days. The recommended procedure for cold weather is bring it indoors for the winter or cover the top of the plant with burlap or similar material. I decided to plant my tree rose in a large planter. That way I can either bring it in this winter or move it to a protected area near the house. I moved a couple of my bedding plants from the front to plant around the base of the tree rose to make the top of the planter look a little more attractive. I put the planter by the steps to the deck where it will get a lot of sunshine.

That's about all for today. I had a very busy week at work. I think I shall take the rest of the day off and rest. Last night I finished reading the Blackbird Sisters mystery. Today I shall start one of the China Bayles I have in my library stack.



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Sunday, 29 June 2008

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We have had a rather exciting Sunday morning. The phone woke me with a weird ring at 6:50 which was followed by all sorts of beeps and rings. We had lost power setting off UPS all over the place. Not sure why the phone rung. I While Bob shut down systems and turned off the infernal beeping I took the dogs out. Bob called 1-800-PowerOn to find out how long the outage would be. The recording said fixed by 10am this morning. Bob went back to bed, I stretched out on the sofa. Not able to sleep I went back to bed to read. The bedroom gets the morning sun making it bright enough to read without needing light. I read several chapters in the China Bayles, Lavender Lies I started last night before getting sleepy enough to put my book down and try to get in some additional snoozing. The house came alive at 9am waking me back up.

The dogs and I got back up. I gave them their morning vitamins/pills and fixed me a bowl of cereal before settling down with the Sunday paper. When Bob got up he started resetting the network, etc. only to discover the router was dead. After checking the Sunday Best Buy ad to see if they had what he needed I called to find out they did not open until 11. While he took his shower I penned up the dogs to give the house a quick run through with vacuum. After he got dressed, Bob vacuumed under his desk where he pulled out the router and ups equipment.

It took about an hour to drive over to Best Buy, shop, and home again. I took the dogs out back for some playtime while Bob worked on getting us back up. The temperatures had jumped pretty quickly from a pleasant 75 to close to 90. We had brief storm come by us yesterday afternoon, the bulk of it went south, giving us another .28 inches of rain.

Poor Malcolm. With July 4th next Friday they had the fireworks tents set up in the parking lot of the grocery store around the corner. Last night kids has already started firing them off. One bang and he makes a beeline for the house pulling like a train. They do not bother him while he is indoors. I am sure it will be like that all week.

This afternoon I shall finish up the house cleaning, clear off my desk, and pay some bills. Another weekend gone already.


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