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Barbara Fritchman Thompson Diary

Week of 25 March 2000 (Week 13)

Monday, 28 April 2003 07:02

Sporadic reflections that recount the events of my life

wpoison

Saturday, 25 March 2000

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Laura and I are off this morning to deliver Tess to her new family. We have a gorgeous day for traveling. We are meeting them in Durham, which is about an hour and half to two hour drive. On the way back we are doing a home visit in Burlington.

That will be most of the day for me. Should be a fun outing.

I spent about three hours at the library yesterday afternoon working on book sale stuff. The branch supervisor and I culled out the junk left over from the last sale and organized the incoming books. They get roughly several hundred pounds of donations a week. Problem is, a lot of it is just pure junk. Please, if you are making a donation of materials to your local library make sure the books and magazines are in good condition and current. If you have mildewed books and old ratty stuff that you don't want, neither do they. Good condition, fairly new depending on the subject and fiction that is not over ten years old is what most libraries need. 

Sunday, 26 March 2000

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Oh the joys of modern conveniences. This morning while I clean house my oven is cleaning itself. I try to do this a couple of times a year. I use the oven a lot but not for a lot of cooking that creates a lot of spatters such as roasts and hams. I still clean the racks by hand, which I can do this afternoon.

We handed off Tess yesterday to her new family. I hope they are all happy. I am sure we will hear from the family one way or the other.

Bob and I watched Saving Private Ryan last night. Since neither one of us cares anything about going to see movies in the theater; and going to the video store is just too much hassle to me, we have to wait for one of the non-commercial stations to air the ones we wish to see.

We had tapes the movie several weeks ago and last night was a good night to watch an almost three hour movie. With dog and mom interruptions that usually translates to around 3 and half or four for us. The movie was good. I love Tom Hanks in almost anything he does. I can see how WWII veterans would have a very hard time watching that movie. It seemed very real to me and reminded me of those good old classis WWII movies made back in the '70's and '80 when producers used a long list of famous actors to fill the rolls. 

Today is race day. I will finish up the house work, take my shower and settle in to watch. Bristol should be pretty exciting. I have a ton of snail mail and stuff to do tonight including paying the bills. I try to do that on Sunday night after dinner.

Another beautiful spring day in the Carolinas.

Monday, 27 March 2000

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Well yesterday turned out to be busier than I like my Sunday's to be, but that's okay. I did about five loads of laundry and still have two left to do today. I ended up washing the mattress cover since I rotated the mattress and did a load for Lenore on top of our load of regular cloths and the sheets. 

The oven cleaned itself but I do the racks and I cleaned the microwave real good. We had an easy dinner and Bob cleaned up the kitchen real good. About nine I was sitting in the den reading when I remembered I had not remade the bed. 

I did watch most of the race between doing other things and cat napping twice. 

Off to the gym this morning for spinning class and than back home. I will finish the laundry today.

Malcolm is in his thieving age. He stills things that I don't even know where he found them. I try to keep everything that may injure him or that I don't want chewed up high. But he still manages to get things. I will be sitting in my office working with one ear tuned to the rest of the house. When I hear strange tearing noises or he gets very quiet I go out to investigate. He will have something he stole from a wastebasket or counter top and have it shredded all over the den. I will be glad when he outgrows this stage, which he will.

Tuesday, 28 March 2000

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Another lovely spring day. I am working at home this morning and then going over to my sisters house to help her to with some yard projects.  Looks like we have a nice day for it.

Yesterday was a rainy, dreary day. I brought Kerry upstairs to visit with us for the afternoon since I was working in my office most of the time. The hardwood floors make it hard for him to get up and down. So I only do it for short periods of time. At one point I looked around my office. I had Duncan under my desk, Malcolm under the other desk and Kerry was laying in the middle of the floor behind my chair. Normally Kerry is terrified of thunder. I heard a few rumbles but nothing severe. All the dogs just laid around sleeping ignoring the thunder. 

I will brush them all this morning before I head out to Frances's.  

I started a new novel last night. I am reading The Lucky Ones by Doris Mortman. I am going through what I call my "junk" fiction phase. Periodically I go through these spells of reading light fiction rather than the more literary authors I enjoy. As long as it is well written I don't mind the light romance. Sometimes I just need the mental break. The other odd thing about the book is the setting. Published in 1997, it is a presidential campaign blood fest set around an international political crisis. Not one of my favorite topics but rather appropriate reading for the present time. 

Wednesday, 29 March 2000

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Short post today. Just routine stuff going on. 

This morning off to the gym, store and bank. This afternoon mow the yard. I am also meeting our vet at the park. I have been concerned about a limp the Duncan gets when he runs after a short period of time. She is going to watch him in action and see if she can diagnose what may be causing the problem. We have a wonderful vet that is very concerned about her patients. Everyone should be so lucky.

Thursday, 30 March 2000

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Duncan and Malcolm enjoyed their romp around the park yesterday. Our vet was not really able to draw any conclusions on Duncan's limp. The good news is we know what it isn't. She ruled out several conditions that had me quite worried. We have narrowed it down to two or three. To know for sure, we will most likely have to x-ray his hips and knee to see for sure what is going on.

The weather this morning looks rather iffy, so I will not chance playing golf in the rain. I really need to go "malling" this morning anyway. I an not a big fan of shopping or going to the mall. But, I need to pick up a few things. I also need to make a pet store stop on the way home.

A sad note for the readers of the Winston-Salem Journal newspaper. We have a column called "Ask Sam". Questions ranged from the absurd to the serious. Being a librarian, I always enjoyed his column and often read questions and answers on some topics I was interested in as well. Once a year the newspaper ran the truly silly inquiries that came in during the year that were never posted.

In my twenty years working at the public library reference desk, I certainly had my share of silly and ridiculous telephone and in-person questions.  One I will never forget is from when I worked at the old Reynolda Manor Branch Library. It we right up the street from a movie theater which has been renovated to house the new Branch.  A lady phoned and asked if there was a lot of people at the movies. I guess she really wanted to know if there was line waiting at the box office. I just wondered why she didn't call the theater? Oh well.

Friday, 31 March 2000

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  Bob took some pictures of the guys lounging on the couch. Dated March 18, so Malcolm is almost six months old here. Two more of the same at different angles are on my Border Collie page.

I am going to have to start writing my next day column the day before while Malcolm is taking a nap. He always wants to play first thing in the morning. Here is a typical morning at my desk. I always do my column right after I eat breakfast:

Type two words- throw the ball, type a sentence while Malcolm is helping by stealing something off my desk or nudging my hand. Type a few lines, jump up to see what that crash, bang, whine is all about. Throw the ball. Type a few more lines. Oh well, you get the picture.

No update on Saturday and I will try to do one Sunday night. I am leaving about 6:30 am Saturday morning for Charlotte. Takes about an hour and a half. Several of our state flyball teams, Blockade Runners, First in  Flight and Triad Dog Sports are sponsoring an international tournament at the kennel club. CBCR is doing the dinner for the handlers that night with proceeds going to CBCR, Also, several of our volunteers run on the Triad Dog Sports team. I will be working the CBCR sales table and helping with the dinner. It is not over until 9:00pm and in runs all day Sunday. Rather than drive home late and back the next day, I am staying in the same hotel as the teams. 

It should be a lot of fun. Most of our volunteer group will be down there either running or working.

Gym this morning. Library volunteer this afternoon. Light packing for the weekend. Hope everyone has a good one.

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