| Home » Diary Home » 16 June 2003 Diary Page |
|
Barbara Fritchman Thompson Diary Week of 16 June 2003 Latest Update:Sunday, 22 June 2003 09:44 |
|
Monday, 16 June 2003 [Last Week] [Monday] [Tuesday] [Wednesday] [Thursday] [Friday] [Saturday] [Sunday] [Next Week] |
| We had a very nice Father's Day dinner at
my sister's last night. She fixed spaghetti, garlic bread, and
fruit salad with sherbet for dessert. Dad liked his golf club. I
stayed until 8 pm to watch the end of the U. S. Open Golf
tournament.
Sunday afternoon after lunch I did quick e-mail check before hitting the couch for my usual afternoon rest/race watching. I fell asleep before the green flag was even dropped. I did wake up off and on during the early part of the race until mid-afternoon before leaving to go over to Frances'. It was another warm and humid day. We did not get any rain/thunderstorms until late in the afternoon. Guess I better finish this up and go play some ball before time to take the guys out for the night. I hope your week gets off to a good start. [Top] |
|
Tuesday, 17 June 2003 [Last Week] [Monday] [Tuesday] [Wednesday] [Thursday] [Friday] [Saturday] [Sunday] [Next Week] |
| Greetings from the damp, soggy, muggy,
south. Other than a brief shower this morning the worst of the
rain held off until about 6 pm this evening. We have been under
flash flood watch for two days and counting. At this date our
normal rainfall should be around 15". We have had 30". I think
this time last year we had about 6".
Other than the rain, there is not much going on. I did not sleep very well last night for some reason. After reading until about 10:15 I turned out the light but could not seem to go to sleep. After tossing and turning until almost midnight I decided to go out and try the couch. I had just gotten to sleep when a loud clap of thunder woke me up just a little past 1 AM. Bob had the light on in the bedroom because it frightened the dogs and Malcolm jumped straight up in the bed on top of him. After we settled them down I dozed off and on, sleeping and waking until I finally got up about 6:15. Needless to say it will be an early night tonight. Hopefully we can get the dogs out between rain showers.
[Top] |
|
Wednesday, 18 June 2003 [Last Week] [Monday] [Tuesday] [Wednesday] [Thursday] [Friday] [Saturday] [Sunday] [Next Week] |
| Greetings. Middle of the week already. I
writing this post fairly early, from my usual evening time, of 6
pm. I visited Lenore this afternoon and was too tired to go to
spinning class at the gym. I did some work this afternoon after
work and a grocery store run. I plan to spend the remainder of
the evening reading and relaxing. Not sure why I am so tired.
Bob is hard at work doing review on the 3rd edition. The dogs are fine and let's just not discuss the weather. Sorry for the short post. Perhaps I will be a bit more inspired tomorrow. [Top] |
|
Thursday, 19 June 2003 [Last Week] [Monday] [Tuesday] [Wednesday] [Thursday] [Friday] [Saturday] [Sunday] [Next Week] |
|
I finished reading Valentine's Day Murder by Lee Harris last night before last time out for the dogs. I really like her mysteries. She is not funny or scary. She just puts together a really nice plot with likeable characters. So far, I have been surprised by at the ending of every book I have read in the series so far. If you like mysteries and have not tried this series yet I highly suggest giving it a try. After we walked the dogs I went to bed and started reading another Joan Hess, Tickled to Death. Tonight we have Astronomy Club meeting. We will make a stop at the library, pick up takeout for Lenore, and then meet our friends for dinner at the cafe before meeting. Consequently, I am writing this post on Wednesday afternoon. It will be late by the time we get home, walk the dogs and give them some attention before I get to bed.
Top] |
|
Friday, 20 June 2003 [Last Week] [Monday] [Tuesday] [Wednesday] [Thursday] [Friday] [Saturday] [Sunday] [Next Week] |
| Well, it has just been one of THOSE weeks.
Personally, I blame it all on the rain. Not enough sunshine and
vitamin D. Not only have I been a lot more tired than usual, I
seem to be blundering along dropping things, making mistakes,
etc. Geesh. Friday could not get here fast enough.
Believe it or not, the weather forecast for the weekend is sunshine. I cannot remember when the last time I saw a bright orange sun on the weather channel five day forecast. Hopefully we will get up to Bullington to do some observing Friday or Saturday night. I finally got my lawn mower back from the shop after four weeks. I plan to use it tomorrow afternoon when I get home from work. The weekend is looking rather busy. Saturday morning the nursing home is having a yard sale. Residents can set up a table and sell stuff keeping anything they make. Lenore wants to sell her pictures she colors plus I have some VCR tapes donated by Marcia last time we were up to visit. Guess that's about it for tonight. The dogs need some playtime and I need to rest and relax the remainder of the evening.
[Top] |
|
Saturday, 21 June 2003 [Last Week] [Monday] [Tuesday] [Wednesday] [Thursday] [Friday] [Saturday] [Sunday] [Next Week] |
| I am writing this post Friday evening
around 6:30. The sun is out, the skies are clear blue. Bob and I
are getting ready to head up to Bullington to get in a couple of
hours of observing.
This afternoon, after I mowed the lawn, I grabbed some water, my chair, a book and headed outside for the deck. I maybe got two chapters read before I fell asleep in my chair. The temperatures was right around 78 degrees with a slight breeze, PERFECT weather. After about an hour I came back inside to load the stuff up I will need in the morning for the yard sale at the nursing home. Then I took off to visit Lenore for awhile before coming back home to grill steaks for dinner. I started reading another Carolyn Hart, Deadly Valentine. I finished up the Joan Hess last night. While it was not bad, none of hers are, I did not think Tickled to Death was as good as some of the others. Well, have a great weekend. Thanks for stopping by.
[Top] |
|
[Last Week] [Monday] [Tuesday] [Wednesday] [Thursday] [Friday] [Saturday] [Sunday] [Next Week] |
| We are getting a rather late start today after
spending two nights out under the stars and getting to bed at 2 am
both nights. This morning we slept in until about 8:30. While
conditions were not the absolute best both nights it was fun to be
able to get in some observing after the past six months of clouds
and precipitation.
Over the course of both evenings I managed to almost finish up the group of Messier objects known as the Virgo cluster. There are 14 deep sky objects all clumped together in one area of the sky. Most of them are very dim and hard to identify making it a challenge, up to now, for me to bag. Finally, after two years I now have trained my eyes and brain to seek these little faint fuzzys. I also identified three objects by binoculars thus finally completing the required number of objects for my binocular club certificate. I still have about twenty objects on my Messier list to finish up. As my next challenge I will move onto the Caldwell objects. These faint fuzzys are less well known and harder to find. Because of where we live, in the Northern Hemisphere, only about 75 of the full 109 objects are possible for me to try. Of those, some will be very difficult from our Bullington location. However, hopefully I will be able to get a lot of those when we do our periodic trips to the lodge at Fancy Gap. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The yard sale at the Brian Center was fairly successful. Lenore was a little disappointed she did not sell more of her pictures. However, she spent about an hour and half outside with us at the table enjoying the fresh air and sunshine. I spent Saturday afternoon doing some consultant work before crashing out on the couch for a nap in preparation for Saturday nights observing session. As I said, we got home Friday night at 1:30 and in bed at 2 am. I was back up at 6:45 to get over to the Brian Center to set up for the yard sale. I am getting a bit long in the tooth to go to bed and get up in the same day, especially two nights in a row. On Saturday night we got home at almost the exact same time, 1:30 AM. As I pulled down the driveway toward the back of the house the headlights illuminated the largest deer I have ever seen in my life in the wild. It was just off to the left side of my yard where my natural area is. Quick as a flash it raised its head and bounded away across our neighbors' back yards. What a spectacular sight and a perfect addition to a really great weekend. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ I guess I better get started with the house cleaning. This afternoon I have some work to do. The NASCAR race is on the road course out in Sonoma, CA. It will be on late this afternoon. Frances and AL are cooking a big Sunday dinner tonight. I will go over and eat with them making a stop in to visit Lenore on the way over. I forgot to mention earlier in the week, my dad is having problems with one of his knees again. No golf for awhile until he gets better. He does very well for 81 years old. Like most things, body parts tend to start to wear out with age. Having inherited my dad's knee problems I am trying to do everything I can early in my life to make mine as strong as possible now while I can. You hear so many older people say "If I had known I was going to live this long I would have taken better care of myself" Well, I try to take that wisdom to heart by working out at the gym and trying to keep myself in fairly good condition.
[Top] |