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Barbara Fritchman Thompson Diary
Week of 29
November 2004
Latest Update: Sunday, December 5, 2004 6:06 p.m.
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Monday, 29 November
2004
I
dropped Malcolm off at the vets this morning to have his broken tooth
removed and the others cleaned. We picked him up this afternoon around
5pm. He seemed like his normal self when we picked him up. Ran right
out to the truck and jumped in, barked at someone he saw, etc.
However, he lays around making pitiful little crying noise. I gave him
a pain pill. I am not sure if his mouth hurts or he just feels weird. I
gave him some of the soft canned food the Bilbrey's left here they feed
their dogs along with some of him kibble soaked in water.
Bob has a radio interview tonight at 8pm. I need to get the dogs
settled and quiet while he is on the phone downstairs. Actually, I need
to get me settled and quiet. Last time he had a radio interview I
dropped something on the floor!
The tree is decorated. I still have a few empty boxes to haul
downstairs and some tabletop decorations to place around, but otherwise
I am finished. I addressed part of my card Saturday night with about
half left to go on that chore.
One of the annual Saturnalia traditions is husband decoration.
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Tuesday, 30 November
2004
Okay, now I know what it is like to have a
two year old who is sick or injured but still wants to be active.
Malcolm does not understand why he cannot play ball, have treats, and
eat solid food. Last night he laid on the den floor and whined/cried
the entire hour Bob was downstairs doing his radio interview. I am sure
his mouth was hurting despite the pain pill but also believe it was in
some part do the frustration of not being able to do anything. He did
sleep through the night without any problems.
For the next two weeks we have to make sure he does not do anything to
tear the flap the vet sewed over the gum to repair the area where the
large tooth was. Right now, I am sure he is still not feeling his best
but he still wants to be active and play.
Bob cut up a couple of hot dogs into very small pieces to use as
treats. I soaked his kibble before dinner to make it soft and fed him
the last of the canned food.
I did the grocery store run this afternoon. After I finish up here
checking mail and posting I want to haul the remaining Christmas boxes
back downstairs. I did not have time to get that done last night before
Bob's interview.
On December 2 I will turn the ripe old age of 50. Bob likes to give out
birthday presents every couple of days preceding the main event. I
helped out with a couple of the gifts by ordering a few things from
L.L. Bean and Lands End back in October. On Thanksgiving day I asked
him if he would give me one of the items I ordered, new pocketbook, so
I could carry it on Friday at the Craft Show. I buy a new pocketbook
every eight or ten years. My Lands End back saver bag had a hole in the
lining and was getting rather beat up. I wanted one of the new backpack
style bags but could not find one locally I liked. Bean had a new
leather one at a fairly decent price. I have enjoyed carrying it since
he gave it to me last week. Last weekend he gave me one of the gifts he
purchased as a surprise, the Sky
Atlas 2000. I have finally progressed far enough along for us to
need detailed sky charts for locating some of the dimmer objects on our
lists.
Last night Bob presented me with another astronomy text, another sky
atlas, though this one has more than just star charts. The lunar
pictures and diagrams are just what I need in finishing up my lunar
viewing list. The other chapters of the book will assist in my
continued advancement as an observing. It will be fun reading over the
winter months.
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Wednesday, 1 December 2004
No update.
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Thursday, 2 December 2004
[Last
Week]
[Monday] [Tuesday]
[Wednesday] [Thursday] [Friday]
[Saturday]
[Sunday] [Next Week]
The birthday celebrations continue. Last
night, as soon as I got home and changed, we took off for Bulington
grabbing a bite of dinner of the way. I missed an observing session the
weekend I was in Savannah. Since the only objects remaining on Bob's
deep sky binocular list would not be up right now, we went out so I
could get the nine he did that weekend. Several of those constellations
will be setting for the year. In order to finish up my list at the same
time Bob does, the end of January 2005, I needed to get those completed.
It was cool but not cold. I started about 6:30 and finished up just
before 9pm. Around 7:30 Steve arrived with his little grab and go scope.
With it getting dark earlier, we can do an observing session during the
week and still get home earlier enough for me to get in bed at a
reasonable time for work the next day.
I decided rather than take today off and go back to work tomorrow I
would take my "birthday day" off tomorrow. I did not want to use two
days up by taking today and tomorrow.
This evening Bob and I are going to a nice but not real expensive
restaurant and my favorite place to dine, The Vineyards.
After we eat we will return home to change and head over to Paul and
Mary's place to get in some Urban Observing. I started this list when I
first began doing astronomy. We do very little observing in the city,
which is the requirement.
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Friday, 3 December 2004
[Last
Week]
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[Wednesday] [Thursday]
[Friday]
[Saturday] [Sunday] [Next
Week]
Fun day. We slept in until a little after
7am. After breakfast I put a couple of Christmas CD's in my office
stereo to listen to while cleaning off my desk, filing a mountain of
paperwork from my in box and checking my mail.
Around 10am I got started in the yard. While Bob waited to make sure
the roof was good and dry before doing one last pass on the gutters I
started vacuuming the front yard from the street toward the house. As I
got closer to the house area I asked Bob to get the gutters so I could
blow the natural areas before finishing up the yard area closer to the
house. I also blew out the leaves from the natural areas in back around
the trees and under the deck.
I finished up the vacuuming around 1 and took a break for lunch. After
lunch I mowed, cut the spent blooms from the hydrangea bushes and other
similar tasks. I pulled up the landscape timbers along the front curb
using the mallet to scoop out the dirt in the trench so I could reset
them. I used the weed eater to mow down the monkey grass in the front
and bag and swept up the driveway.
Finally I hosed off the mower and vacuum before putting them away for
the season. It was 3:15 when I came upstairs for my shower. Yeah, I am
tired. But it was a perfect day for working out of doors. Temperatures
in the low 50's with a little breeze from time to time and lots of
sunshine. Wearing my jacket I was actually sweating.
We are leaving in about half an hour for dinner with my parents and
sister at Elizabeth's pizza. Nothing fancy tonight. Afterwards we will
go to Frances' house for ice cream and cake. Tonight will officially
wrap up the birthday celebrations. It has once again been a wonderful
birthday week. I am very lucky to have a wonderful husband and family
and great
friends. And of
course two very loyal dogs.
I am currently reading Curriculum
Murders by Marlis Day, the third book in her Margo Brown
mystery series. She posted queries on the Dorothy L mystery list for
interested reviewers.
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Saturday, 4 December 2004
[Last
Week]
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[Wednesday] [Thursday]
[Friday]
[Saturday] [Sunday] [Next
Week]
I have been so busy today I almost forgot to
put up my post. This morning I finally made it back to the gym for
spinning class. Between Thanksgiving Holiday and the hectic schedule
last week today was my first opportunity to get back in almost two
weeks.
We had a wonderful time last night at dinner and back at Frances' for
cake and gifts. I will have pictures to post on Monday. In the past,
Bob has not always joined us for my birthday celebrations however, it
was fortunate he did go along last night. As he went in her office to
check on her computer Frances said it had been acting weird the last
couple of nights. While Bob was checking out the problems the hard
drive failed. We loaded up the system unit and brought it home with us.
This afternoon, while I cleaned house, Bob installed a new hard drive
for her. Just as I finished up the house cleaning Mimi called to invite
the dogs down to play for a few minutes. When I got back I took a
shower then took off to run some errands which included delivering
Frances computer back to her. After making sure everything was in
working order I ran a couple of errands while on that side of town. On
the way home I picked up Subway sandwiches for dinner.
Bob had not been feeling all that well this week with a scratchy throat
and mild cough. We decided he better not be out tonight in the night
air to do any observing. After my long day in the yard yesterday,
spinning this morning, and house cleaning I really did not feel much
like going out tonight myself.
Instead we shall relax and read making it an early night to bed.
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Sunday, 5 December 2004
[Last
Week]
[Monday] [Tuesday]
[Wednesday] [Thursday]
[Friday]
[Saturday] [Sunday] [Next
Week]
Whew! It has been a very busy day. Dad and I played golf this morning.
We had enough of a frost to delay being allowed to tee off until 9am.
Once the sun got up it warmed up very fast. By the time we finished the
temperatures had risen into the low 60's. It was a very beautiful day
to be outside.
Now that the winter/frost season has arrived we will face this scenario
of having to tee of late most of the next four months. We always go out
around 8am and just wait until they will let us go off. Of course that
makes it anywhere from 1 to 2pm before we get home. But, we are very
fortunate to be able to play most of the year.
It was 12:45 when we finished up today. By the time we had lunch it was
after 2pm when I left their house. I made a couple of stops on the way
home. After I read the paper and checked my e-mail it was time to start
dinner.
Once I finish up with some bill paying and other assorted tasks at my
desk I need to get organized for work tomorrow making tea and planning
my lunches.
While at mom's today she pulled out one of those old report folders
with the stiff paper sides and three clasps in the middle. The title of
the project was "The Stars". From the work, writing, and dates of my
sources I would guess it was done in either 9th or 10th grade which
would be 1969 or '70. I did a full report on the different types of
stars with illustrations of various types of stars and basic drawings
of the constellations.
Mom was so excited to have found it now that I am into astronomy as an
adult. Perhaps that is the reason I started being curious about the
bright objects in the sky a number of years ago which prompted Bob and
me our first telescope.
Much later in life, after making it through college and graduate school
I have come to the conclusion the education I received from our local
school system was less than adequate. I feel certain that because I was
and still am a very avid reader that most of my learning has been self
taught in addition all the wonderful knowledge I have gained from
knowing and being married to Bob for 21 years.
However, perhaps some of that early learning did actually plant some
seeds that have come to fruition later in my life.
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Copyright
© 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 by Barbara Fritchman
Thompson. All Rights Reserved.