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Barbara Fritchman Thompson Diary
Week of 7
February 2005
Latest Update: Saturday, February 12, 2005 6:15
p.m.
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Monday, 7 February
2005
The
vet called this afternoon with Duncan's test results. After he talked
with Bob, Bob called me to let me know everything is fine. While a
couple of levels were a little on the high side the vet has pretty much
ruled out anything regarding kidney or liver problems.
We still have no idea why the patch of skin did not grow any hair
but at this point I am not very concerned. He can have a bald spot as
long as he is healthy. I am doing some research on post surgery skin
problems to see if there is a reason for the hair not growing
back. Several years ago he had surgery around his neck and it all grew
back in. Also, part of the area from this recent surgery did grow back
the hair.
No gym tonight due to the fact I had a 4:30 hair cut appointment.
We had another nice, mild day with plenty of sunshine and temperatures
making it up to the 60's.
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Tuesday, 8
February 2005
I had my annual mammogram today. My
appointment was for 10:40 so I went in to work at regular time and
worked 8 -10. I was back at work by 11:15.
Bob called this afternoon to say hello and request Subway sandwiches
for dinner. I told him to have a bottle of Champagne ready when I got
home to break over the hood of the car for the 90,000 mile mark. On the
way I noticed one of the warning lights come on the dash that was not
lite up when I went out earlier.
I grabbed the manual from the glove box at a red light to see what 02
indicated. The warning is to replace the oxygen censor. It just so
happens our mechanic, Tim, is out beyond the Subway place. I drove on
out making it by 4:45 but he was already closed. Tim and his family
live in a big old country house next door to the garage. I walked
around back to see if had closed up 15 minutes early but was still
around and saw his wife. Tim is a volunteer fireman and he had just got
a call to go out. I told her what the problem was. She said she would
have Tim give me a call tonight and let me know if I can bring it in
after work tomorrow or if we need to bring out first thing in the
morning.
I had not planned on going to the gym tonight in order to work on some
of my assigned chapters for the book. I was going to tell everyone that
Bob has me under house arrest until I finish them but he said no one
would believe me if I did. However, I will try to get in a couple hours
at night and more on the weekends to help out.
Speaking of which, guess I better cut this short and get to work.
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Wednesday, 9 February
2005
Believe it or not librarians are some of the
worst spellers on the planet. I sort of depend on Bob to catch any
mistakes but he is so busy I doubt he even read my page last night. One
of my readers caught this mistake for me. The subject line of of the
e-mail read : Homophones,
You said "the warning is to replace the oxygen
censor," but you must have meant "oxygen sensor."
Yep, I sure missed that one. Thanks for catching that one for me. I
drove back out to Tim's this afternoon. Turns out as long as the car is
running fine I don't need to replace the sensor. But, to turn off the
warning light he would have had to remove the dash board. Forget that.
We covered it over on the dash window with a piece of black tape. Next
time I take it in for service he can fix it.
After I left Tim's I made the weekly grocery store run. Once I get this
post finished and do a couple of other minor things I want to work on
the Hacks for Bob. By the end of this weekend I want to have at least a
couple to contribute to the Wednesday deadline for next week.
A copy of Metro Girl by
Janet Evanovich finally came in
for me at the library last week and
last night I finally got around to starting it. From the first chapter
or so that I managed to get through before almost falling asleep, it is
good. I am fairly certain this will turn into her next series. I saw on
her web site she has a new Stephanie Plum coming out later this year.
In Metro Girl, Evanovich
introduces Alexandra Barnaby, aka Barney. Barney comes from
Baltimore rather than New Jersey, but like Stephanie Plum, she grew up
in the same working-class life style working in her father's garage
during her college summer vacations. Now, Barney's fast car loving,
dead beat brother has gone missing along with a famous NASCAR driver's
luxury boat. Barney has taken off for Miami to try to solve the puzzle
of her missing brother.
Evanovich uses the same type writing, dialog, plot development, etc as
she does in the Plum books. If you enjoy the Plum's you will not want
to miss reading this one.
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Thursday, 10 February 2005
[Last
Week]
[Monday] [Tuesday]
[Wednesday] [Thursday] [Friday]
[Saturday]
[Sunday] [Next Week]
Bob snapped these two pictures the other
night of our nightly "going to bed" routine. Duncan always starts out
up on the bed with me, snuggled in tight, while I read. Sometimes he
jumps down after half an hour and other times he stays up until I turn
off the light. If I have been gone all evening he often is stretched
out along my side and stays up with me long after I have turned out the
light. He has a thick dog bed with a built in pillow and a thinner bed
both lined up along Bob's side of the bed.
Malcolm always starts out in the crate. Once I am settled into bed with
my
book he puts his head down and goes to sleep. Very often I look over
and he is on his back asleep in the crate. When Bob comes back to bed
we let him out for the night. We started crating him at bedtime several
years ago in order to get him to settle down. Every once in awhile we
try not crating him but it usually does not work. The funny thing is,
when we let him out of the crate he lies down either under the window
or by the closet door. Then, during the night, he goes back in his
crate, curls up in the far back and goes to sleep. He moves around a
lot during the night from the window to the crate to the foot of the
bed, etc.
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Friday, 11 February 2005
[Last
Week]
[Monday] [Tuesday]
[Wednesday] [Thursday]
[Friday]
[Saturday] [Sunday] [Next
Week]
Be sure to look at the pictures on
yesterday's page. I did not have time to post when I got home last
night but Bob had put the pictures up for me while I out to dinner with
Nancy and Betsy. I had Friend's meeting from 4:30 to 6 then met them at
Carrabba's. Very good, freshly made Italian food. It is a chain. I ate
at one in Augusta, GA while driving to Atlanta several years ago.
It was well after 8:30 by the time I got home. After giving the dogs
some attention and getting the recycling ready to go out I was too
tired to put up a post.
The moving company delivered Frances' furniture for our downstairs area
today. Hopefully, her new furniture will arrive tomorrow as planned or
they will be sitting on the floor for awhile. I had a couple of errands
to run on the way home so I picked up some takeout for dinner. I am
spending the first part of this evening getting caught up on mail, etc.
Tonight and this weekend I need to get my contributions of Hacks
written for Bob to edit and send off. While I did give up going to the
gym this week to try and support the cause, I shall not do that again.
By missing my workouts it made my days even longer sitting at my desk
all day working then coming home and sitting some more at this desk. I
just cannot spend that much time on my posterior and be a happy camper.
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Saturday, 12 February 2005
[Last
Week]
[Monday] [Tuesday]
[Wednesday] [Thursday]
[Friday]
[Saturday] [Sunday] [Next
Week]
It was absolutely wonderful to get back to
the gym this morning for spinning glass. Unless I am sick or really
exhausted it is very important to my physical and mental well being to
make it to the gym.
When I got back home Bob and I took a quick look at the downstairs to
see where to place the three pieces of furniture given to us by
Frances. It turns out that dad has a very bad head cold which means no
golf tomorrow. I can go down in the morning and work on getting the
smaller items of furniture cleaned and placed back in the room. If Bob
has time we can move the heavier pieces in as well.
I gave the dogs a good brushing then Bob a haircut before starting on
the house cleaning. I took a break after doing the kitchen and den to
eat a quick snack lunch while I checked my mail. We had intended to eat
an early dinner before heading up to Pilot Mountain for the FAS club
observation. However, between the Clear Sky Clock indicating viewing
conditions are not going to be great and the forecast of 9 - 15 MPH
wind gusts we decided not to go. That gave me much more time this
afternoon to get the house cleaning completed and to work on another
Hack. I am not very good at writing but I can at least add some content
that will hopefully lessen a little of Bob's work.
Last night I finished up Metro Girl.
She was basically laying the ground work to introduce the character to
her readers in this one. I really enjoyed it, especially the last half
of the book.
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Sunday, 13 February 2005
[Last
Week]
[Monday] [Tuesday]
[Wednesday] [Thursday]
[Friday]
[Saturday] [Sunday] [Next
Week]
It has been a very productive day around the
Thompson Techno Grotto. Bob of course, is working away at the Hacks
book. This morning I worked for about 2 hour on the downstairs. We only
had one piece of furniture going back in that I needed Bob's help with
along with moving the TV back in. After we moved the cedar chest and TV
he went back upstairs to work. While I worked downstairs I tended to
the laundry switching.
The unfinished side of the basement still looks like the bargain
basement at consignment shop. Next weekend we will move the lift chair
back in after I get it cleaned up. The remaining large pieces...love
seat, dresser, rocker, and one desk will organized into some sort of
temporary storage until after Bob gets the book finished. We are going
to move the loveseat back upstairs into his workroom which has to be
cleaned up first. The large desk and dresser are going into his office
to replace the folding table and junk book case. This will give him
drawers for storage. Once we get the work room cleaned up I may be able
to fit my rocker in that room as well.
I finished up about 11:15 before heading over to Frances' for lunch. We
had kept the new furniture a secret from then. Frances wanted to
surprise them. It looks very nice. They bought two Berkline reclining
sofas and a rocker/reclining chair in a real pretty blue material. For
their kitchen they bought a nice two piece china hutch with glass doors
on top and plenty of storage space in the bottom cabinet. They also
bought a nice curio cabinet for their foyer.
I arrived just in time to help Al move the hutch to the wall they
wanted it on. After lunch we decided where the curio cabinet would look
the best before I took off for home.
This afternoon I did get a couple of hacks to Bob for him to finalize
and send off. After I finish up here I want to work a little on a
couple of more.
Last night I decided to read another Sister Fidelma, The Monk Who Vanished.
The weather today has been mild with light showers off and on.
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Copyright
© 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005 by Barbara
Fritchman
Thompson. All Rights Reserved.
