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Barbara Fritchman Thompson Diary
Week of 9
May 2005
Latest Update: Sunday, 15 May 2005 3:45 p.m.
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Monday, 9 May
2005
It
was a very busy and tiring Monday at work. I had planned to start
working on cleaning out the attic tonight but instead will rest and
read. Perhaps tomorrow night. I also have a lot left to do downstairs.
Last night I read about halfway through a new Jill Churchill, A Midsummer Night's Scream, which
actually came out late last year but our library system has just now
received it. True to form, Midsummer is well written and funny.
It was another outstanding day of weather with clear blue skies,
temperatures in the high 70's and breezy at times. Early this morning
Jackie and I had to walk a couple of blocks over to an old building
which houses the Firms tobacco legislation to label and list the
numbers on a large group of boxes going to our off site storage
facility. We got back with about 30 minutes to spare before it was time
for me to go to lunch. I had to walk down to the bank, so all in all, I
had plenty of outdoor walking and fresh air for today.
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Tuesday, 10
May 2005
I have had plenty of exercise today without a
trip to the gym. This morning Jackie and I walked the five blocks over
to the building we went to yesterday. We tagged the remaining 403 boxes
going to off site storage in about an hour and a half then walked back.
At lunch I walked another five blocks up to Main library to pick up a
reserve book. After lunch I made the short trip over to Winston Towers
where we have one floor occupied to pick up two boxes.
After dinner I did start on the attic. Yes, it was hot up there but not
too bad. Bob stood at the bottom of the stairs to catch and clear boxes
as I tossed them to the bottom of the stair. We filled up the living
room and part of the foyer in about half an hour but only cleared about
a third of the junk up there.
Once I get it cleared I need to sweep off what stays plus the flooring
of wood and sawdust. When we had the new roof installed they put in one
of those ridge caps which requires sawing an opening all the way across
the roof. Of course, all the stuff fell into the attic area. I wish I
had known they were going to do this so I could have put down plastic
over the small finished area and stuff to keep it clean.
Last night I finished up the Jill Churchill and started an ARC of
Denise Hamilton's newest, Savage
Garden. I had reviewed her previous work last year for Mystery
Morgue. She is more of a thriller type mystery author, which I rarely
read, but I like her writing and her main character Eve Diamond. I only
managed a few chapters before I almost fell asleep.
As I promised Denise when she sent me the ARC, I will post a review
here and on DL when I have finished.
It was warm and somewhat humid today. We may get a stray storm tonight
but looking at the radar it looks like most if the activity is south of
us.
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Wednesday, 11
May 2005
Greetings. I have been home, fixed dinner,
gone to the gym and the grocery store.
I am reading a non-fiction book at work on my lunch break, A Dog Year, by John Katz. I can
read two books at the same time as long as one is fiction and one is
non-fiction. This is the type of book you can pick up and put down.
Katz wrote a book about his two golden labs, his life as a writer, etc
titled Running to the Mountain.
A Border Collie breeder read the book and contact Katz to take persuade
him to take a young BC who needed rehomed after failing as a working
dog. She was so impressed with his relationship with his dogs, his
lifestyle, and his family she felt he was the person to adopt this
dog. A Dog Year follows
a year of his life with Devon (already named that when he got him, what
a horrible name for a BC). In the first two chapters I read today, he
writes about getting Devon from the airport where he is flown from the
dogs home in Texas to Katz's home in New Jersey.
I will post more after I have read a few more chapters but I can
already tell if you are a dog/animal lover you will want to read this
book regardless of what breed you own. I plan to see if I can find his
first book at the bookstore or a used bookshop somewhere down the road.
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Thursday, 12
May 2005
[Last
Week]
[Monday] [Tuesday]
[Wednesday] [Thursday] [Friday]
[Saturday]
[Sunday] [Next Week]
I left work at 4 in order to attend my
Friends of the Library meeting. We adjourned around 5:45. As I left the
library parking lot heading to KFC for takeout I noticed how dark the
skies were getting to the north and west of us. Just as I got home
large drops started falling, the wind picked up, and thunder could be
heard off in the distance. Since I am still having to park outside the
garage I wanted to get the food and library books in before the started
pouring. Bob took the food and books while I ran around to the front to
bring the yard cart down and close it.
We got about half an inch of rain while we were eating dinner. Since it
was still thundering and raining after we ate we delayed the dog's walk
until the first storm rolled on through. Looks right now like we may
have another one coming in behind the first one.
Work is very busy. I need to finish up the one project I am working on
tomorrow so I can go back to adding boxes and contents to our database.
In the last two days we have received about 50 boxes to prepare for off
site storage.
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Friday, 13
May 2005
[Last
Week]
[Monday] [Tuesday]
[Wednesday] [Thursday]
[Friday]
[Saturday] [Sunday] [Next
Week]
TGIF. It was another very busy day at work.
We walked over to 91-2 building to tag another 110 boxes this morning.
This afternoon we went over to the WT building to tag 58 boxes. In
between I finished up two projects. We have about 80 boxes on the wall
for me to start closing on Monday. In the meantime 91-2 is getting
another 500 - 800 boxes ready for us to go over and tag for storage.
It has been overcast all day but it never did rain either here or
downtown. It was misty and cool this morning when we took our first
walk but had warmed up by this afternoon.
I have almost finished the Eve Diamond. Very good book if you enjoy
mystery's with a little harder edge to them but still not hard core
thrillers.
This is the "put your junk on the curb" weekend. I can't wait to get
this stuff out of here so I can start to clean up my house.
Have a great weekend.
Saturday, 14
May 2005
[Last
Week]
[Monday] [Tuesday]
[Wednesday] [Thursday]
[Friday]
[Saturday] [Sunday] [Next
Week]
Whew! I am tired after a long day of toting
stuff to the curb and toting stuff to the curb and toting stuff to the
curb! I don't know now many miles I walked today but most of them were
on cement. I did get the attic finished. What little is left up there
has been organized very neatly. After a short lunch break I mowed the
lawn then continued working on the basement.
It is on its way but not finished. I did get the far side
where Bob parks swept and reorganized. Also, the other side where the
heat/ac unit sits is mostly done. I still have the area where the two
chairs are still sitting and the area that goes into the finished area.
But, things are looking organized and in the places where I want them.
The finished area has some boxes of "stuff" that need sorted and put
away.
We have an entire wall of boxes of every size and shape, some filled
with packing material and other junk on the curb. Most of these came
out of the
attic. I hauled off a car load of nicer stuff this morning to Goodwill.
Some of the larger items we put out on the curb has already been taken
by the scavengers.
That's it for today. Tonight is the NASCAR race from Richmond, one of
my favorite small tracks to watch. Tonight was a scheduled public
observation for FAS at Pilot Mountain but the weather is not looking
favorable. Just as well, I am too tired to do observing tonight.
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Sunday, 15
May 2005
[Last
Week]
[Monday] [Tuesday]
[Wednesday] [Thursday]
[Friday]
[Saturday] [Sunday] [Next
Week]
Pretty much done. For one time the weather
actually worked in my favor. I called off golf this morning in order to
complete all my cleaning projects. Turns out we would not have played
anyway. The forecast was for scattered rain/storms this morning. We
don't usually play unless it is 20% instead of 40% plus. It did rain
this morning and looked threatening off and on the remainder of the
morning.
After doing the regular house cleaning I started back on the basement.
I finally had everything cleaned, organized, and the floor swept around
2pm. I spend another hour and a half working on the finished area. I
declared "all done" at 3:30. I have a small load of stuff for Goodwill
and five bags of packing peanuts for the UPS store.
I also have several boxes of "stuff" which needs sorted and put in
drawers that was in the desk Bob is using in his office. Now that the
house is finished I have yard work to do next weekend.
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Copyright
© 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005 by Barbara
Fritchman
Thompson. All Rights Reserved.