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Barbara
Fritchman Thompson Diary
Week
of 19 June 2006
Latest Update: Sunday, 25 June 2006 2:10 p.m.
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Monday, 19
June
2006
I
am sure Bob enjoyed a "quiet" day at home today after last Thursday and
Friday with the work crews and the weekend with my projects. Hopefully
the week of July 4th we will have decent weather, since I will be on
vacation, to finish up the outside painting and window washing.
Did I mention I am reading another Dana Stabenow, Kate Shugak
mystery, Killing Grounds?
Kate is back working on a fish boat again where, of course, a
murder will be discovered. I am not far enough all at this point for
the murder to have taken place.
We are watching the first season of Monarch of the Glen. Not only
is the show excellent but also the music and the scenery. Things are
busy at work. The weather is warm and humid. It looked like rain when I
walked at lunch and again on the way to gym after work.
I heated up the left over lasagna Frances sent home last night for our
dinner. It was very good last night and even better tonight.
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Tuesday, 20 June 2006
No update.
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Wednesday, 21
June 2006
Welcome to the first day of summer. And, it
was just that here in the Triad. 93 degrees with about 45% humidity.
Last night we watched a few more episodes of Monarch before taking the
dogs for last time about 8:40. I was very tired and wanted to go to bed
early. The weather guessers are not calling for rain until perhaps
tomorrow or Friday, and that, only scattered storms. We apparently have
one of those big high pressure domes sitting over us again. Stephanie
and I walked Monday night around 8:30. I was drenched in sweat when we
got back. Malcolm's tongue was hanging down to the ground but he was
one happy dog.
Any way, when we walked the dogs I told Bob it looked and felt like
rain. Sure enough, about 9:30 I heard it pouring down. Bob and I went
out on the porch to check the new gutters. We do have one small leak
between the gutter and house just by the porch. Bob will call them to
come out and fix it.
Tonight I stopped at the gym on the way home but did my own workout as
opposed to doing a class. Things are busy and steady at work. In
addition to my regular projects I am working on a "how to" document for
Steve. Writing is not my best forte, especially training manuals.
However, I am doing short "how to" writing projects with help from
Steve to learn both how he wants them written and to improve my craft.
Today I lunch I walked down to a little outside park/arena a couple of
blocks over from my building. They are holding free outdoor concerts at
noon on Wednesdays during the summer.
I tried out the "repaired" upstairs shower this morning. It does leak a
little. Bob will have to recaulk this weekend.
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Thursday, 22 June 2006
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No update.
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Friday, 23 June 2006
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Whew, made it to another Friday. It has been
a long and hectic week at work plus the usual busy home front. I made
the usual library and grocery store stop on the way home last night.
Just as we finished eating dinner, around 7:15, Stephanie called to see
if I wanted to walk. I quickly fed the dogs then Bob and I walked them
before Stephanie, her girls in the stroller, and I took off. I left
both dogs at home. It was way to hot for even Malcolm to walk.
Tonight I rushed home to get the lawn mowed before the storms started
rolling in. I managed to mow and edge before the first one came showed
up. Now, we have another one coming in that sounds it has more punch.
South and east of us are getting nailed with rain and hail but so far
the worst of the storms have passed us by on this end of the county.
I finished up the Dana Stabenow and started a new John Dunning mystery.
His Cliff Janeway series is excellent. The most recent, The Bookwoman's Last Fling centers
around a young woman whose father started her collecting first editions
when she was a young teenager. The daughter married an older man then
died very young. Her and her husband made a fortune in horses, both
raising and racing. The husband has finally died but the estate is tied
up in a legal battle over some missing first editions from the
collection, a great deal of which are children's books. Part of the
collection is housed as her daughter's horse farm down the road. The
rest in the family house. Cliff has been hired to find the missing
books and to investigate the death of the mother. The book has a
dominate horse them. In Dunning's books he always uses real authors and
series in his books. In this one he mentions many of the great horse
classics I read as a young girl. Almost all young girls go through the
horse loving stage. I know I have read every horse book that was
written between the 1940's and 1970's. Dunning also mentions other
wonderful children and young adult titles most all of which I have
read. It brings back many good memories of my early childhood and
teenage reading years. I eventually moved on from horses to others
genre's.
Last week Frances was doing some shopping at one of the local
bath/kitchen stores. I asked her to pick me up a salad spinner. I love
salads, especially in the summer. I buy the romaine lettuce
whole stalks. If you wash the lettuce it is impossible to get it dry
enough not to ruin the salad. If you wash it ahead of time and let it
dry it gets all yucky. Well, Frances gave it to me last weekend when we
went over for Father's Day and I tried it out last night. She picked up
an Oxo
Good Grips spinner with a pump top. If your into cool kitchen
gadgets, this one is a must. It spins the leaves of all the excess
water with the touch of the pump on top. Then, you can use the same
basket, which also comes with a flat lid, to store the remaining
lettuce. This morning when I pulled out the bowl to fix a salad for my
lunch to take to work the lettuce was still as crisp as it was last
night. I guess you could use it for berries and other veggies too.
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Saturday, 24
June 2006
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Bob got up around 7 to let the dogs out and
to let me sleep in. I finally got up at 9:30. I was totally exhausted
definitely needing both the sleep and the rest.
After a leisure read through the newspaper I did the weekly cleaning.
After my shower I put in a small load of stuff I was special in the
wash before taking off for a few quick errands in the immediate
vicinity. Back home, I plan to spend the remainder of the day catching
up on mail, doing few things here at my desk and resting. It is obvious
I need a "down time" weekend to recharge the batteries. Tonight I will
grill a steak for Bob and some chicken for me.
Last night's rain brought around .30 inches. More is expected this
afternoon, tonight, and tomorrow.
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Sunday, 25
June 2006
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Hot and steamy. The weather guessers are
having a rough time of it in our neck of the woods. Yesterday was to be
rain and storms off and on all day in the afternoon and evening. It
looked like rain most of the day until late yesterday afternoon then
turned mostly clear. Today was to be rain and storms all day with a
high of 77. NOT!
Last night I chopped up a raw chicken breast, pour a little olive oil
over it, and threw it in my grill pan. After the chicken browned I
threw in a handful of yellow squash letting everything cook about ten
minutes longer. Yummy! Bob had a stead and we both at pasta salad
as a side.
It looked cloudy this morning as I drove over to pick up dad for golf.
We were playing the short course today, which looked like at good
thing. At one point the skies heavy with clouds but soon the sun came
out. It was very much like playing golf in a sauna. The temperature was
82 when we got home with 65% humidity. The Weather Channel forecast had
it raining by 2pm with storms becoming more numerous as the day
progresses.
Back home, I put out my summer fertilizer before jumping in the shower.
It is now 88 degrees with the humidity about the same. No sign of rain
as of yet. There are lines of storms west and east of us but a large
swath of clear weather remains down the middle of the state. If it does
not rain by tomorrow evening I will water in my stuff.
I have some things to do here my desk before going out to sit
down and read the newspaper. They are playing golf this week in
Potomac, MD and NASCAR is out in Sonoma, CA on a road course.
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Copyright
© 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 by
Barbara
Fritchman
Thompson. All Rights Reserved.