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Barbara
Fritchman Thompson Diary
Week
of 16 October 2006
Latest Update: Sunday, 22 October 2006 4:00 p.m.
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Monday,
16
October
2006
It
went straight to the gym from work. Stephanie called a little after
seven to see if I wanted to walk. I checked the radar to see how close
the rain was to getting here. Although it was sprinkling a little when
we had the dogs out the rain has held off and we did get in our walk.
Last night I finally finished the Anne Perry. Now I am reading the
new Janet Evanovich, Motor Mouth,
the second book in her new series featuring garage mechanic Alexandra
"Barney" Barnaby. Other than a name and career change these books read
just like the Stephanie Plums. I am not far enough along in the book to
write much about the plot.
Bob and I are in the middle of a Poirot. We watched three last night.
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Tuesday,
17 October 2006
I know I have readers who either live in the
California or did live in California so don't laugh when I tell you we
had a little, bitty, 2.6 magnitude earthquake around 5 am this morning.
I did not feel it but some folks around the county did. I can remember
back when I was teenager while sitting in the den one evening the house
shook for just a millisecond.
It has rained all day but we have only picked up .60 here at our house.
We are getting ready to meet Paul and Mary for dinner so best go feed
the dogs before we need to take them out.
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Wednesday,
18 October 2006
Three minor earthquakes on one 24 hour period
is pretty big news around here. The weird thing about the one last
night after I had gone to bed to read was the sound of an explosion
just before the house rocked. I can remember back in the late 1970's or
early 80's sitting in the den at home, where my folks still live, when
all of a sudden the house shook for a just a few seconds. I do not
remember hearing the sonic boom. That was the last earthquake
experience I had until last night.
I about half way through Motor Mouth
by Evanovich. As I mentioned earlier this week this new series
resembles her Stephanie Plum series except it is set in Florida and
North Carolina around NASCAR racing. I used to watch the races every
week but have been so busy this year plus not getting the stations they
run them on I have not watched very much. I the first book Alexandra
gets hooked up with a race car driver while in Florida looking for her
brother. Having grown up working in her father's garage she joined the
race team as a spotter for a driver named Hooker and to work on the
cars.
In this second book, Hooker and his big St. Bernard Beans along with
Alexandra end up on the run after finding a dead body in a car hauler
while looking for an illegal part on the team car that won the last
race of the season and the championship. They steal the hauler, remove
and ditch the body, take apart the race cars, and of course get caught
by the goons. Turns out the "part" is a computer chip that will control
the traction of the car. Like the Plum books, dead bodies keep turning
up all over the place, in this case, in places where Hooker can be
framed for the murders. Alexandra and Hooker have an "on again, keep
your hands off me" type relationship much like Ranger and Plum.
The books starts out in Florida but Hooker, Beans, and Alexandra flee
back to North Carolina, the heart of NASCAR racing. Most all the teams
in NASCAR are located just 45 miles or so from Winston-Salem between us
and Charlotte. In the book Evanovich describes so many places I have
either been or know about that it makes reading the book even more fun.
She mentions real race names and teams intertwined with her fictitious
two teams the plot is based on. Even if you don't like or watch NASCAR
these are still great books to read.
I went to the gym straight from work. Last night Stephanie called to
walk just about the time we got home from eating. I was too tired to
give it a try last night. I called her while we were eating to let her
know if she wanted to walk tonight I felt like going. It was a very
hectic day at work especially this afternoon. Steve is in our
Greenville office doing some training. I had the fort by myself this
afternoon. As usual, things started popping about 1:30 finally calming
down around 4.
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Thursday,
19 October 2006
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Week]
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[Wednesday]
[Thursday] [Friday]
[Saturday]
[Sunday]
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Week]
Work has slowed to a steady pace again. I
have the returned destruction reports entered in the spread sheet and
have gone back to working on files and solving assorted problems.
I worked through lunch today to leave at 4 so we could run out to pick
up Bob's truck. While there I had Tim take a look at my tires. We
decided with winter coming on I should go ahead and replace them with
the next oil change. I also need to call the guy he recommended could
fix me bent spoiler where the garage door hit it back during the summer.
The weekly Thursday evening chores are completed: taking out the trash,
organizing the recycling, and putting the yard card back at the end of
the driveway. With thunderstorms forecast for tonight I will wait to
put the recycling on the curb in the morning.
Had I been able to stay away long enough last night I would have
finished Motor Mouth.
Hopefully tonight I can. In the meantime we are watching another
Poirot. Stephanie and I did walk last night. It was late enough to take
the dogs for their last time before we continued on for another half
hour. Since it is only a light drizzle we just made plans to go tonight
at 7:30.
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Friday,
20 October 2006
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Week]
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Week]
No update.
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Saturday,
21 September 2006
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A very lazy Saturday morning. Last night was
a perfect night for observing. I grabbed Subway sandwiches on the way
home. We fed the dogs and took off about 6:30. We finished up observing
around 10:30, packed up and got home by 11:15. After a little ball
playing and walk it was off to bed. I read a couple of chapters in my
Hamish Macbeth before turning out the light.
I slept in until 8, got up to let the dogs out, then crashed on the
couch until almost 9. Bob slept in until about 10 after. We read the
paper and generally relaxed before I started tackling chores in my
office. After catching up on the ironing I took the dogs out back to
play some ball and to put in a small load of laundry.
The game plan for today is to continue with my office cleaning. Most of
my desk is now cleared of miscellaneous debris. I have a pile of stuff
on my chair I plan to tackle and perhaps the one on my book shelf.
After lunch, yard work. I need to blow the leaves from the deck,
deck stairs, and a couple of other spots to get them where I can vacuum
them up then mow the lawn.
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Sunday,
22 October 2006
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Week]
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We had planned to go observing again last
night but in town at the nearby soccer field. The forecast looked
favorable until about midnight. Going out in town meant we did not have
to leave until about 9pm. When we walked the dogs the skies were not
cloudy but they looked murky and gray which translate into not being
able to see very well. To do in town observing the skies have to be
really clear to keep the city light glow to a minimum. With those plans
scratched I just went on to bed and read for an hour or so.
Hamish Macbeth is trying to find who killed the local dustman, which is
a trash collector here in the U.S. The two primary suspects are his new
police constable and the dustman's wife. His PC had taken on the role
of protecting the wife from the dustman's abuse while also falling
somewhat in love with her.
With this morning forecast of rain being 50% or better through midday,
we did not play golf. I cleaned house then went over to my folks house
for lunch. This morning when I got up I told Bob my PC was getting
louder every day and this morning the whining woke me up. He tried
cleaning out the fan and processor but when he fired it up it made even
more noise. He did not have a spare fan of the correct size in the
house (hard to believe with the plethora of PC parts we house) so he
found a larger one. When the screws would not fit he decided to use a
large rubber band. I was somewhat skeptical since it still wobbled
around while the case was sitting flat. But, when he brought back here
and reassembled the machine it fired up with nary a sound. I can hardly
hear it running sitting beside it.
The day has turn warm and sunny. Temperatures reached 52 which is still
short sleeve t-shirt weather for me. I decided to finish up paying
bills and go outside to plant the bulbs that arrived yesterday. Just a
few tulips, daffodils, hyacinth, and crocus to brighten things up next
spring out in the front natural areas.
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Copyright
© 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 by
Barbara
Fritchman
Thompson. All Rights Reserved.