 |
Barbara
Fritchman Thompson Diary
Week
of 18 February 2008
Latest Update: Sunday, 24 February 2008 12:00 p.m.
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Monday, 18
February 2008
I
spent most of yesterday afternoon finishing the Louise Penny book. I
had the race on one channel and the golf on another. I would look up
from time to time to see what was going on in the race or watch a
couple of golf shots then go back to me book. I enjoyed Still Life and
plan to read her next two in the series.
Last night I tried out the first book in a new series for me. As I have
mentioned before I have read Susan Wittig Albert's Beatrix Potter
series and the series she co-authored with her husband under the name
Robin Paige. They stopped writing those in 2006. I decided to try her
China Bayles series which she started in 1992 with Thyme of
Death. At age 42 China walks away from a high flying law career
for the easy life of running an herb shop in Pecan Springs, TX. She
bought the shop and grounds which includes four rooms in the back
as a place to live and a small shop next door. Out back is a converted
quest house. The shop next door is run by an eccentric new ager who is
a polar opposite of China. Each title in the series features a
different herb. China has an ex-cop boyfriend who now teaches at the
local university.
Unlike a lot of folks, it was a working day for me. We do not get
Presidents Day. I had an eye doctor's appointment this afternoon at
2:30. I go to the
eye clinic at Baptist Hospital. It takes a little longer than some eye
doctor's offices. After the initial eye exam to determine my vision and
pressure reading for glaucoma I then have my eyes examined by a
resident. After he finishes the actual eye doctor has to come in to
sign off the residents findings and do his check. Since my dad has
glaucoma which has damaged the optical nerve in one eye I don't mind
the extra time I am in there. My pressure was good, I have the small
beginnings of some cataracts and had to get new glasses. I was reading
from the very bottom of the bi-focal.
From there I went to the gym. Tomorrow dad has his left knee
replacement surgery in the afternoon. Hopefully it will go as well as
the right one did four years ago.
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Tuesday, 19 February 2008
Dad did not have his knee replacement surgery
today. They took him back to prep him for surgery around 1:00. Mom
stayed back with him until 1:30 then we went downstairs to the
cafeteria to get some lunch.
We got back up the waiting area about 2:15. Around 3:30 they came out
to get mom which was way too soon. Dad's heart rate starting racing and
his BP kept shooting up. Periodically his heart would skip a beat. When
they came to get mom his knee doctor had called in a cardiology team to
determine what was the best course of action. They finally decided at
5pm to admit him to a heart floor. We sat in the recovery area where he
had been all afternoon until they had a bed ready. While Frances and
mom went with him up to the room I went to the car to get his suitcase.
After we got him settled we took off for home.
I guess tomorrow they will start a battery of tests to determine what
was going on with his heart before they can decide when to reschedule
his knee surgery.
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Wednesday, 20 February 2008
The doctor's decided this afternoon to
discharge dad from the hospital. His BP and heart rate were back to
normal. The skip is still there. I picked them up from the hospital
when at 5:30. After we dropped off his stuff at home we went by the
drugstore to get his prescription filled for the heart skip and grabbed
a bite of dinner.
We got back home about twenty minutes or so before Frances will be
getting there when she gets off work. The doctors are not overly
concerned about things though they did say it is a good thing we caught
it when we did. He could have had a stroke or heart attack at any time.
Once he gets the heart condition stable they will try again to do the knee surgery.
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Thursday, 21 February 2008
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Last night I finished the China Bayles. I
will continue with the series. It's a lot of fun to discover new series
and/or new authors. I just reserved some of the books from the other
series Bob and I are reading so I will have to get through those first
before I order some more of China.
Tonight I will start the new Hamish Macbeath, Death of a Gentle Lady.
Goodwill came today to haul off the stuff from the living room and
basement. Bob stuffed a lot of trash in the cans to be picked up
tomorrow. We are supposed to get some more winter weather again tonight
and in the morning in the form of sleet and freezing rain. If so, the
garbage collectors will only do curbside pickup and not back yard
pickup. We are most likely one of the few cities left in the US that
still has backyard garbage pickup. They instituted voluntary curbside
roll out cans a couple of years ago. I am certain it will not be too
much longer before curbside becomes mandatory.
I talked with dad this morning. He had a good nights rest and actually
slept in late. He got very little sleep the night before in the
hospital.
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Friday, 22 February 2008
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We dodged the ice bullet. Nothing fell
overnight although they had already announced schools on a two hour
delay based on the Thursday evening forecast. We had some off and
on sprinkles that barely covered the bottom of the rain gauge. Fine
with me. I like snow but you can keep the ice and freezing rain.
Since they were calling for the bad weather for last night and today I
skipped my weekly Thursday evening grocery shopping and went to the gym
instead. I didn't feel like fighting the bad weather panic shoppers.
Tonight I made a library stop to pick up the books I reserved and did
the weekly shopping.
Dad and mom volunteered as usual at the hospital today. I just talked
with him. He said he felt fine. He delivers paperwork so he gets in a
lot of walking.
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Saturday, 23 February 2008
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The Thompson cleanup and reorganization
continues. This morning we moved two rows of non-fiction from the
library/living room shelves to Bob's newly cleaned office shelves. We
then moved three rows of more of his non-fiction to his office from my
office shelves. I moved one row of my non-fiction to my office. That
now frees up three rows in the library for spreading out the fiction.
We have four This End Up four shelf bookcases along one wall in the
library. The opposite wall has a long two row shelf. I have a library
table in front of the bookcases which holds more books underneath.
Moving books to Bob's office shelves helps to free up a lot of space in
my office. In addition to my books I have more fiction as well as our
paperback collection. We have three shelves downstairs full of books
and books in boxes.
I also did a little more organizing of the big cabinet in the kitchen.
Next we started on the tech room. Bob is hauling out old computer
systems, monitors, etc to the living room for the next Goodwill haul. I
did a quick vacuum and dust except for my office and the tech room. Now
that I have more room in my office I can move my CD collection back in
here. I had moved it to a small bookshelf in the den but they were hard
to get to. Things are slowly moving along in the right direction.
I'm about ready to call it a day. Back to warm, t-shirt weather again this afternoon.
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Sunday, 24 February 2008
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Malcolm at 8 1/2 years old is still a very
active dog although he does take rest breaks in the afternoons when I
am home and had him out for playtime. At night he moves around to four
different places during the night; under the window, by the closet
door, in/out of his crate, and the foot of our bed. The last one not as
much during the hot summer months. He likes to go into the back of his
crate and curl up to sleep. At times he is more maniacal then usual
which require him to be crated for awhile at night with the door shut.
For the last several days when I have been coming back here to check my
mail at night he has been lying in the hall softly whining. Friday
night he kept running up and down the hall, whining, asking to be let
out, and just not settling down at hall. Bob and I took turns letting
him outside to potty. Yesterday he had three accidents in the house.
After the one last night after dinner I told Bob something was going on
with him. We pulled out the Merck Vet manual and a dog medical book to
confirm my thoughts of a urinary tract infection. After much research
Bob decided checked his stock of antibiotics and started him on a
correct dosage. We had enough to get him through the weekend. Last
night when we went to bed he settled down as usual and slept through
the night. No house accidents today. No laying around whining. Now he
seems to be back to his normal wild self. Malcolm has two gears...on or
off.
I started working on my office some more this morning while Bob worked
on the tech room. Both are starting to look respectable. I take
periodic breaks at my desk to check my mail and web sites. As soon as I
sit down at my chair Duncan comes in to stretch out just to the side
and behind me to nap. He is often lying so close to the chair I can't
roll it so I end up sitting here for awhile to keep from disturbing
him. The things we do for our dogs.
It's a cloudy, chilly, damp day. I had the dogs out back playing a
little while ago. The temperatures is 44 now and not to get higher than
47 with rain on the way. The air feels more like winter precipitation
rather but will no doubt just be a cold rain.
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Copyright © 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002,
2003,
2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008
by
Barbara
Fritchman
Thompson. All Rights Reserved.