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Photograph of Robert Bruce Thompson Barbara Fritchman Thompson Diary

Week of 29 November 2004

Latest Update: Sunday, December 5, 2004 6:06 p.m.


Monday, 29 November 2004

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I dropped Malcolm off at the vets this morning to have his broken tooth removed and the others cleaned. We picked him up this afternoon around 5pm. He seemed like his normal self when we picked him up. Ran right out to the truck and jumped in, barked at someone he saw, etc.  However, he lays around making pitiful little crying noise. I gave him a pain pill. I am not sure if his mouth hurts or he just feels weird. I gave him some of the soft canned food the Bilbrey's left here they feed their dogs along with some of him kibble soaked in water.

Bob has a radio interview tonight at 8pm. I need to get the dogs settled and quiet while he is on the phone downstairs. Actually, I need to get me settled and quiet. Last time he had a radio interview I dropped something on the floor!

The tree is decorated. I still have a few empty boxes to haul downstairs and some tabletop decorations to place around, but otherwise I am finished. I addressed part of my card Saturday night with about half left to go on that chore.

One of the annual Saturnalia traditions is husband decoration.





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Tuesday, 30 November 2004

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Okay, now I know what it is like to have a two year old who is sick or injured but still wants to be active. Malcolm does not understand why he cannot play ball, have treats, and eat solid food. Last night he laid on the den floor and whined/cried the entire hour Bob was downstairs doing his radio interview. I am sure his mouth was hurting despite the pain pill but also believe it was in some part do the frustration of not being able to do anything. He did sleep through the night without any problems.

For the next two weeks we have to make sure he does not do anything to tear the flap the vet sewed over the gum to repair the area where the large tooth was. Right now, I am sure he is still not feeling his best but he still wants to be active and play.

Bob cut up a couple of hot dogs into very small pieces to use as treats. I soaked his kibble before dinner to make it soft and fed him the last of the canned food.

I did the grocery store run this afternoon. After I finish up here checking mail and posting I want to haul the remaining Christmas boxes back downstairs. I did not have time to get that done last night before Bob's interview.

On December 2 I will turn the ripe old age of 50. Bob likes to give out birthday presents every couple of days preceding the main event. I helped out with a couple of the gifts by ordering a few things from L.L. Bean and Lands End back in October. On Thanksgiving day I asked him if he would give me one of the items I ordered, new pocketbook, so I could carry it on Friday at the Craft Show. I buy a new pocketbook every eight or ten years. My Lands End back saver bag had a hole in the lining and was getting rather beat up. I wanted one of the new backpack style bags but could not find one locally I liked. Bean had a new leather one at a fairly decent price. I have enjoyed carrying it since he gave it to me last week. Last weekend he gave me one of the gifts he purchased as a surprise, the Sky Atlas 2000. I have finally progressed far enough along for us to need detailed sky charts for locating some of the dimmer objects on our lists.

Last night Bob presented me with another astronomy text, another sky atlas, though this one has more than just star charts. The lunar pictures and diagrams are just what I need in finishing up my lunar viewing list. The other chapters of the book will assist in my continued advancement as an observing. It will be fun reading over the winter months.



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Wednesday, 1 December 2004

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No update.


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Thursday, 2 December 2004

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The birthday celebrations continue. Last night, as soon as I got home and changed, we took off for Bulington grabbing a bite of dinner of the way. I missed an observing session the weekend I was in Savannah. Since the only objects remaining on Bob's deep sky binocular list would not be up right now, we went out so I could get the nine he did that weekend. Several of those constellations will be setting for the year. In order to finish up my list at the same time Bob does, the end of January 2005, I needed to get those completed.

It was cool but not cold. I started about 6:30 and finished up just before 9pm. Around 7:30 Steve arrived with his little grab and go scope.

With it getting dark earlier, we can do an observing session during the week and still get home earlier enough for me to get in bed at a reasonable time for work the next day.

I decided rather than take today off and go back to work tomorrow I would take my "birthday day" off tomorrow. I did not want to use two days up by taking today and tomorrow.

This evening Bob and I are going to a nice but not real expensive restaurant and my favorite place to dine, The Vineyards.

After we eat we will return home to change and head over to Paul and Mary's place to get in some Urban Observing. I started this list when I first began doing astronomy. We do very little observing in the city, which is the requirement.


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Friday, 3 December 2004

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Fun day. We slept in until a little after 7am. After breakfast I put a couple of Christmas CD's in my office stereo to listen to while cleaning off my desk, filing a mountain of paperwork from my in box and checking my mail.

Around 10am I got started in the yard. While Bob waited to make sure the roof was good and dry before doing one last pass on the gutters I started vacuuming the front yard from the street toward the house. As I got closer to the house area I asked Bob to get the gutters so I could blow the natural areas before finishing up the yard area closer to the house. I also blew out the leaves from the natural areas in back around the trees and under the deck.

I finished up the vacuuming around 1 and took a break for lunch. After lunch I mowed, cut the spent blooms from the hydrangea bushes and other similar tasks. I pulled up the landscape timbers along the front curb using the mallet to scoop out the dirt in the trench so I could reset them. I used the weed eater to mow down the monkey grass in the front and bag and swept up the driveway.

Finally I hosed off the mower and vacuum before putting them away for the season. It was 3:15 when I came upstairs for my shower. Yeah, I am tired. But it was a perfect day for working out of doors. Temperatures in the low 50's with a little breeze from time to time and lots of sunshine. Wearing my jacket I was actually sweating.

We are leaving in about half an hour for dinner with my parents and sister at Elizabeth's pizza. Nothing fancy tonight. Afterwards we will go to Frances' house for ice cream and cake. Tonight will officially wrap up the birthday celebrations. It has once again been a wonderful birthday week. I am very lucky to have a wonderful husband and family and great friends. And of course two very loyal dogs.

 I am currently reading Curriculum Murders by Marlis Day, the third book in her Margo Brown mystery series. She posted queries on the Dorothy L mystery list for interested reviewers.


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Saturday, 4 December 2004

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I have been so busy today I almost forgot to put up my post. This morning I finally made it back to the gym for spinning class. Between Thanksgiving Holiday and the hectic schedule last week today was my first opportunity to get back in almost two weeks.

We had a wonderful time last night at dinner and back at Frances' for cake and gifts. I will have pictures to post on Monday. In the past, Bob has not always joined us for my birthday celebrations however, it was fortunate he did go along last night. As he went in her office to check on her computer Frances said it had been acting weird the last couple of nights. While Bob was checking out the problems the hard drive failed. We loaded up the system unit and brought it home with us.

This afternoon, while I cleaned house, Bob installed a new hard drive for her. Just as I finished up the house cleaning Mimi called to invite the dogs down to play for a few minutes. When I got back I took a shower then took off to run some errands which included delivering Frances computer back to her. After making sure everything was in working order I ran a couple of errands while on that side of town. On the way home I picked up Subway sandwiches for dinner.

Bob had not been feeling all that well this week with a scratchy throat and mild cough. We decided he better not be out tonight in the night air to do any observing. After my long day in the yard yesterday, spinning this morning, and house cleaning I really did not feel much like going out tonight myself.

Instead we shall relax and read making it an early night to bed.


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Sunday, 5 December 2004

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Whew! It has been a very busy day. Dad and I played golf this morning. We had enough of a frost to delay being allowed to tee off until 9am. Once the sun got up it warmed up very fast. By the time we finished the temperatures had risen into the low 60's. It was a very beautiful day to be outside.

Now that the winter/frost season has arrived we will face this scenario of having to tee of late most of the next four months. We always go out around 8am and just wait until they will let us go off. Of course that makes it anywhere from 1 to 2pm before we get home. But, we are very fortunate to be able to play most of the year.

It was 12:45 when we finished up today. By the time we had lunch it was after 2pm when I left their house. I made a couple of stops on the way home. After I read the paper and checked my e-mail it was time to start dinner.

Once I finish up with some bill paying and other assorted tasks at my desk I need to get organized for work tomorrow making tea and planning my lunches.

While at mom's today she pulled out one of those old report folders with the stiff paper sides and three clasps in the middle. The title of the project was "The Stars". From the work, writing, and dates of my sources I would guess it was done in either 9th or 10th grade which would be 1969 or '70. I did a full report on the different types of stars with illustrations of various types of stars and basic drawings of the constellations.

Mom was so excited to have found it now that I am into astronomy as an adult. Perhaps that is the reason I started being curious about the bright objects in the sky a number of years ago which prompted Bob and me our first telescope.

Much later in life, after making it through college and graduate school I have come to the conclusion the education I received from our local school system was less than adequate. I feel certain that because I was and still am a very avid reader that most of my learning has been self taught in addition all the wonderful knowledge I have gained from knowing and being married to Bob for 21 years.

However, perhaps some of that early learning did actually plant some seeds that have come to fruition later in my life.

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