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Barbara
Fritchman Thompson Diary
Week
of 18 May 2009
Latest Update: Sunday, 24 May 2009 1:20 p.m.
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Monday, 18 May 2009
I
picked up something light from my library TBR pile last night, Leslie
Meier's newest, Mother's Day Murder. Her character Lucy Stone works at
the newspaper in the small town of Tinkers Cove, Maine. Meirer has aged
the family with the two oldest of the Stone children grown leaving a
teenager and young adult still at home. Lucy's son, the oldest, now has
a young 1 month old of his own. Small town rivalries rear their ugly
head between two women over the popularity of their high school
daughters. When Lucy witnesses the shooting death of one of the two
moms the suspect becomes the opposition. Thrown in the mix is the
arrest of the feuding wife's husband in the disappearance ten months
ago of a local teenager.
Another cool day with lows last night in
the 40's and today's high barely making it out of the sixties. Tonight
is a low of 41 with frost warnings in the mountains. We had another 1/2
of rain that fell mostly last night after dinner. It was raining pretty
good when we walked the dogs for last time out.
Scott's came out
today to treat the lawn. I wish I had been able to get it mowed over
the weekend. They put down liquid fertilizer and weed treatment which
should be soaked in well enough by the time I get around to mowing. It
has to be watered in within the next 14 days. No worries there, there
is the usual Thursday - Sunday rain/storm pattern predicted again for
this week/weekend.
Tuesday, 19 May 2009
No update.
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Wednesday, 20 May 2009
As of today I am on vacation until next
Tuesday. This is a vacation from work/stay at home to get some work
done vacation. I have not have any time off since last Christmas other
than two three day weekends; one in January and one in March. I have a
very long list of outdoor projects I hope to complete.
Last
night I kicked off my vacation in fine form meeting Frances and Marcy
for dinner. We ate at a nice place downtown then walked a block or so
the other direction to Cafe Prada for some delicious peach gelato. This
was my first taste. Marcy is the expert declaring the best she has
eaten.
I had actually planned to only take tomorrow and Friday
for my extended Memorial Day weekend. But, dad had a doctor appointment
this morning he wanted me to take him to. I figured by the time I got
to work half the day would be over plus I had some gardening chores to
do at their house. It was an absolutely beautiful day though a bit cool
and windy this morning.
We got back home from dads appointment
around 11:30. While mom fixed lunch I repainted the sign out front of
their house. I had spray painted the pole and sign a month ago with
black spray paint. Today I used white enamel to paint on the raised
letters of our last name and the address. It was a rather tedious job
especially with the wind blowing 10 to 15 mph. I had to hold the sign
steady with the hand same hand holding the little can of paint while
using the little finger of my paint hand to keep steady. I was afraid
to unbolt the sign from the pole since it had been hanging there for so
long.
After lunch I did roughly 2 hours or so of planting
flowers and bulbs on the hill behind their out building. As I said the
day was perfect. High's in the low 70's, no humidity, and a little
breezy.
I got home about 3:30. After I rested and we walked
the dogs I mowed the lawn. Bob fixed the rice while I was mowing so all
I had to do was cook the pork tenderloin when I came in.
Last night we had time to watch the first episode of a series Bob discovered, Doc Martin. As usual, another excellent British TV series. We are watching the remaining episodes tonight.
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Thursday, 21 May 2009
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Up around 7:30. I had the dogs out playing
for a few minutes before I left to go out Lowe's to pick up
outdoor project supplies. I planted some annuals in the other front
flower bed and worked on the lawn area by the back door. I have had
trouble with grass surviving the summer heat in that spot since we've
lived here. Several years ago I planted a dogwood tree which finally
getting big enough to help shade the area from total burnout. It's
about a 12 x 15 foot flat area before the lawn begins sloping toward
the back of the lot.
Today, I dug up the first three feet in
from the walkway nearest the house/deck using that as sod to fill in
the sparse areas closer to the dogwood. I bough enough bagged mulch to
do that little area using newspaper as weed block and connecting it to
the natural area that runs along the front and side of where the edge
of the deck sits. If you can't grow grass, make it a natural area. I
then used some bagged topsoil to fill in around the sod and in some of
the other sparse areas. I seeded, fertilized, and watered all that
down. Hopefully I will get that smaller area to thicken up. If not, I
can expand out the natural area later on.
That was it for
today. I took a shower, grabbed my latest book, and headed for the
couch. I am reading another Stephen Booth, Scared to Live.
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Friday 22 May 2009
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Today is running around day. This morning
drug and grocery store. I had the dogs out back to play before fixing
some lunch. Once again it is not all that warm temperature wise, low to
mid 70's but the humidity is close to 60%.
I am getting ready to
head across town making various stops along the way. Before Bob orders
the books online we cannot get from the library I will check the used
bookstore first. From there I have several other stops to make. I need
some tops for work and another pair of tennis shoes for daily wear.
Later this afternoon I will end up at my folks house. Once mom gets
finished at the beauty shop dad and I will go pick her up and come back
across town, pick up Bob and go to Zoe's for dinner. Frances will meet
us there from work and take them back home.
All in all a fun afternoon getting me out of the yard for the day.
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Saturday, 23 May 2009
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Today's project, trim all the bushes. It
takes roughly 45 minutes to an hour with my gas trimmer. Other than the
mower, the hedge trimmer is one of the last standing gas pieces of
equipment. It starts very easy and it not too heavy though the older I
get the heavier it seems to get. Trimmer the forsythia hedge and the
azaleas along the house take the most out of me. The worst is the three
hours of clean up.
A very nice morning to work outdoors.
Pleasant temps, low 70's, nice breeze, some humidity. I had both dogs
out with me once I finished the trimming and started the clear up.
Malcolm loves to run around and help, Duncan staggers around until he
finds a place to flop. After about an hour I put them in to get some
water and cool off. They came back out again until I finished up around
1:30. I didn't even stop for lunch wanting to finish up before the
afternoon heat moved in.
This afternoon I am relaxing on the
couch reading and watching both the senior PGA on one channel and the
regular tour guys on the other.
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Sunday, 24 May 2009
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The weekly house cleaning chores are
completed. I also did the stairs to the basement and vacuumed the
finished area downstairs.
I had the dogs out briefly for
playtime just as it had started to sprinkle. Not hard enough to worry
about being outside. This afternoon I have cleaned up my desk, filed,
and paid the bills.
Now to the den to read and watch golf. Rain
off and on this afternoon and tonight. I will try to throw some chicken
for me and a steak for Bob on the grill between showers.
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Copyright © 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002,
2003,
2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009
by
Barbara
Fritchman
Thompson. All Rights Reserved.