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Week of 24 December 2001 Latest
Update: Saturday, 26 April 2003 08:53 |
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Monday, 24 December 2001 [Last Week] [Monday] [Tuesday] [Wednesday] [Thursday] [Friday] [Saturday] [Sunday] [Next Week] |
| Hard to believe this is the last week of the year in my
diary page. Time indeed does fly.
My family had some sad but expected news yesterday with the death of one of my uncles. He is married to one of my mom's sisters. His health had been in decline for sometime now. We are waiting on my aunt to let us know funeral arrangements. We will drive up for the funeral and stay overnight with it being a five hour drive one way. We had a nice dinner last night. The family came over around 4 o'clock. We had a nice visit and they enjoyed seeing my decorations. They left early to go by the store and pick up some things they need for Christmas dinner preparations. I started a new book last night, a memoir by R. D. Lawrence, The Green Trees Beyond. He is another of my favorite nature writers who resides in Ontario. He has a long list of books but my favorite one is The Zoo That Never Was, a hilarious account of he and his wife's adventures living in a remote cabin with several tame animals and a lot of wildlife. He has written several books about the wolf family he did some work with and the year he spent studying a mountain lion. If you enjoy nature writing that reads like fiction I highly recommend his books. They are hard to find in the United States but your local library may have some of them. The others I enjoyed were North Runner, The Place in the Forest, The Ghost Walker, and Paddy just to name a few. Although written as a diary, just like his other writings, it is enjoyable and fun to read. Yesterday I did the deep clean in Lenore's room as best I could with her in there. Today I am doing our bathroom and bedroom. I will take a break at some point and make the peach salad for tomorrow. Tonight's dinner will be left over stromboli and steak sandwiches.
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Tuesday, 25 December 2001 [Last Week] [Monday] [Tuesday] [Wednesday] [Thursday] [Friday] [Saturday] [Sunday] [Next Week] |
| Merry Christmas! Of course by
the time some of you read this you may have already celebrated the holiday
in whatever fashion is traditional for you.
This morning I am picking up my parents at their house to drive them over to Frances's. The reason being that once we open presents and finish the day with an early dinner we are leaving to drive to Virginia for my Uncle's funeral. With the service scheduled for 11:00 am Wednesday morning there is no way we can wait to drive up that morning. Instead, we will eat and clean up the meal to leave around 6:00 to drive up. It doesn't matter what time we get up there since we are just going straight to the hotel and to bed. I guess we will leave sometime Wednesday afternoon to head back to Winston getting in sometime after dinner. I hope everyone has a wonderful day in what ever way you choose to celebrate or not to celebrate. No update for Wednesday. I will give a full report of the Christmas Day activities on Thursday.
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Wednesday, 26 December 2001 [Last Week] [Monday] [Tuesday] [Wednesday] [Thursday] [Friday] [Saturday] [Sunday] [Next Week] |
| No update.
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Thursday, 27 December 2001 [Last Week] [Monday] [Tuesday] [Wednesday] [Thursday] [Friday] [Saturday] [Sunday] [Next Week] |
| Well, I am back after making a round trip of 500 miles in
about a 24 hour period. The folks and I had a great Christmas day morning.
We had brunch and snacked while opening our gifts. We always enjoy sharing
the stories behind the gifts. I have a few pictures I took on the 35mm
that I will drop off at the drugstore this afternoon.
We ate lunch/dinner around 3:00, pork roast, yams, the whole works. Than after quickly cleaning up the kitchen and leaving Frances's friend Al to finish the clean up we left for VA around 5:15. We made a quick bathroom stop about two hours later and arrived at the motel exactly at 10 pm. Long day and long drive, we checked in and all went to bed. We got around 6 so everyone had time to shower and dress and get breakfast before we drove the short distance to my Aunt Mildred's house. My mom has four sisters living and one brother. Of the five girls, there are only two who still have husbands. My mom and my aunt Dora in Greensboro. Their son drove them up to VA and they were staying in the same hotel as we were. The other two sisters drove up from Wilmington, NC and they were staying at Mildred's. Unfortunately, Sonny could not come to the funeral. Another aunt, Lucille was married to one of my mom's brothers, died the same afternoon as my Uncle Harold. She did not have any living family to make the funeral arrangements. That uncle died many years ago and my Uncle Sonny had more or less taken Lucille under his wings and been looking after her. He had to stay in Fayetteville, NC to make arrangements for her funeral. Aunt Mildred had a full Military funeral for my Uncle Harold at the graveside. It was very cold and windy so the service was kept short. I really don't think she wanted anything long or elaborate but rather a service much like his personality, very quiet and unobtrusive. After the service we went back to the house to visit and eat a light lunch before hitting the road to come home. We intended to stop for a quick dinner around 5 and than be home by 7 or 8. We were making really good time until just after we crossed the NC/VA line going south. We hit a wall of traffic and came to a full stop. A tractor trailer had overturned and caught fire about ten miles from where we had come to a full stop. This was at five thirty. We inched along in traffic finally clearing the mess at 6:45. We stopped at a Cracker Barrel for a late dinner and finally got on the road back home at 8. By the time I dropped of my passengers it was almost ten by the time I got home. The dogs were glad to see me. I stayed up to play with them for a few minutes before going to bed to read a little to wind down so I could go to sleep. This morning I need to go to the grocery store to pick up a few things we are completely out of. I want to start on the next room of the deep clean which is my office. Guess that will take most of the day with dog interruptions and stuff. Thanks to everyone who stops by to read my page. And a special thanks to all my "virtual friends" both in the United States and other countries. I have met some wonderful folks via the Internet that I would never have had a chance to meet. It is wonderful how small we can make the world.
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Friday, 28 December 2001 [Last Week] [Monday] [Tuesday] [Wednesday] [Thursday] [Friday] [Saturday] [Sunday] [Next Week] |
| Well, I made a small start on my office yesterday. I moved
a lot of stuff into the now vacant closet that housed my Christmas
decorations first. Yesterday afternoon I spent a couple of hours running
errands to the bank, pet store, library, drugstore, and grocery store.
Then worked a little more on my office yesterday afternoon.
This morning after I get some bill paying and paperwork finished I am getting back at it. I want to finish it up today if possible. When Duncan had his surgery the vet warned me to watch for fluid developing under the skin from the huge amount of tissue he had to remove. Yesterday afternoon I noticed some swelling under the stitches and call the vet. We ate an early dinner than went out to the vets for our 5:30 appointment. Sure enough, some fluid had accumulated under the wound site. After the vet drained it we came back home. Duncan is fine. I will keep and eye on it and unless he gets more fluid accumulated by Monday we will not have to make a trip back to the vet until Wednesday to get stitches removed on both dogs. Not much else to write about. Have a great weekend everybody.
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Saturday, 29 December 2001 [Last Week] [Monday] [Tuesday] [Wednesday] [Thursday] [Friday] [Saturday] [Sunday] [Next Week] |
| Boring. Nothing new and exciting going on. I have almost
finished organizing my office. I finished cleaning and am now moving and
sorting things to my book shelves and the closet, etc. I do still need to
clean the blinds but did not feel like doing that yesterday.
Today I am going to finish my office and sort the Christmas gifts still in the bags the Bob brought home from my sister's house on Christmas Day. The new blind/shade came for the back door yesterday. Will have to wait to install until Bob gets over his cold and feels up to it. Maybe more news tomorrow. Top] |
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| Somehow I knew that what I had hoped was a cold is really a
sinus infection. It has been a long time since I had one and despite all
efforts with my normal medications and preventive action I still got it. I
did not feel all that great before Christmas but was convinced driving
back from VA that I was getting a cold. But, I knew by Friday that it was
not a cold and yesterday I felt horrible.
So, instead of getting a lot done I spent the day doing things when I had short bursts of energy. I did manage to get the dogs brushed and the Christmas stuff unpacked and put under the tree and add one new picture to my Christmas page. My office still needs a little work but it is coming along. Today would normally be house cleaning day but with the deep clean I will just do a quick vacuum of the dog hair and then work on the next room which is the hall bathroom. I feel much better today but do not want to over do it. The big rooms are coming up starting tomorrow and I do not want to tackle those until I am feeling close to 100%. I started and finished a quick reading little mystery, Callie, The Dealer, and a Dog Named Jake by Wendy Howells Mills. Bob and I met Wendy at the Cape Fear Crime Festival. This is her first published work. Her main character, Callie, works as a hotel restaurant manager located on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. In real life, Wendy also does the same thing residing there with her husband, a dog and a cat. The book is a little slow at first but as the story goes along she managed to get me hooked enough to finish. There is a little too much repetition of facts and the plot lines could be a little more developed but for a first effort it is not bad. I think one of my problems is that I prefer the Cozy's rather than a straight out mystery. But, give it a try. The year seems to be winding down. 2002 is just around the corner. If you are heading off to spend New Year's with friends or relatives have a safe journey. [Top] |
