BATAVIA – Edward Dlugopolski’s first official entry in 1987 was a list of frames he was buying for his portraits. But by May 4, 1988, he began what had become his daily log with a list of chores: He stained the patio furniture and did a portrait.

On May 11, 1988, he recorded that he “mowed the lawn and the garden area, cultivated the soil, planted petunias, transplanted daisies and planted zucchini, cucumbers and sprayed for weeds, planted peppers, tomatoes and dahlias.”

And so it went for the next 24 years that Dlugopolski, 80, of Batavia kept a log of his daily life. He has more than 8,000 handwritten pages in a stack of spiral notebooks. A retired art, social studies and U.S. history teacher, Dlugopolski said he just wanted there to be a record.