Time Machine daily has error creating a folder

On my new MBP 2.3 GHz 16 GB RAM, I have been having some strange behavior with TM.  I have a 1TB HD hooked up over USB.   The drive is fine and was previously used for TM with my old MBP.  When I got the new machine, I erased the TM drive to start fresh.  When I do that, it backs up just fine.  But at least once a day I get an error that TM failed "an error occurred while creating the backup folder."
It will continue until I eject the TM drive and then plug it back in.  Usually this will take care of it for the rest of the day, but not always.  Interestingly, the drive will not eject correctly after this happens.  When I try to eject it fails saying that something is using the drive and I have to "force eject."
Also, the MBP backs up fine to another TM drive at home (I like to have a backup in 2 locations) on a Time Capsule.
Any ideas?
Thanks

If you have more than one user account, these instructions must be carried out as an administrator.
Launch the Console application in any of the following ways:
☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)
☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.
☞ If you’re running Mac OS X 10.7 or later, open LaunchPad. Click Utilities, then Console in the page that opens.
Select "system.log" from the file list. Enter "backupd" (without the quotes) in the String Matching text field. Post the messages from the last backup in which you got error, beginning with "Starting standard backup."
Post the log text, please, not a screenshot. If there are runs of repeated messages, post only one example of each. Do not post many repetitions of the same message.
Some personal information, such as the names of your files, may be included — edit that out, too, but don’t remove the context.

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