Today is day 35 of triple-digit temperatures. Not funny.
This week, my neighbors on all sides got new roofs from the same company. After the wicked hail storm in May, roofers descended on our neighborhood like a swarm of locusts, and apparently, one company cornered all the work, because all my neighbors have the same sign in their front yards. I’m guessing this is done to tell the other roofing companies that the signed houses are already spoken for, because I’m still getting flyers on my front door, and guys knocking on my door, while my neighbors are not. I briefly considered putting a sign in the front yard that says MY INSURANCE COMPANY SAYS MY ROOF LOOKS BRAND NEW, SO I DON’T NEED ANOTHER ONE, or dragging out the sign leftover from the last time I got a new roof, because it’s still in the garage somewhere, but haven’t managed to do either. Mostly, I just say ugly words under my breath every time I pull a flyer off my front door.
Anyway, this week’s roof-fest has been a symphony of nail guns, big trucks, and the random crashing of old shingles being raked off my neighbors’ roofs. Because it’s so dangerously hot (14 people have died so far), the poor roofing dudes can only work very early in the morning, or very late in the day, as the sun is going down. They start at 7AM, leave at 1 or 2, and come back again at 6PM. In between are lots of water breaks in the shade, which happens to be right in front of my house. My hell strip has been the roofers’ break room for the last week.
In amongst the noise and the heat and the roofers sleeping on my front lawn, I’ve been conquering new software, trying to come up with the right combination of toys to teach some online classes. Yesterday, I learned how to convert very large .mp4 video files to very small .flv Flash files—and then, I worked out a way to post them using the BBcode the classroom setup likes. For dessert, I used the same sort of custom BBcode to insert Flickr slideshows, which, after a lengthy search, I discovered is just about impossible. Impossible just wasn’t an option.
Last night, I looked at the calendar, and realized that my local art group meeting is next Friday, and I’ve done nothing to prepare. I’m teaching everyone how to make my favorite reborn books, and I want to get a bunch of samples done—and that shouldn’t be a problem, since I have a huge pile of half-finished books in my workroom. I also had to do three more cards for our gluecard swap, with a water theme. I don’t think these are particularly inspired cards, but maybe they’re not finished yet.
Or maybe I was just feeling lazy this week. I’m blaming it on the heat…