Logging Hours at the Writing Desk

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It's time for another punny excuse for reduced productivity in the summertime! Last summer, I was stuck "in the construction zone." At the start of this summer, my writing hours have been interrupted by--literal--logging hours right outside the window.


Above, my daughter is watching a crew from the power company take down a very large, old silver maple tree that has grown up through the power lines.

Meanwhile, I received the July issue of Real Simple magazine in the mail, and it gave me the following tip for backyard bonfires:
Contact a nearby tree-removal company to get stumps to use as stools.

Wow, my backyard has so much extra hipster seating in it now. We're gonna have to have everyone over for s'mores and meat and potatoes wrapped up in balls of aluminum foil. It will be just like Girl Scout camp, except everyone is invited and we can go inside to use the toilet.

Last year's construction chaos resulted in a super nice, new sidewalk and road, and this year's madness has created for us about a bajillion lumbersexual outdoor chairs while saving us probably a grand on removing a half-dead tree that would have become a problem for us shortly. So I'm not complaining. Just making excuses.


However, I will report that I finished reading and taking notes on my Byzantine correspondence textbook, and I've launched back into the stream of writing the book. Like the work crews of both last summer and this summer, I have no reliable timeline for finishing this thing, but I won't stop until it's done!

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