#289 - Hot and Sweaty Days

I was once again prodded from a sweet slumber by my co-worker asking a question at eight o’clock in the morning. A question that did not need answering at that exact moment.

But I replied merrily enough.

And then went back to bed for another hour.

I started my day off as expected. I was bombarded with messages informing of this and asking for that. It’s a bit of gauntlet and if you can survive it the rest of the day usually improves.

And for the most part the morning when well. I needed to find work for some painters to start and message other departments to know what the rest of our week would look like. I still have all the responsibilities of my regular job as a lead to attend to as well.

That meant asking for revisions and checking work to see if it could be approved. Time flew like crazy and by ten thirty I found a lull in the chaos and went downstairs to make myself a cortado and a bowl of All-Bran and prunes. I have come to prefer prunes over raisins. I know this is the morning meal of an elderly man, but I actually like it. I’m not really a cereal guy, but this I can eat everyday if needs be.

I toured the garden in the time it took for the Nespresso machine to make my drink and then headed straight back to my desk. My derriere touched seat and the messages began their campaign of terror once more.

By noon I was ready to get out of the house and take a walk but was delayed by a painter who needed some direction to continue their work. How I hate 12pm and 5pm questions, but this is the nature of the job. After sorting the painter out, Robyn and I took the car to the park to take our walk. It was another scorcher of a day and our colleagues in the Ottawa studio had mentioned the air was filled with smoke from forest fires.

I could detect a little particulate in the air by a tickle in my throat. It felt similar to the times last year when we had air quality warnings. And to make matters worse the humidity was also very high.

We both mentioned about halfway through the walk that it felt like it was harder to breathe than usual. I certainly got a good sweat going today as it was like walking in an oven.

Returning home, we were grateful for the air conditioning even though it was struggling with the high temperatures outside. Last night, just before bed I replaced the air filter on the furnace to see if that would help. The filter was well past due its replacement date and I felt the air was moving better through the system.

But even today the air conditioning struggled to keep the house below 23.5 degrees Celsius. After our racoon removal service last week, we are aware that the blown-in insulation needs to be topped up.

I came back to some more questions and some news that more was available for me to hand out from our layout department, which was great news.

Keeping the team working or feeding the monster as it’s sometimes called in a never-ending battle. Overall, I am happy with all the progress that has been made while our supervisor is away on vacation. We’ve also been able to get our library of assets increased over this time as well. And that will just make the team that much faster going forward.

At three I had a meeting. It wasn’t one that required much input from me, but that I needed to listen to, so I had all the updated information.

I finished up the day doing approvals and getting things ready for the next day. I have to go into the studio tomorrow for a townhall meeting and they are providing us with a pizza lunch as well. It’s looking like it will be another scorcher of a day tomorrow and I am not looking forward to commuting in the heat. The studio has also been having some air conditioning issues this last week as well. If it’s not working when I get there, I will have to leave.

After work I was ready to take it easy for a bit. Robyn and I went up to lie on our beds before she left for her second job. I had planned to take a quick nap because I felt exhausted from the heat and all the fun in the sun from the weekend.

No sooner had Robyn left, then kiddo #1 burst into the room. She had needed to use Robyn’s car to go buy a swimsuit for her work. She works at a kid’s camp, and they are going to a water park tomorrow. That meant I had to get my ass out of bed and drive the kid to where Robyn was working so the kiddo could take the car with the spare set of keys.

And I wasn’t about to let Robyn walk home in this heat. And there wasn’t much point in driving home either. So, I parked in a shady spot on the street and read a bit of a Mick Herron short story and occasionally just sat with my eyes closed.

Robyn exited the house where she does the service work and was surprised to see me as she had missed all the frantic texts from the kiddo and the ones from me saying I was out front.

We had a good chuckle at the absentmindedness of the kiddo and drove home.

The grass was in desperate needed of a watering, so I set myself to the task and set a forty-five-minute timer. I took a seat on the front porch and Robyn came out to eat her leftover dinner to keep me company.

After the timer went off, I packed the hose and sprinkler away in the garage and headed indoors, telling Robyn I was done with the heat for today. I could feel a headache coming on and I wanted to relax for an hour or two.

We put on the Daily Show and actually watched it all the way through this time. Christopher Nolan was the guest, and the rest of the show was about Lindsay Graham’s passing and the classless way Trump handled all his interviews about it. It was both funny and sad.

I sort of drifted in and out of the Nolan interview as I wasn’t all that interested in him.

By the end of the show, it was after ten PM.

Seeing as I needed to get up at seven to go to the studio, we decided that was enough TV for the evening. The kiddos burst into the room to show Robyn all the clothes they found at the mall and did a little show and tell.

After that craziness left the room, I remembered my car was still on the street and that I needed to move it into the driveway. I had some cherry juice afterwards and one kiwi and my magnesium glycinate.

I plan on getting a good night’s sleep.

I grabbed a quick shower, because, hey, it was a hot and sweaty day.

Then it was time to write.

So, I bid you a wonderful day.

Until tomorrow.