woes, foes, and HOs...

full disclosure: i just took a couple painkillers before sitting down to write this thing. the pain began amidst the sweltering heatwave conditions of the past few days and finally peaked last night when i found myself unable to focus on even the simplest task on account of the pressure inside my head. the heat finally broke in the small hours of the morning, and i drifted off to sleep just as the sun was threatening to rise, secure in the promise of cooler temperatures and maybe (just maybe) some much-needed rain. i was asleep for what felt like five minutes (although it was actually closer to five hours) when i was awoken by the combination of heavy machine noises and my favorite animator's less-than-happy voice telling me that the fridge had stopped working. this just mere days after the stove had finally decided to give up the ghost. and, just like that, the peak inside my head got a little bit higher. still, in the grand scheme of life, it is just another woeful inconvenience. a frustrating distraction. in effect... a headache.

if the enemy of my enemy is my friend, then the construction workers must be my new besties for life. they showed up, and my arch-nemesis disappeared, only to be replaced by this.

 

and he has company. this is my favorite of the new arrivals.

i was convinced that they were nesting in the old squirrel hole, as they were taking turns occupying that space...

... while the squirrel took up a watchful post in the equally-gigantic maple tree across the street.

however, come Friday, the workers took down the scaffolding from the end of the building nearer to us, and moved their setup further along the facade. in the blink of an eye, the pigeons disappeared and the squirrel went to work redecorating.

welcome home, old foe... welcome home.

while we are on the topic of foes, i find it necessary to admit that i was wrong, and to offer an apology to the Montreal police department—and, possibly, to my favorite animator—for wasting both their time that one day last summer. turns out that he was right after all. it was a raccoon who had climbed up the fire escape and ripped the screen on the kitchen window. how do i know, you ask? i caught him in the act of doing it again, i reply. i cannot decide if i am more annoyed at having to repair that screen again or having to admit to being wrong... but it is probably the second one.

on a note of awesomeness, i finished knitting a sock this week... as in ONE single sock... as in half of a pair. this is what my people refer to as a Half-finished Object. so, yes... i have a HO!!! i did not want to fall victim to second sock syndrome (yes, that is a thing), so i cast on the second one as soon as the first sock came off the needles. so, now i have a HO and a bit on the side...?

and speaking of needles... seriously! this is my first time using this set of Addi FlipStix™, and i am never ever EVER using them again after i finish this pair of socks. i like the colors and the finish on the needles, but they are far too bendy (as in... bends and stays that way) for my personal taste. every single one of the needles now bears a slight curve that just gets worse when i try to straighten it out. then there was the one needle that i found in the bottom of my project bag looking like this.

it is now twenty-four hours later, and it has rained all day and will continue through the night. with the rain came a refreshing blast of cold air, a reminder that summer is rapidly drawing to an end, and autumn will soon be here.