Summer, day two.

Day two and this whole summer thing is not working out at all. Back it goes!

And it does go back. Starting now the days are getting shorter and shorter. Wah! Kill me.

OW! Hot town, summuh in the city...

I don't know what it is that's irritating me. Summer without two months of vacation always seems wrong, for one thing, even though I have not enjoyed that since... well, I've been working a long time, going back to summer jobs, and sophomore year of high school was a looooong time ago.

In fact, this year I'm too busy to take any appreciable time off, but it's not like ol' Fred is just heaving money into the Scrooge McDuck Vault with all the dough I'm making. Actually, thanks to a necessary new appliance purchase and my dentist's need to pay college tuition for his children fix some old Turkish Taffy damage, I am flat-out losing money like crazy so far. Worse, the rough winter led to a bunch of necessary repairs around the outside of the house and all the work plus the rainy June has prevented me from making them. Also, having the new dog is not helping. It's tough to stain the deck when Tralfaz the Needy wants to eat the paintbrushes.

Plus there's the kids' book I've been working on. I've worked out the characters and the plot and the setting and all seems well---but writing it has felt like carrying a piano with a bowling ball in each hand. Not sure why. I know that it's been hard to focus on it when I've got tighter deadlines on work with faster payoffs.

So it's all been a blur, and spring left me feeling like no matter what I did, my day would be five pounds of baloney in a three-pound skin. Full to the top with baloney flying everywhere.

Will this leave ol' Fred feeling like he's up against a Summer of Adventure? Could be.

Oy. Bring on the fall.