For the third morning in a row, the Boss called me at ten minutes after eight.

"Michael, I have some good news."

Good news. Then can it wait until my eyes are all the way open?

It's usually something like, "The mistake I made on that estimate isn't as big as I thought."

Great. Now can I get back to Animal Planet? Timmy's about to do something incredibly stupid and get himself into trouble that only Lassie can save him from. (Why that kid isn't permanently grounded, I'll never know.)

So it's up to me to redo a half-day's worth of paperwork to reflect the corrected estimate. And you know I love this kind of busywork.

I used to think four hours of sleep a night would be enough for me. (Lately it's been closer to three than four.)

Obviously, I was wrong.

Small example: David left his cell phone here today. As soon as I noticed, I called him — on his cell phone!

Yes, it rang.

No, I didn't answer it. I'm not that loopy.

I spent an hour watering my overgrown garden tonight. Does that seem right to you? I couldn't even finish. It started getting cold and dark, and I still had to take my trash can and recyclables to the curb.

Well, there's not really a "curb" on this rural road. But I have to take the containers to the end of the driveway, which is a fair hike. I made it in two trips.

I didn't manage to get to the whole planted area, even after spending an hour with the hose in my hand. I'll have to run the sprinkler tomorrow. It's supposed to be hot this weekend (yay!), so I'll be watering again.

This is what real gardeners do? I guess it's a good thing, spending this much time outdoors. I still wish I knew for sure I wasn't watering weeds, though.

A letter came in today's mail from the insurance company. They want to do their annual audit. Next Tuesday.

Now, the note was sent to the old address, so it was a few days late getting here. But this couldn't have come at a much worse time. I'm still getting my bearings here, and it wasn't until two days ago that I had access to my files. (Cabinet locked accidentally during the move. No key. Locksmith, house call.)

The auditor really doesn't want much information. But it takes time to get it all in order, and she didn't give me much time.

Plus, I have to call her to confirm that the appointment she set up is okay. I wonder if she'll phone me, if I happen to forget to make that call. Or maybe she'll send another note to get lost in the mail.

What I should do is let her come and get it over with, even if it means putting in a few extra weekend hours getting all the records together. I deal with several different auditors every year, and I like to maintain a good relationship with them. To me that means not putting them off, or sending up any potential red flags.

Just like in my regular everyday life, I keep a low profile and hope no one will notice. If I make a big to-do about how they should have given me more time to prepare, I always assume they'll be thinking, "He must have something to hide. I'll work extra hard to find out what he's covering up."

Getting by by going along. It's my way.

I'll be glad when they finish the work on the road outside my bedroom window. Ever since I moved into the fortress, this has been my view:

They start running all that equipment very early in the morning, too.