It was a lovely cool night last night, nearly a full moon. I left the window of the bedroom open to the soft night air and slept soundly until about 3:30. I was awakened at that unholy hour by the not-too-far-off sounds of construction. It sounded like a jackhammer, then bulldozer, then dump truck loading.

It was just insistent enough that it woke me up thoroughly and I couldn't go back to sleep. We have noise ordinances (7 a.m.) but there are occasional waivers granted for health or safety reasons. (grumble, grumble)

What about my health, I mutter. [Not wrapped too tightly at that hour of the morning--elevator doesn't go all the way to the top--a few bricks shy of a load.]

As I got dressed for work, I could smell the faint odor of paving tar wafting in with what should have been a sweet autumn breeze. Aaachooo! My keen intelligence deduced that the noises were due to roadwork.

I'll bet I wasn't the only person awake at 4 a.m. There may be a whole community of grumpy sleep-deprived people today. Phone calls often bump up at times like these, as people like to take their ill temper out on customer service people like me. [and they want to howl at the full moon]

Wake me when it's over.