That's not Santa on the roof, but it still feels like Christmas

Day has barely broken but already I hear the clump of feet and the whine of power tools overhead as young bearded men in work-boots tromp all over my roof, tearing off twisted bits of decrepit flashing and flinging them to the ground. My usual view out the picture window is interrupted by ladders, piles of building materials, and pickup trucks. Yes: we're getting a new roof! It feels like Christmas in April.

From the sound of it, work is happening at a furious pace. My roofer dudes moved their original installation date (tomorrow) in hopes of avoiding the rain that's expected to arrive late this afternoon. Does this means they expect to have my new roof fully installed before suppertime? That seems to be the plan.

Just now something big made a massive thump above my head--it sounded catastrophic, like a chimney collapse, but it's apparently just part of the roof-construction process. Compared to the noise and activity of the roofers, my keyboard-clicking seems wimpy and inconsequential, hardly worthy of the word work. Every time one of the roofer dudes walks past the window, I try to look busy. It feels wrong to just sit here while so much heavy lifting is going on overhead.

They've been here twenty minutes and already one pile of wooden laths has disappeared overhead. The truck carrying the new metal roofing materials has not yet arrived, and I'm eager to see how it gets across the creek and up the hill. They don't want to take the big truck across the bridge because it can't handle the sharp turn on this side, so they're hoping to drive it through the creek, across the meadow, and up the secondary drive. Fortunately, the big utility trucks that took that route last week left big ruts to show the way, but that doesn't mean it'll be easy.  

And it's not easy for me to concentrate on my own work with so much hullaballoo happening, but I've finished responding to student writing for the moment so I can focus on some less demanding projects, like writing final exams, doing laundry, and whacking some weeds. The important thing is to look busy, even though it wears me out just to see how hard the roofers are working.

And...it's done! Before 9:30 a.m.!