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this morning i snuck into the garden to see if mister hornworm had defoliated anymore tomato plants. at first i couldn't find it (which strangely left me panic-strucked) but then saw it hiding underneath a branch and some leaves, comatosed like yesterday, just in a different location. besides missing leaves, another sign of a resident caterpillar is the copious amount of black pellets which are the droppings. do they make good fertilizer? who knows. the garden in the morning is an unfamiliar yet beautiful place: small blue morning glory flowers dotted my plot, only to be closed by the time i normally wake up. i left for my parents' place dressed in my painting outfit.

today i washed the baseboards and swiffered all the dust and cobwebs from the walls and ceiling. my father was busy stripping the paint from the window, which was a project all in itself. the familiar aroma of melted paint filled the air. i went outside briefly to water the plants and admired the crystal clear blue sky.

returning from home depot with some supplies (including a large 5 gallon drum of primer), i went around patching the holes and cracks in the wall with this new pink spackling compound (resembled a container of yogurt) that turns white when dried. what will home improvement scientists think of next! my father left for the cafe in the afternoon while i continued working. i took a break around 3pm to eat some lunch (instant cup-of-wontons) while watching some tv. i spent the last hour caulking the gaps between the moldings and the wall and finally left by 5pm. after some light sanding tomorrow, i think we can finally start painting (priming).

i went to the cafe, where my mother had made me some lunch (thinking i'd visit earlier). i took it back home for dinner instead, along with a container of watermelon slices.

i returned to the garden once again to check up on the activity of the tobacco hornworm. it didn't seem to eat very much from yesterday, and once again it was "sleeping" or doing a pretty convincing imitation (in another new location, so it obviously moves around when nobody's watching). since it doesn't seem to be doing anymore defoliating, i've decided to keep it around. as a matter of fact, some of the defoliated branches have already started to regrow their lost leaves, so no harm no foul. growing tomatoes every season is pretty easy, but it's not everyday i get to find a tobacco hornworm living in my garden. besides, it's probably the most interesting insect i've seen all this year. i just can't get over its patterns! the stripes resemble descending bar graphs while the eyespotted spiracles are so crazy in colors that they look like stickers.

by the time i got home it was 6pm and i ate my dinner. this earlier schedule leaves me feeling tired and i quickly fell asleep on the couch while watching the red sox game, lying on my hand which fell asleep as well. i woke up when the sox took the lead again, but alas, they'd lose to the bluejays tonight. feeling somewhat unhealthy from my recent lack of exercise, i had a bowl of salad while watching the daily show, as if eating some fresh greens will somehow shrink my expanding gut.