a late start to my saturday and the first thing i did after getting dressed was to go outside and shovel the sidewalk. what little snow remained from last night was all trampled down from people having already walked on it. fortunately the temperature hovered a few degrees above freezing so everything was melting slowly anyway and i managed to clear the sidewalk in no time. afterwards i sprinkled some salt to keep it from refreezing.

even though it's winter, i still keep on getting the occasional poison ivy rash on my hands. i still haven't located the mysterious source. the main suspect seems to be my camera strap, because i also kept on getting the same rash while i was in china. so i removed the strap and washed it again with the poison ivy oil remover. at this point i'd be happy just to buy a new one if it'll prevent the rash from coming back.

it's been only 9 days but there's been another outbreak of beard algae in my minibow aquarium. i did another water change, taking out the pieces of driftwood and rubbing off the algae with my fingers. maybe i should try daily water changes to try and keep the algae in check. at this point i'm inclined to resort to some artificial chemical method to stop the outbreaks. i also added new activated carbon to the mesh filter bag. after the minibow i did a water change in the female guppy tank. that one has thread algae growing in there, which is one of the worst possible algae to have because it doesn't easily come off of plants, and those that are affected i usually have to throw them away. i took out the big centerpiece plant which had all its leaves covered in thread algae. i snipped them all off and put it into a little fish bowl with some gravel, hoping to keep it alive in my grow closet. and finally no water change for the male guppy tank, but in just 3 weeks time i've noticed algae growing on the new plants.

found a few wilting nasturtium plants today along with yellow leaves. i think maybe because i didn't water enough (i usually don't water until the soil looks dry). i watered them all and snipped off the dead leaves. elsewhere, weird splotches have appeared on my basil leaves. i still don't know what's causing it. not enough water? but the soil still looks moist, overwatering if anything. maybe it's the temperature, maybe basil prefer a little warmer temperature.