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this morning i wrote out some checks for my 2nd quarterly estimated income tax and dropped them in the mailbox. shortly after john left via bicycle for his boston conference in the early afternoon, i contacted commonwealth care regarding my health insurance eligibility. they finally cleared up that clerical error on my record so now i was ready to switch my insurance. i went to their website, logged in, and picked my new insurance. the good thing is my current MGH doctor falls within their coverage so i don't have to choose a new doctor after all. but the best thing is i'm saving 10x compared to what i usually pay for health insurance!

i was hoping the weather today would be a lot better so i could do some naturing but it was another gloomy and cold day with the possibility of some afternoon rain. instead, i left for the cafe to get some lunch, then headed to belmont to see what else i could do in the backyard. my father had the day off and was already at home pruning back the rampant honeysuckles.

when my father left to take my mother to her haircut appointment, i paid another visit to the watertown home depot to stock up on some more bulbs on sale. i got a bag of "white queen" caladium (7 count), some "john peed" caladium (7 count), and an assortment of gladiolus (32 count). when my father came back home we planted the bulbs in the backyard. the gladiolus were in pretty bad shape with most of the bulbs looking awfully dry and dead. they were only $3.50 for the bag, so at 10¢ a bulb, even if one or two sprouted, it'd still be worth it. we planted the gladiolus by the sunny western side of the house. the caladium corms were in better shape; they went in front of the bamboo plot (north facing) near the wisteria plant. my father and i were also thinking about making some jam later in the season from the flowering chinese quince fruits.

we had some trader joe's steamed manila clams mixed with some pasta for dinner. we ate some kim chee, which had another day to ferment, but they tasted fine. i ended up taking a jar with me to cambridge when i came back home. i parked my motorcycle on the private way behind john's car in anticipation of the 2nd day of street cleaning, this time on my side of the street. john came back in the late evening, storing his bike down in the basement.