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i called my father this morning to tell him i wanted to store the motorcycle in the garage. instead of rearranging the clutter to make enough space for the bike, i proposed taking a car and parking it at my place. that way the garage would be empty and there'd be plenty of space for the motorcycle. so i left today at 10:00. once again i forgot to take my nasal spray so by the time i arrived in belmont i was pretty congested with hay fever. besides putting the motorcycle in the garage, i also put away a few other things from the backyard as well, including the lawnmower and a ladder. the potted russian silverberries i moved indoors into the sunroom.

i never thought to check the dead zucchini squash plant for cause of death, since i just assumed it died naturally from some sort of root rot. but the more i thought about it the more suspicious i became, and today i confirmed my suspicion: it was actually a squash vine borer infestation into the central stem. i saw the tell-tale frass from several boring holes. when i went to uproot the dead plant, some fat SVB grubs fell out. why it only affected this one plant i don't know, when there's another squash next to it that seems fine (so far). not sure what i'm going to do next year. i was pretty vigilante this year, but these eggs must've been laid much later, when i thought i was safe.

i have bad hearing so i'm easy startled. that's what happened when my sister released hailey out into the backyard and she ran up right behind me. since there'd be a lot of rain this weekend, i tried to use up as much water from the rain barrels as possible, watering some of the raised beds with an attached hose.

i drove to the cafe before i returned home, dropping off a wallet and a cellphone. it was early in the day so i had a pick of choice parking spots. i found one away from trees and downspouts, perfect place for waiting out the hurricane.

on my doorstep was my drugstore.com purchase. after i showered, i ate some leftover chicken and rice my mother gave me at the cafe.

later i went to the local bike shop to see what they had in terms of toeclips & straps. i wasn't too excited about the selection so i'll probably order a pair online instead. i then went to the supermarket to pick up a whole watermelon ($4.99) and some drinks. the place was surprisingly calm and the shelves haven't been ransacked by folks hoarding for the coming hurricane.

my mother called in the afternoon to tell me that she was taking our relatives to do some more shopping then stopping by my place. it was a warning that i had 2 hours to clean up the place. there wasn't too much to do, just some organizing, put some things in the basement, make the bed, clean and vacuum the bathroom floor, wash the dishes, and light an incense as a final touch to drive off any foul smells. they finally showed up in the late afternoon. the father had been to my place once or twice before, but bing bing, her boyfriend, and her mother had never seen the place. i just stood around while my mother gave them the tour. they returned to the cafe soon afterwards.

it was supposed to rain in the late afternoon but at most there was only a brief shower. i know this because i looked outside and noticed the streets were wet. it was however very humid, to such a degree that i turned on the air conditioning when i couldn't take it anymore.

my sister called me, asking if our parents asked me to return to belmont. that's how my sister talks, delivers the punchline without first telling me the joke. "what for?" i asked her. "i'm at the emergency room," she said. "why are you at the emergency room?" she told me she stepped on a piece of glass. "where did you step on a piece of glass?" she was moving something from on top of the fridge and then suddenly there was glass on the floor. "did you break something?" i asked. it took several more rounds of questioning before i was able to piece together that she shattered something and accidentally stepped on a piece of glass. how serious the injury she wouldn't say, but the whole reason why she called was to get me to feed the dog, which she should've said from the start. i told her i wasn't going to belmont.

i fell asleep for about an hour in the early evening, waking up around 8:30 to heat up my leftover spaghetti for dinner.