today being the last day of street sweeping for my street this month, it was once again safe to ride the motorcycle (in that when i returned, there'd be plenty of safe parking spots). that meant i could wake up a little bit later (8:15am) and not arrive in belmont in a sweaty mess. i ate a banana for breakfast before i left.

i found my father outside, busy caulking the gaps between shingles. he rigged up a carabiner hook to the shopvac so it could easily be attached and removed from the pulley rope. up until now, i've only removed the bottom half of the hanging shopvac, the dust collection bin, as well as unscrewing the filter for cleaning. and when it rained, i'd wrap up the hanging shopvac the best i could with a trash bag. now i can simply unlatch it completely, whether for cleaning or storage.

today's sanding up upper left-of-middle, the hardest and most dangerous part since it involves standing on top of the ladder. while my father was still home, it began to rain a little bit. i froze, waiting to see whether or not it was going to get any heavier. however, after a short period, it simply stopped. my father left for work while i continued sanding.

i finished by around 1:18pm, nearly 4 hours of sanding. at that point during the day the sun starts shining on the western side. the shopvac starts slowing down as well, its filter choked with paint dust. after cleaning up, i took a shower and left belmont by around 2:30.

back in cambridge, after changing into a pair of shorts, i bicycled to the community garden. with all the sanding work i've been doing, i haven't had time to visit my CGP and it's been 11 days since my last visit. my plot was like a jungle, a mixed sea of greens punctuated by large round discs of colors, unusually large seed-grown zinnias. i almost missed it, but behind the wall of sunflower stalks, there was a lupine flower! i'm surprised it flowered earlier than the lupine in belmont, since this particular plant doesn't get as much sun.

i then biked to market basket to get some groceries. today was an important day in terms of temperature because if it reached 90 degrees, then that be our 3rd consecutive day of 90+ which means officially a heatwave. that'd mean my AC installation rule still stands, that i don't put it in until the first heatwave. unfortunately it was a few degrees shy (at least as measured from logan airport, where the sea breeze always drops the temperature), but a hot day nonetheless.

i ended up doing a load of laundry in the evening; because of the hot weather, in a single day i might go through 3 changes of clothes: my sweaty painting clothes, my sweaty clothes when i bike back, and the clothes i change into when i finally at home.

for dinner i boiled some three bridges chicken and basil ravioli ($2.49/ 9 oz.) along with half a jar of pasta sauce. i used the electric kettle to boil some water. when i took it off the base i noticed an usual wet spot. when i went to go wipe it off, i realized it was actually melting plastic and the base felt hot to the touch. after a few minutes it still felt warm so i unplugged it just to be safe.

later in the evening i went to go investigate my electric kettle. i bought it used back in august 2010 and it's been very reliable up until now. taking apart the base was just a simple matter of unscrewing 3 screws. what i found inside was horrifying: the wires were frayed and melted, super dangerous, definite fire hazard. i'm glad i noticed the problem before using the kettle again, because it could've burned the house down.

it seems fixable though, just have to clip off the damaged end of the wires and attached new leads. just so happens i also have a spare electric kettle base, just a newer model. unfortunately the old kettle won't fit on the new base, but i can take out the wires and put it on the old base. unfortunately the new base has security screws that need a special head to remove.