a strange new sound woke me this morning, the rattle of a jackhammer pounding into the pavement. the past few weeks have been like living in a construction site. apparently nstar was replacing one of the utility poles, the one snagged by a falling mulberry tree branch a few weeks ago. i didn't notice any damage other than the fact that the power lines were a bit lower to the ground, but it seemed enough to give nstar the go-ahead to replace the pole.

i'd never seen this done before, but it's pretty straight-forward: first they dig a new hole next to the old pole (that's where the jackhammer and the crane-operated drill came in), then they hoist the new pole first with a chain, then later catch it with a mechanical claw that lowers the pole into it's new location. however, instead of removing the old pole, they just left it in place, haphazardly attached to the new pole with metal brackets. it's an ugly look, so hopefully nstar will return and transfer the lines onto the new pole and remove the old one.

after watering my plants at the community garden, i left for belmont. birds have either been perching on the tops of the corn stalks or pecking at the "seeds". i found a broken length of corn tassels. it gave off yellow smoke which are in fact corn pollen. i sprinkled the dust-like grains on a few exposed silk strands.

after dinner i went outside and set up my nocturnal insect hunting rig. i learned from last night that it's better to set everything up while there's still some daylight, so i won't end up working in the dark. it felt like a great night for bugs because it was very warm and humid and almost no wind. once it got dark enough, i switched on the black light and went back inside and waited for the bugs to show up.

an hour later i was back outside. once again, a lot of little tiny nondescript insects. there were also few june bugs (brown beetles the size of a corn kernel). i was up against the white bed sheet, tiny flashlight in one hand, camera in the other hand. all around i could hear and feel the bugs fluttering nearby, occasionally crashing into my head. i was wary of the mosquitoes, but so long as the black light was shining, they seemed preoccupied. i did however still managed to get a mosquito bite on my hand (from a very strong-willed mosquito). i didn't put on any bug repellent because i didn't want to repel the very bugs i was trying to photograph. i never did manage to attract the large moths. the biggest thing that i caught was a large caddisfly.

figuring there wasn't much more action this evening, i packed up my things and returned to cambridge.