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i went down to the post office early this morning to pick up a package. i was hoping being early meant no lines but 3 people were ahead of me and soon a half a dozen were waiting behind me. i thought maybe it was some bike parts from china but turns out it was an acurite desktop digital thermometer/hygrometer i ordered a while back.

i left for belmont soon afterwards. i caught my parents before they left for the cafe via bikes. my mother was complaining about squeaky brakes; we replaced the pads which immediately fixed the problem.

while walking the dog, my sister came across a bookcase. when she got back, she asked for my help in retrieving it. it was only 2 blocks away, a small bookcase that i easily lifted with 2 hands. once back at home, i got a chance to examine it some more. it looked like a long wooden box with a glass window door that can lift open and be tucked inside the box. inside was a label that said, "globe-wernicke co. cincinnati sectional bookcase utility book unit pattern 710 grade 198." it's a nice piece of furniture, good for storing things you don't want to get dusty (not necessarily books, since who still buys books nowadays?).

i spent much of the day doing yard work with temperature hovering comfortably in the 70's. it took just 3 days for a fresh crop of dandelions to show up on the lawn. after i was done weeding, i moved on to pruning. there's a wild thorn bush growing in the northeastern corner of the garden. we should've uprooted it while it was still small but now it's a monster. we'd probably make quick work of it except it's covered in thorns (some sort of wild rose). i ended up stabbing myself in the thumb and leaving enough scratches on my forearms to look like i got in a fight with a cat. i cut a few branches before i gave up. next i planted the rest of the hostas we dug up yesterday from malden: some in the shady northeastern corner, some in the shady eastern border, and a few in the shady area beneath the plum trees.

by that point my parents had returned home. the whole family was doing yard work. my father and i planted some seeds in the raised beds: arugula, radishes (crimson giant and asian watermelon), and asparagus beans. i also sprinkled some more dill seeds by the chinese chives but i noticed there were already a bunch of tiny dill seedlings (dill is known for self-seeding). my sister was raking the lawn and later she and my mother were bagging some leftover leaves, while my father cut some old downed branches into smaller pieces to be tossed out on the next garden refuse collection day.

i returned to cambridge while it was still light out but turned on my lights anyway, figuring it'd at least get dusky. i found my roommate making dinner. it smelled pretty good, he's getting better. his friend must've taken him to chinatown again because the refrigerator was once again packed with food. he bought this green radish i'd never seen before and said it tasted weird (bitter).