after watering the parched backyard, i shoveled the dirt back into the wine cask planter. the soil still had a bit of swamp stink, but far better than before. it was a little light because i had to pour out some sludge when i initially emptied out the wine cask.
i visited the community garden, even though i was just there on friday. having seen some squash vine borer seeds, i was concerned there'd be more. sure enough, i found close to a dozen little red dots hidden all over my squash leaves and flowers. there were even 2 stems that looked like they might've already been infected (i'll have to inject some liquid Bt). there was more on the cocozelle for some reason, but i found a few on the zucchini as well.
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my plot gets an amazing amount of sunlight in the morning, while 3/4 of the rest of the garden is still in shadows. the past few visits have all been in the mornings, so i haven't seen any mulberry tree shading which happens later in the afternoon.
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that one zucchini i saw on friday that i thought would be ready to eat by today sunday? well, it wasn't ready yet, just 6" long. i noticed there was some damage on the trunk of the zucchini plant; maybe that could be stunting overall zucchini growth. no fruits on the cocozelle though.
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i've got 3 different kinds of hot peppers in my garden, which is a pretty good spread considering i only planted 4 plants. 2 cayenne, 1 banana, and 1 that looks like a smallish bell pepper.
maybe i can survive this summer just on fan power alone. one of the reasons why i haven't installed it yet despite a slew of 90+ temperatures is because i only have one AC unit. out of solidarity with my roommate, i've foregone the comforts of air conditioning. however, once she's gone (in about 3 more weeks, i'm almost to the finish line), it's anything goes. i keep thinking about how people survived hot summers back when the AC hadn't been invented yet. as a kid growing up in taiwan, i remember a lot of hand fans. i can't remember the last time i've seen someone use one non-ironically.
after making myself some lunch (turkey egg bagel sandwich), i biked to belmont. not only was it hot (already 92°) but it was also humid; i went as slow as possible, but broke up into a sweat while climbing a hill. i found my mother in her bedroom with the AC on, knitting and watching season 2 of breaking bad.
i wanted to visit the victory garden but since my father already went to water the plants in the morning, there wasn't any need to go today. instead i took the car and went to home depot to buy an oscillating sprinkler. when i came here with bruce on tuesday there was plenty of stock; after several days of dry weather, the sprinkler shelves looked like it'd been ransacked. with what little stock they had left, i ended up buying the melnor 4100 turbo oscillating sprinkler, one of the pricier ones for $20. i also bought 2 bags of caladium bulbs at half price ($7 total).
i couldn't wait to get home and try out the sprinkler. as soon as i hooked it up though, i knew i got the wrong kind. the melnor 4100 is rated for 3900 square feet; the largest piece of my parents' front lawn is only 660 square feet. the sprays shot up higher than the house; it was definitely more sprinkler power than i needed. even picking it up i could feel the recoil of the streams. i let it run for a few minutes before shutting it off, to be returned. it's well-designed, but i need something with a smaller spray footprint.
my sister went out to dinner but made some chicken curry before she left, which i ate with my parents when my father returned home.
i was excited to return home so i could settle down and await the season 5 premiere of breaking bad. LJ wasn't home yet, but came back around 9:30. i thought she was out shopping, but she ditched her friend to go to work instead. i heard her in the kitchen cooking dinner, stewing up another pot of soup, increasing the overall room temperature by a few degrees.
that was a very satisfying season premiere episode of breaking bad. i was hooked right away from the first few minutes of seeing future walt (with hair!) securing some heavy weaponry for a job unknown. there were just too many good things about tonight's episode. bad-ass walt is definitely scary. something about him has changed, and people can just sense the menace in his demeanor. compare and contrast the hen-pecked emasculated walter white from season 1 with this new dark crime lord walter white from season 5. i can't wait to see how he rebuilds the meth business. the only thing i didn't like was anna gunn's (skyler white) plastic surgery. she already had some work done in the past, but this season is the worst, with her face so tightly wrapped that it's hard for her to emote. maybe they'll kill her off; when walter says "i forgive you" to skyler with that scary hug, that almost seemed like the kiss of death.