i wasn't expecting the weather to be so nice today. i ended up putting some more lupines and delphiniums outside on the backyard deck to give them an opportunity to adjust to the outdoors. besides, natural sunlight is way better than any artificial light, and cheaper too.

i called next step living to confirm the weatherization appointment this friday. i was worried that the impending rain storm might postpone the installation, but more and more the forecast for friday is for a brief drizzle at worst. later the installation people actually called, asked me if i had any questions. i told them i cleaned up most of the basement, but there were still sections that they might have to work around; it will be a game time decision. the one thing he told me that i didn't anticipate was to remove anything hanging from the walls, because sometimes the vibrations from having the insulation pumped into the walls could cause them to fall off.

in the early afternoon i biked to market basket to pick up a few grocery items, some for me, some for the cafe. i came home to drop off my things, then went to the cafe to make the delivery. i bumped into alex, who was there to show off the nearby empty retail space to a prospective renter. at the cafe, i didn't smell anything, all that foul grease trap odor had thankfully dissipated.

from there i went to belmont. it was an awesome spring day, blue sky, white clouds, and colors everywhere from the flowering trees and the blossoming bulbs. it was the kind of day where i wanted to ride slow and soak in all that spring had to offer. at my parents' place i planned on raking the backyard lawn and then sprinkling some fertilizer pellets (organic variety, because of high traffic and garden). but by the time i got there it was already 2:00 and i wanted to start going home around 4:00 to beat the rush hour traffic.

instead i: watered the raised beds, moved some more refuse wood to the other side of the backyard (less conspicuous), tended to my shade garden, relocated the pots around the plum tree (one of the pots had actually buried a patch of hostas), and planted some delphiniums and lupines. i added them to the perennial plot behind the garage. i tried to space them out, alternating between plant types, but i'm not sure how big they can grow. i had 1-2 delphiniums here before, but they might've died because i don't see them anywhere. even then, i think delphiniums raised from seeds don't flower until the 2nd season. lupines i'm more optimistic that i'll see some colors this summer. my only fear is once gary the painter returns to painting the house, he's going to trample these delicate seedlings. i definitely need some way to mark them off.

i left belmont after 4:00. 2 hours of working in the backyard left me a little sweaty, so i took a shower. when i weighed myself the scale read 147.2 lbs. with a tiny bit more work, i could drop that number to 146. i bought some salad ingredients earlier, but i was kind of hungry so for dinner i made some white cheddar cheese shells with spinach.

i'm kind of happy to see there were some takers from the pile of junk i left on the sidewalk since yesterday. somebody took all the track lighting, as well as the broken motion sensing spotlight. later this afternoon i saw a girl and a boy inspecting an empty macbook pro book i threw out. it really is true, one man's junk is another man's treasure. i'm just glad some of my junk will be going to a good home instead of a landfill somewhere. the good thing is have even more junk to throw out once i have some time to go through some more basement boxes.