as it'd be raining the next two days, i biked to market basket for some groceries while the weather was still dry. i decided i'm making mexican chicken soup tomorrow. i already had canned chicken stock and black beans in the cupboard, but i needed additional ingredients: chicken breast ($3.76), sleeve of garlic ($1.99), cilantro ($1.29), vidalia onion (56¢), frozen corn (99¢), goya chipotle peppers ($1.89), 28 oz. can of crushed tomatoes (99¢). i also got some ingredients for making smoothies: bananas ($1.21), orange mango juice ($1.89), frozen strawberries 2 lbs. ($2.99). i made a list and managed to buy every single items, coming in just under a dozen so i could use the express checkout lane.
margot's getting her front porch redone and the contractors have all their equipment on the sidewalk, including the entrance to my backyard. i had to ask a painter on the ladder to let me get across so i could put my bicycle away.
trying to get in some more errands on this dry day, i next rode the motorcycle to the memorial drive microcenter via cental square, to buy a raspberry pi zero w on sale (the new version with built-in wifi, thereby freeing up a valuable usb port). it began to mist, which normally wouldn't be a big deal, but my windshield became covered in rain drops that i couldn't see, and the fine layer of moisture on the road made it potentially slippery so i rode extra careful, keeping my speed low and making slow turns. the misting was intermittent, and stopped by the time i got to microenter.
when i got to the hobby electronics department, i saw they had a large bin of regular pi zeros for $5, but the bin for pi zero w was completely empty. i came too late! there must've been a spree of electronic hobbyists getting their hands on this cheap mini computer. fortunately i asked one of the clerks who surprised me when he said they actually did have more pi zero w's. so i followed him to the other side of the store. he said i could wait in line while he fetched it for me. minutes later i was paying for my pi0w ($5).
afterwards i went next door to trader joe's to pick up some cheap wine (sauvignon blanc) for cooking. there was a bit of urgency after learning recently that the memorial drive trader joe's is losing their liquor license. fortunately the new trader joe's at the assembly square mall in somerville sells wine as well (i am about equidistant to 3 different trader joe's: fresh pond, memorial drive, assembly square).
my returning trip was much drier than my going trip. i left soon after i got home, leaving for belmont. conditions were wet enough that i didn't need to water the grass patches, and the overcast sky kept evaporation to a minimum.
when my parents returned home around 4pm, my father and i went outside to pour bonide stump out granules (sodium metabisulfite) into the holes we drilled into the tree stump yesterday. i accidentally took a sniff and the granules (more like a fine powder) had a strong acrid smell that made me turn quickly away. the opaque packaging is misleading as the container is only half full. direction said to add 3-4 oz. per hole but we couldn't figure out how much that was, so we just divided the powder equally to all the holes (about a dozen) plus a large naturally decomposing hole near the center of the stump. instructions said to water afterwards but we didn't bother as it was going to be raining tomorrow.
* digging out another flash (pixel X-650)
before i went to bed i took a few more snapshots of the chrysalis. some more pigmentation, but i'm not sure if she'll come out tomorrow morning. if not tuesday, then definitely wednesday morning, which will be the worst of the storm. beginning tomorrow morning at 7am it's going to be pretty much raining until wednesday 5pm.