li was gone this morning by the time i woke up, going through the back, and once more leaving the door open. it didn't bother me as much this time as it was warm outside. yesterday i thought it was going to be rainy today but it turned out to be a normal day with temperature in the mid-70's. i left for belmont a bit before noontime. i saw the construction dumpster in the driveway but didn't realize how big it was. it was as long as the dumpster and was "parked" in a slant so it was only partially on the driveway but mostly on the grass (though they did put down some boards so it wouldn't kill the lawn). we were hoping to toss out some old windows into the dumpster but our contract said we couldn't do that because of recycling reasons (though we may ask the contract directly, maybe there's some wiggle room).

my mother made scallion pancakes for lunch. at 1pm the patriots-jets game started in the meadowlands. new england normally makes mincemeat of our division rivals, but this is a team with weaknesses (particularly in the defense), so it wasn't a foregone conclusion that the patriots would win. i don't understand the ongoing animosity that patriots fans have for the jets. yes, under eric mangini and rex ryan there was reason, but the jets under todd bowles is a different team altogether. i actually like bowles, his calm stone-face could give taciturn belichick a run for his money. new england didn't play well initially, with new york scoring two touchdowns in the first quarter to make the game 14-0. but the pats found their bearing in the second quarter, tying the game 14-14 going into halftime, including a malcolm butler interception that seemed to change the momentum in new england's favor.

during the break i went out into the backyard to move away some things (potted plants, etc.) so they wouldn't get in the way of the roofers scheduled to begin working tomorrow morning. that's when i saw the dead animal on the grass. i thought it was a bird at first, then i saw the long tail and knew it was a rat. it was missing the front half of its body, maybe an owl caught it in the middle of the night and dropped it. it wasn't very large, a small-medium at best. i left it for the time being. i also pruned back some dead plants, removing stalks and cutting some iris leaves.

i watched the second half of the game with more confidence that the patriots would eventually win. the final score was 24-17, still a little close, with the jets having several opportunities to tie the game, but a win is a win.