t
o
n
y
a
n
g
'
s
 
w
e
b
l
o
g


i woke up this sunday morning to put on some premier league english football game on television (NBC sports roku channel), fulham versus chelsea and later everton versus liverpool. the everton and liverpool game was special because both teams were from liverpool, in a match the british call a "derby" but pronounced "darby." unfortunately it was all for naught as sandy never bothered to get out of bed. i left by 11:30am, leaving her a note on how to watch the game. i was surprised there was a amazon box waiting for me on the doorstep: it was the via velo u-lock i ordered friday night ($12.46). regrettably, it's a lot bigger (and heavier) than the photos and i'll probably end up returning it.

even though it snowed yesterday, there was enough melting that the streets were rideable by bike. instead of going directly to belmont, i stopped at my sister's place first to spray some non-stick chemical on the snowblower in preparation for the snowstorm later tonight. there was still snow in the paddles which i cleaned and dried with a rag before spraying. i found a piece of wooden board to put on the ground to catch any drippings. after 2 passes, i put the snowblower back in the shed and left.

arriving in belmont, there was so much melting today that the 4-layer snowman i built yesterday had already toppled over into a big pile of wet snow.

i called mahoney's today to ask them when they were expecting their tree shipments. the woman i spoke to said to check in again on the 2nd or 3rd week of march, which is next weekend. we want to visit them early so we can pick out a good-sized flowering tree for the backyard.

there was actually plenty of sun this morning but by afternoon the storm clouds had come in. we produced 26.76kWh, more than half of the expected maximum, not bad considering how much snow we're due to receive by tomorrow.

after some lion's head meatballs for dinner, i biked back to cambridge. i put the bike away in the basement. sandy did catch the end of the derby, everton and liverpool tied at 0-0. liverpool is now in 2nd place (by one point) behind manchester city in the premier league.

i'm looking to make some corned beef this march (inspired by bruce's heavenly corned beef from last year), especially if i find some briskets on sale for st.patrick's day. one key ingredient is sodium nitrate AKA saltpeter, to give the beef that characteristic pink color. food grade NaNO3 is surprisingly hard to find, as it's also used in non-food items like fertilizers and explosives. i ended up getting an 8 oz. packet of prague powder #1 (pink curing salt), sold as sausage maker insta cure #1, for $5.99 with free shipping from walmart. it's supposed to arrive on friday via USPS.