t
o
n
y
a
n
g
'
s
 
w
e
b
l
o
g


after a greek yogurt for lunch, i rode the motorcycle to the community garden to water my plants before heading out to belmont to check on my lotuses. it was the middle of the day and i was already sweating through my white polo shirt, despite it being a hot but dry day. along the way i was riding behind a young woman who was definitely driving distracted, using her phone and perhaps texting as well. at the final approach to my parent's house i watched as she rear-ended the car in front of her. not sure the damage, but i heard the crunching of bumpers. when i arrived at my parents', something didn't sit right so i got back on the bike and returned to the scene of the accident, in case the car in front needed a witness (since i saw the whole thing). but by the time i got there (only a few minutes had passed), they were already gone, so maybe it was nothing.

what's new with the lotus barrel were mosquito larvae. i've never seen them before in these barrels because i'm pretty vigilant with the mosquito bits, but i guess the effects were finally wearing off. i also think the Bti bacterias live on the surface of the water, and the few overfilling downpours we've had over the past few weeks had effectively rinsed out all the Bti. i simply sprinkled a few more mosquito bits and by the time i left, all the larvae were dead. in a perfect world i would keep fish in the barrel so they could feed on the mosquitoes, but this kind of biological control works well enough as well and its one less thing i have to take care of.

i almost think lotus coin leaves are social, because they all like to bunch up together. it could just be the effects of gravity and wind however. the 5th coin leaf is supposed to be an aerial leaf, but the one that's currently developing doesn't seem sturdy enough to rise out of the water. keep in mind that this particular lotus (first batch) has been uprooted twice, so it still has some growing to get back to normal health. in one of the pots some lotus roots have been exposed and what's hidden beneath the sandy clay looks scary, like a big thick root. the 1st batch lotus might not be able to make aerial leaves yet, but the one with the thick exposed roots might do it. each new successive coin leaf also seem to be getting bigger and bigger.

i watered the rest of the garden before i left, as well as washing the dirty dishes in the kitchen sink. i went to the cafe by 2:40pm to deliver some magic sponge erasers (i bought a surplus of 100 a few months ago). i left with a container of fried rice because i was still hungry from only having a yogurt for lunch. i took a quick shower when i returned home before eating.

my wyze cam v2 arrived today. i ordered it late monday night from bed when i saw it was on sale from amazon for $22.87. i will install at my parents' place to watch over the backyard, while relocating the wyze pan cam back to the living room. i'm hoping there will be a sale on wyze cams during amazon prime day so i can score a few more cameras. including the one that arrived today, we now have 7 wyze cams: 2 at the cafe (pan cams), 3 at my sister's place (2 wyze, 1 pan cam), and 1 at my parents' (pan cam). i'm also looking into getting an infared illuminator, so i can watch over the backyard at night (on the lookout for critters).

i adjusted the brakes on my trek cargo bike. they've gotten so soft that yesterday when i was coming back from market basket i almost crashed because i was going downhill when a car suddenly veered in front of me. i couldn't stop so instead i took a detour into a driveway and steered until i lost my momentum. these new adjustments i've made will make the bike safe to ride again.

annie came around after 6pm and immediately started making dinner. afterwards she locked herself in her room. i was waiting for her to finish so i could make some dinner of my own. when i went to the kitchen it was already cleaned up, except some discarded vegetables in the sink. included in that pile was some of my garlic; when i went to go check my garlic jar, it was empty. last time i checked it was completely full. i was a little shocked that annie ate all my garlic. when i said she was free to use whatever spices and condiments in the kitchen, i didn't mean for her to completely use it up. it left me a little angry as i made my grilled cheese and ham sandwich.

later in the evening she told me that she noticed some worms growing in the garlic so she threw them out. i also learned that her GRE isn't july 15th, but rather august 5th, and that was always the date, which is confusing because originally she was only supposed to stay here for june and july, with no mention of august until the news that her mother was coming to cambridge. regardless, the next time i ask her about paying the rent (july is overdue), i'm going to request that she pays for august as well, so i don't have to keep asking her. any other landlord would've thrown her out already, i don't think i've ever had a roommate who's this forgetful about the rent. typically that's a warning sign.

renee knocked violently on my front door around 9pm. i opened the door violently and angrily told her that i have a doorbell. she said it wasn't working, that's why she knocked. sure enough, it seemed to be stuck. she called on me this late to let me know that tomorrow construction guys will arrive by 7:30am to demolish her backyard deck so there will be noises. she also said she was going away for the weekend and left her bike locked outside and asked if i could keep an eye on it. i asked her why she just didn't leave it in her basement, which didn't seem to occur to her. that seemed to be the safer option. but with her deck demolished tomorrow morning, she won't be able to get into basement. after she left, i disassembled the doorbell. one of the screws was too tight which caused the gears to sieze up. i loosened it a bit and added some WD40, good as new.