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in the late morning the kids upstairs were ringing my doorbell. i thought they were just messing around but they actually had something to give me: a tin of dutch stroopwafels. they were packing up their rental SUV, getting ready for the 8 hour drive. they were leaving a little late, wouldn't get there until 7-8pm, and maybe even later if they hit traffic along the way. the kids then came into the house to play with some of my gadgets (light switch remote, infrared temperature gun). the parents told me that stroopwafels are best with coffee. leon said they'd be back on friday, and maybe do another barbecue if they get back early enough. he also said an amazon package was arriving today and asked if i could bring it in for them.

after they left i started making lunch: scrambled eggs (2 eggs, half & half, chopped scallions), kielbasa sausages (heated until crispy in the toaster oven), some watermelon cubes i already had on hand, and a mug of decaffeinated hazelnut cream coffee. i thought the stroopwafels were just going to be waffle cookies, i wasn't expecting they'd have a soft filling on the inside. for my money, i think i still prefer the italian pizzelles (remind me to get some the next time i'm at the supermarket).

in the afternoon i walked down to the community garden to do some watering. wayne was there, he never seems to remember me even though he's called me on several occasions in the middle of the night asking if i could water his plot for him while he's away. i secretly covet his plot: should the day arrive and he ends up giving his own garden, i'm going to try to get it through the lottery. anyway, while i was there, i saw a few butterflies: red admirals and american ladies.

in all the years i've lived here, i never thought to put up a clothesline in my backyard. the problem is i hardly get any sun during the summer, and never thought it was even possible to dry clothes out there. but clothes can dry even without the sun, as long as it's dry outside. on a few rare occasions that i've had to dry clothes on the line (like when my dryer broke), i just draped them over the back of chairs or made makeshift clotheslines in the kitchen.

just so happens i had a coil of clothesline rope i bought from the dollar store a few days ago. so i went online and researched proper clothesline knots. i ended up tying a bowline knot on one end, and a midshipman's hitch on the other end. the advantage of the hitch is that it's adjustable, but still won't slip. i practiced a few times last night, looking at different diagrams to make sure i'd done it correctly.

after i put up the clothesline, i did a load of laundry, including the bedsheets from the guest bedroom. unfortunately i started too late, after 3pm, and didn't hang the wash up until around 4pm. i thought i'd need a ladder or one of those clothesline poles, but i found out i can just as easily reach the rope while standing on the built-in deck bench. once night came around, i didn't want to leave the clothes outside because it would remain wet from the dew. luckily the sheets were dry by the most part, just some clothes, so i ended up draping them on the back of chairs to air dry indoors.

there's still 2 weeks left in august, but if we keep our production constant, for sure we'll break last august's numbers. already we've had 10 days above 40kWh+; last august we only had a total of 10 days of 40kWh+. we might even challenge last month's production, which set the record for the single highest production in a month.