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i got my sister to come pick me up in the late morning so i could get my motorcycle out of storage from the garage. i've got until the end of the month to get it inspected, but chances are the expiration has been extended, though an inspection is part of my spring "getting the bike out" routine.

my mother made some avocado toast when i arrived, mixed with some garlic and olive oil. i still haven't made it on my own yet, though there's no reason not to: i have plenty of avocados (actually, probably need to eat them before they go bad) and garlic, i just need to get some bread. i wonder if you can serve it on bagels? might be too thick.

while my sister and mother took hailey out for a walk, my father and i drove to home depot again to return the expensive hex bushings and pick up the cheaper garden hose adapter fittings i ordered online. he also need some more pvc pipe connectors as well as some more wood planks for his backyard stand. it was insanely crowded with customers at home depot, no capacity enforcement (unlike their neighbor target across the street, which had a line of socially distant customers waiting outside to get in). we grabbed what we needed and quickly left the store.

back at the house we cut the pair of 12ft planks into 8ft and 4ft pieces. they will be used to repair our raised beds in the future, but for now they'll be used as platforms for the backyard stand.

my father helped me get the motorcycle out of the garage. while he was mowing the lawn, i was reinstalling the battery, making sure the jump start wire i added at the end of last season was reconnected. afterwards my father helped me start the bike. when it's been in storage for half the year, it takes a while for the fuel to trickle down into the carburetor. while i turned on the ignition, my father helped me crank the throttle. after some fail starts (from the sound my father said it was an engine not getting enough fuel issue, not battery issue), the engine finally roared to life. the handlebar clock was dead, i'll need to replace the watch battery. i took the motorcycle for a short spin on the street before parking it along the curb.

while clearing the backyard of obstacles so my father could mow the entire lawn, i took down my birdfeeders from the shepherd's poles. nowadays, it seems to be a grackle feeder, as i haven't seen any other smaller birds visiting for a while (unfortunately i still have a 20lbs. bag of black oil sunflower seeds). instead of putting it back in its original spot, i decided to hang the squirrel buster high up in the tree, about a good 10 ft off the ground. it may turn out to be a terrible idea, as the only way to change the feeder is to climb a ladder to get into the trees. and should the feeder ever fall out of the tree, it will definitely smash to pieces on the ground.

inspired by online videos, my father has been making a lot of different breads. today he was trying an indian bread recipe he found. to be honest, it seemed like a lot of his other breads, and kind of remind of me scallion pancakes, with maybe not as much oil.

finally, it was time to plant the lotus seedlings. 4 of the lotus barrels were ready, the 5th one i already filled with water, i just needed to mix the right planting medium in one of the wash basins i got from chinatown a few weeks ago. because we hardly have any clay left, my original idea was to turn low quality top soil into a heavy mud, before adding a layer of sand. however when i finished making the mud, i found it was slushy like a waterbed, not solid like an all-clay substrate. surprisingly, it didn't smell bad, had a nice wood mulch odor. i thought i could live with it by adding a layer of sand, but it was just too slushy so i decided to see if i had enough clay to mix with the soil.

i had enough clay to fill 1/3 of the basin, so after my father made a suggestion, i put down 1/3 top soil mud, 1/3 clay, and 1/3 sand. this 3 layer mix i placed in the middle part of the yard, between 2 raised beds, the sunniest spot in the backyard. to this basin i added the best lotus seedling, one that has the longest stem and with a coin leaf that was nearly completely opened. the 4 remaining seeds i distributed to the other containers, burying them lightly in the sand just enough to keep them from floating away. each seed was planted below about 4" of water, just shallow enough to make it easier for the lotus leaves to break the surface. afterwards i put wire fencing around all the lotus containers.

my mother collected a bunch of garlic sprouts earlier today for a leftover italian sausage stirfry. these are 2nd time sprouts, and as such, they don't seem to have as strong a garlic flavor as the initial sprouts. i'm still amazed by how they'll grow back even after being cut down to the ground. we also ate the indian bread my father made, which he pan-heated with an egg.

i haven't been on the motorcycle in 5 months but it all came back to me. i've never riden the motorcycle with a face mask though, not too much different since most of my head is already covered by the helmet. the air would blow behind the mask so that it wasn't pressed up against my face. if i really wanted protection, i could always get a face shield for my open-face helmet. i'm so used to riding the bicycle that i found myself wanting to signal with my hand.