as promised, i woke up this morning and cleaned my fish tank, removing a clump of hair algae, scrubing some algae from the glass, before doing a water change. i didn't replace the activated carbon, although i could've done that too, wouldn't have added that much more time. i kept the hair algae in a jar, seemed too interesting to throw away, but i'm not sure i can simply keep algae in a jar without a constant source of nutrients in the form of fish waste.

my supervisor sent us a group text this morning to let us know there could be some days where we don't get any cases as they began to dwindle, at least for our area. that was something i knew would happen, but she just wanted to repeat that message, so people don't freak out when they don't get any cases. she told us to sync our phones around noontime if we have any new assigned cases. i'm actually hoping i don't get any work on monday so i can go to the ranch 99 supermarket in quincy with my parents.

i got my sister to give me a ride to my parents' place in the late morning as it was raining and i wouldn't be able to get there on my own. despite the rain, it was actually a rather hot and humid day, kind of uncomfortable, the sort of dampness that releases all the embedded stink in old furniture and carpets.

my parents got back from my mother's acupuncture appointment at the same time my sister and i arrived. my mother showed me a video of a woodchuck feeding on the squash leaves this morning. they told me it ran off to the southeastern corner of the yard. when i checked, there was a section of wooden fence my father and i had buried some wire fencing but it seemed like a woodchuck had been digging there because there was a big gap. i didn't know how it managed to get in despite the wire fencing, maybe it was able to squeeze underneath the wires. i ended up finding a large brick and temporarily plugging the hole.

i didn't do much the rest of the day. i went out briefly for a garden inspection. it was still raining and the rain barrels were all at full capacity that water was spilling out from the water level gauge. much of the backyard lawn has died from being so dry, maybe these past few days of rain can revive it somewhat. we're also going to be doing some reseeding tomorrow, mostly the front lawn, but whatever we have left over we'll seed in the back as well.

in the late afternoon my father and i went to burlington to collect the mail at bin bin's house and to inspect her place to make sure everything was okay. everything seemed fine except we found a bunch of mice droppings in the basement. not sure what mice would be doing there as there's nothing to eat in the house.

coming back, be stopped by a total wine & more store to grab a bottle of wild turkey 101 ($23), a bourbon i'd told my father about after we went to the mt.auburn star market last weekend.

it was nearly 6pm by the time we got back. my father helped my mother finish making dinner. i tried some of the wild turkey 101, it tasted stronger and more flavorful than the cold creek bourbon. it'd be the kind of alcohol that a chinese person who grew up on chinese baijiu could appreciate, as it has that strong alcohol kick, but also a complexity of flavors from the way it was distilled and aged.

after dinner i was looking out the window into the backyard where i spotted the groundhog going to town on the squash leaves. i went out to case and see where it was coming from but it disappeared into the thickets. i thought it went right (south) and checked along the bottom of the fence to see where it could come sure. sure enough, there was a newly dugged up hole behind a pile of logs. i couldn't easily got to the hole without removing all the logs first, so i found another large brick and used it to plug the hole temporarily. it's probably no match for a woodchuck, and at some point we'll need to more properly plug the whole, most likely with some more wire fencing, which seems to be the only thing that can prevent woodchucks from digging into the backyard.

my father ended up giving me a ride home.

instead of taking a shower, i got caught up watching hitchcock's north by northwest on TCM. i've seen bits and pieces of the film but never watched it in its entirety.

later in the evening i bought a new tv stand ($30). the one that i have came with the tv, and not only is it too low, but it also doesn't swivel. so if i'd siding to the side of the wrong, not only am i looking down at the tv, but also at an awkward angle. i've been meaning to get a replacement swivel stand for years now, but with tax-free weekend, that was my motivation to finally get one.