i wasn't expecting today to be so rainy. i figured it'd stop by the afternoon, allowing me to run some errands, but that was not the case. thankfully i had the foresight to put the cover on the motorcycle last night. the weather has been gloomy since saturday. the combination of cold weather plus grey sky has thrown off my circadian rhythm and i've been waking up later than usual (although you can argue that going to bed around 4am is probably the main reason why i've been waking up late). once daylight saving time ends this weekend, my biological clock is going to be even more confused.

i cooked more bacon for lunch, made another bacon-avocado sandwich. i toasted the bread separately this time, but still put it in the smokeless grill just to make the bread crispier and to melt the cheese. pretoasting the bread prevents it from getting as smooshed compared to when i used fresh (soft) bread. i've discovered that adding a bit of salt to avocado makes it taste so much better. it reminds me of those chilean sandwiches from chacarero, one of the best part was the tasty guacamole, and i think their secret was just adding salt as well.

the smokeless grill works surprisingly well for bacon. i don't know i never attempted to cook bacon using my old foreman grill. i think it's because it was too small and i'd have to cook in multiple batches since i typically like to cook all my bacon at the same time so they can only stink up the house once. with the bigger cooking surprise on the smokeless grill, i can cook 6 long strips of bacon at the same time. and because the top and bottom are covered, i don't have to worry about splatter, just the smoke, which i can blow out using fans. finally cooking bacon can be accessible! i cooked 4 strips of bacon this time, 2 for the sandwich, 2 for later. i ended up cutting them in half so i had 8 smaller pieces of bacon to cook. i basically set the bacon in the grill, used the fans to blow out the smoke, and went to go watch tv while they cooked, couldn't be easier.

once again i saved the bacon grease, poured it into a jar. i didn't bother wiping the grill plates this time around; it's not a necessary step and wiping it could get food particles onto the heating coil underneath the grill plate. i waited for them to cool down before removing and washing them in the sink.

those leftover strips of bacon had no chance of lasting. once i had one as a snack, i ended up eating the rest. good thing i didn't cook the rest of the bacon otherwise i probably would've eaten all of it.

by 2pm the rain had stopped. i checked the doppler radar to make sure, the clouds seemed to be all out to sea. this was my chance to ride down to belmont and dig up a few plants i wanted to save before the killing frost arrives on friday. the latest forecast says boston will drop down to 25°F friday night. we went from a daytime high into the 70's to night time temperature in the 20's. autumn - and by extension winter - had finally arrived. those poor restaurants with their outdoor seating, how can anyone enjoy their dinner sitting outside in the freezing cold?

the combination of cold and wet weather along with my face mask caused my glasses to fog up something fierce. i had to stop a few times to wipe the lenses with my fingers so i could see.

i dug up another thai chili pepper plant plus our thai basil. from last winter, pepper and basil seem to attract aphids. my father didn't want to keep them, but it'd be a waste to leave them outside to die. we'll keep an eye on them, the first sign of aphid infestation we'll toss them outside. i will use the knowledge i gained from battling indoor pests last winter, as well a few new tricks (like neem oil). my goal is to have zero pests this time around. i sprayed both plants with insecticidal soap before moving them into the grow room.

while i was working outside, i noticed i seemed to be getting wetter. at first i thought it was just raindrops falling from the tree, but then i stopped to take a closer look and it was in fact drizzling a very fine mist. this was not in the forecast but nothing i could do it at that point. i also emptied the garden hose of water before disconnecting the on-demand pump. the concern is leaving the pump outside might damage it if there's water still inside the pump (water would freeze). i wanted to bring it inside, but i was trying to figure out how my father connected the pump to the battery and discovered he hard-wired the whole thing inside the light switch. i couldn't just simply disconnect it, i essentially had to take apart the light switch and all the wires inside. that would've been a challenge under ideal circumstances, nearly impossible in the rain. i called my father to make sure there wasn't an easier way to disconnect everything, he must've forgotten that at some point we needed to bring the pump back inside. he said he'd take care of it before the freeze friday night.

i still need to dig up my lotus plants. i read not to dig them up before all the leaves have turned brown and shriveled. i figured by this weekend that will happen. unfortunately there doesn't seem to be very many warm days left anymore, and working in wet conditions in the cold is no fun. after that we need to take apart our rain barrels, figure out a place to store them all, whether in the garage or somewhere outside.

my father asked me to stop by the cafe to pick up my smoothie ingredients. it wasn't raining that hard, but i put a plastic bag over my soaked bike seat and the bottom of my jeans were already sticking to my legs. afterwards i returned home, barely able to see through the fogged up glasses.

after a shower i got a little hungry and had a nissin cup of noodles chicken flavor (purchased from star market). nothing like a hot bowl of instant noodle soup on a cold and wet day. i haven't had these in a while, i'm more of a maruchan man myself. the flavor tasted a little bland and the noodles were still a bit tough (i think it could be because i used hot water from my thermos instead of boiling a fresh kettle). i still prefer my maruchan.

later in the evening my vivosun hydroponics glasses arrived in belmont. my father tried them on, i called to see how they worked. they fit over glasses and when he went downstairs into the grow room he could see all the plants were green instead of blurple. he noticed when he looked at a white led light that it looked a little green.

i made dinner close to 9pm, heated up the last of my turkey veggy burgers in the smokeless grill. set the timer to 9 minutes, flipped them at the midway point. they're hard to tell if they've been fully cooked, and any kind of processed turkey sausage/patty are rubbery by their very nature, but it was steaming hot all the way through (no cold spots), so i based it on that.

to think, all that rain we had today was the appetizer; the main course will be arriving tomorrow and friday, so at least two more days of wet and cold weather. i still haven't turned on my heat yet but i think it's a matter of time. i've been spot heating with my space heater, warming up the living room and bathroom, but eventually it won't be enough. my 14x20" filters already arrived yesterday, so i don't have any excuses not to turn on the heat, other than to see how long i go without it. i don't know what the record is, i'll have to check, but usually by the end of october the heat is on.