i tried to get to belmont a little earlier so i can get started on the yard work. we needed to empty out the logs in the southeastern corner and consolidate them to the southern wood pile. some wood needed to be cut down to size. the quince bush needed pruning. we'd store the rain barrels to the southeastern corner of the yard. i started by taking out the extension cord from the garage and attaching the electric chain saw. i also discovered the rabbit hole underneath the eastern fence and plugged it up with a piece of brick.

after lunch (jiu niang with tangyuan and leftover fried rice) my father and i went to the backyard to begin work. he really wanted to cut down the rotted pussy willow tree in order to make more room for the wood pile. we cleared the area around the tree and ended up pulling it down into our yard with a piece of rope. the rotted trunk fell on top of the compost bin and flattened some of the wire cage but i was able to repair it by bending it back into place. after that we started cutting our old logs to the proper size so they'd stack better.

somewhere during that time my aunt called me father then called me. we didn't answer because we were working but my father called her back. she and my uncle were outside our house, bringing over some food. she knew we were home because all the cars were outside, but was calling just to make sure. they brought over some smoked salmon, and a bag of mi nina jalapeño agave tortilla chips that didn't seem to be anything special, but when i tried them they were so good i couldn't stop eating.

we started trimming the quince bush but it's too thick with branches. the best way to rejuvenate it is to cut it all down to the ground and let it grow back, but it's currently acting as a screen between our backyard and our neighbor's, so we can't do that. we'll cut it back some more next weekend, all the way until they stop collecting garbage refuse. the quince is a hard bush to prune because of the thorns. fortunately they're only at the branch tips, but they're just as dangerous as hawthorn thorns.

finally we moved all the back rain barrels from the western side of the sunroom to the southeastern corner of the yard. we also moved the red catch barrel from the southwestern corner of the house.

in the basement i noticed the toothache plant i've been trying to save has a slight aphid infestation. i sprayed the aphids with insecticidal soap but it didn't seem to do anything until i gave the plant a good rinsing. on two of the small potted jasmines there were some mealybugs; i treated them with insecticidal soap as well. next time i should spray with neem oil; i sprayed the hot pepper plants with neem oils and i haven't seen any pests. i have noticed some fungus gnats, and all the yellow sticky traps have a few. i have buckets of water that i treated with mosquito bits but i think leaving them like that reduces the potency of the Bti; i should add fresh mosquito bits immediately before watery.

returning home after dinner, all the parking spots close to my house were taken so i had to park 2 blocks away. later i went out again to put the rain cover over he motorcycle since it's going to be raining after midnight and through much of the day tomorrow.

i watched episode 10 of fargo, only one episode left this season.

i found out today that canon made an EOS 90D (i have the 80D). it was announced back at the end of august. because i don't follow any camera blog or news, i totally didn't know about it until now. other than having a higher resolution (32.5 megapixels versus 24.2 megapixels), higher ISO (51K maximum versus 26K maximum), faster continuous shooting (10 fps vs 7 fps), the biggest difference is the 90D can now shoot 4K videos. everything else seems to be the same. if i were to upgrade my canon body, i think i'd go mirrorless, just for that weight reduction and the ability to shoot silently (since it doesn't have a flipping mirror).