i went to the dollar store this morning to get some pinwheels and rope. back at home i managed to put my bike into 3rd gear (42/22T). that's when i noticed my upstairs neighbors had chopped down the backyard mountain laurel. it wasn't doing well, some diseased leaves, and being in the shade didn't help. my neighbors for the past 2 years have asked me about replacing it with something else. each time i've said no, because the laurel was still alive, and puts out flowers in june. so i was a bit surprised that they went ahead and chopped it down anyway, hiding the evidence underneath their christmas tree. they also cut down all the ivy growing on the front wall.

i had a big day of gardening planned. i was going to ride directly to belmont but decided to stop at the cafe first. i left around 12pm. the bike rode much better in 3rd gear, in that sweet spot that performed well on flats, uphills, and downhills. i could probably go up to 4th gear (42/20T 2.1:1 gear ratio), but i'm happy with how it's riding now, can hold off on that bike overhaul for a little while longer.

so i went to the cafe because i knew my sister had an unopened package of peat moss in her backyard shed. it'd save me a trip to home depot. my plan was to tie it to the back of my bicycle then ride to my parents' place. however when i found the 3 cu.ft. of premier sphagnum peat moss, it was super heavy (44 lbs.), and there was no way i could safety secure it to the back of my bicycle. so instead i drove my parents' car back to belmont, along with a handtruck that needed its tires inflated.

today was a really nice day, temperature was 59°F but felt much warmer. i wore a t-shirt for most of the day, and only felt a little chilly in the late afternoon, once the sun was lower on the horizon. first thing i did when i got to belmont was move out all the jasmines and gardenia from the basement and out into the backyard, so they could get some real sunshine and i could inspect them for mealybugs and spray with neem oil. i also watered the remaining plants still in the grow room, the pileas, the prayer plants, the orchids. i added some acid-loving fertilizer to the remaining water, so i could water the jasmines and gardenia later.

since i was in the backyard, i put back the cinder block bases and put back the 5 rain barrels along the sunroom. none of them are connected yet, hopefully we'll get everything attached this weekend so we can start collecting rain. i also bought out all the garden refuse bins, as belmont will begin pick them up starting this week.

the big project was reseeding the square of front lawn. for that to work, i needed to set up the wifi-controlled TROND smart sprinkler timer with the front faucet. but the front faucet leaks when turned on, and when i tried to fix it last year with some graphite packing, it wasn't enough so still continued to leak. i removed the bonnet with a pair of channel lock pliers and added some new graphite packing. i added too much because i couldn't reattach the bonnet.

so i took it off again and then went inside to remove all the old packing. not sure the age of this faucet head, but the packing wasn't even graphite, more like highly compressed cardboard. using a utility knife and an awl, i finally managed to empty the bonnet. i reused the graphite packing i used earlier, then put the whole assembly back on the front faucet. it was now leaking even more than before, and no amount of clockwise tightening could make it stop leaking.

so back inside with the bonnet, i removed the graphite packing and put in new packing. this time i went online and got some instructions: 3 counterclockwise winding on the stem. the new graphite packing i was using i bought on amazon, and instead of brittle graphite yarn, it was more like a string of soft clay with what i assume is graphite inside. i put the bonnet assembly back onto the faucet, this time it worked much better. there was still a little bit of moisture on the stem, but i didn't actually witness any leaks, so i could live with this.

next was taking out the garden hoses from the garden. when i put them away in storage late fall, i knew it was going to be a problem because i noticed a lot of kinks in the garden hose, since the hoses had been outside and the cold temperature had hardened the rubber material. sure enough i read online that to fix the kinks, leave out the hose in full sun for a few hours with water pressure. anyway, one of the hoses had so many kinks, water wouldn't even flow through it. i had to use another hose, which only had one kink.

with the hose, timer, and faucet all set up, it was finally time to reseed the lawn. i first started with the fertilizer, specialized for new grass. instruction said to set the drop spreader to 6. after spreading, i used the rake to work the fertilizer pellets deeper into the soil. next came the grass seeds. instruction said to set the drop spreader to 17-1/2. like with the fertilizer, i used a rake afterwards to work the seeds into the soil. i also walked on the dirt to give it some compaction, leveling the growing surface. finally i added a thin layer of peat moss, just enough to cover any exposed seeds (easy since the seeds were colored blue). i wasn't planning on adding peat moss because i heard it makes the soil more acidic, which the grass doesn't like. but peat moss provides a cover for the seeds, otherwise birds might eat them, and peat moss also absorbs more water than just soil, so it keeps the seeds (and eventual seedlings) moist.

before i watered, i put the 3 pinwheels into the reseeded lawn. this is to scare about any birds and possibly rabbits from digging in the lawn. i also used the rope i bought and wrapped it around the pvc posts around the perimeter of lawn to form a fence. there wasn't enough rope to cordone the entire perimeter, so i only did 2 sides.

finally i turned on the sprinkler via my phone app. i spent some time adjusting the sprinkler so it'd only spray on the reseeded lawn. the melnor XT turbo oscillating sprinkler is pretty cool. i don't know how well it'll hold up (made entirely of plastic), but i like how i can adjust the height, width, and distance of the spray. i set the sprinkler timer to 15 minutes.

while the sprinkler timer was running, i moved all the jasmines and gardenia back down into the basement. earlier i'd already sprayed them with neem oil, they all seem to have mealybugs, some more than others. i need to spray more often, and i still haven't used my pyrethrin, i promise i'll try it out this weekend. the best way to deal with mealybugs is put the plants outside, where natural predators will kill most of them. unfortunately it's still now warm enough to put the plants out yet, maybe next month. the gardenia will continue to live in the basement, until any emerging flower buds have finished blooming. so far still no flower buds, that's why we started fertilizing a few weeks ago.

i finally left belmont around 5pm. there was still more gardening to do, like plant some chinese celery and japanese red mustard and spread crabgrass preventer on the rest of the lawn. i'll have to leave that for the weekend.

i hit rush hour traffic and it took me a while to drive back to the cafe. it would've been faster if i was on bicycle. when i got there, i helped my father bring up all the pieces of the wooden parking lot deck. apparently the contractor is coming tomorrow to assemble the back patio. only then was i finally able to leave. i didn't get home until 6pm.

i didn't eat all day, so i had some leftover tzatziki with pita bread. big news today was trump's arraignment in new york city. i watched a bit while i was in belmont, and listened to the radio when i drove to the cafe. back at home, i was able to get the fully story on the evening news. photos of trump showed him looking defeated. unfortunately there was no mugshot, that was the part i was waiting for the most.

for dinner i reheated a frozen pizza. a pepperoni fell to the bottom of the oven and i couldn't reach it with my tongs so i decided to get it later. that turned out to be a mistake as the pepperoni burnt to a piece of char and when i returned to the kitchen it was all smoky. i had to run the window fan and floor fan for ventilation, then later used my air purifier to get rid of the burnt smell.

i also did my second load of laundry, the one i saved up from over the weekend. it was mostly t-shirts, underwears, and some socks. i also washed my oil-stained jeans again, i think the smell is almost gone now.

i watched the celtics-76ers game. philly won, but boston narrowly missed stealing a victory, they had some chances, probably made the 76ers fans sweat. so close to the playoffs, teams are being strategic by not playing some players, so their opponents can't create defensive schemes for the playoffs. for instance, celtics sat jaylen brown and robert williams. with this loss, celtics chance of getting the 1st seed are pretty much gone. celtics need to win their last 3 games while the bucks have to lose all their last 3.