i had the house back to myself again. instead of enjoying my regained privacy, i left for the cafe early, around 10am. i was going to ride the bike, but both my front and rear brakes have completely seized up from rust. thankfully new brakes are arriving later today. so i had no choice but to take the motorcycle.
first i made a quick stop at the community garden to water my plants. after i left, i noticed a neighbor had tossed out two wooden window boxes onto the sidewalk. i was halfway to the cafe before i decided to turn around and grab them. i dropped them off back in the garden. that's where i bumped into the man i saw a few days ago, watering the plot that used to belong to me. i introduced myself, his name was larry, he was just watering the garden for his daughter-in-law. i continued on my way, finally arriving at the cafe by 10:30am.
only my father was there, my mother having left to help my sister clean up her place while the contractors started filling her walls with insulation. later when i spoke with my mother, she said she'd been here since 7am, and that even working all night my sister still wasn't finished cleaning.
i made a batch of 40 tea eggs, since the usual 30 batches don't seem to last very long anymore. because i used more water, i added 7 spoonful of salt instead of the usual 5 spoons. instead of the usual additional 3 tea bags, i used 4 additional tea bags. i'm a little worried that by making such a large batch, i'm diluting the tea egg spices too much, which was only made for 30 eggs.
so not only was my sister dealing with cleaning and managing the insulation contractors, but she was also still doing her catered meals. my parents ended up doing most of the work because she was hardly at the cafe, even though she'll still get the majority of the profit. i told my mother she should get all the money because my sister barely did anything. and like always, she ran late again, but luckily none of her customers came early, with the exception of my aunt, who was here 30 minutes before her food was ready.
during a lull around 2pm, i was told to go to my parents' place to check on hailey, who was home alone while my sister's place gets insulation work done. when i got there hailey was sleeping in the living room, before following me outside to use the bathroom and sun herself on the lawn. i did some watering. i gave my free home depot plants a more thorough inspection. i picked up 9 geraniums (Pelargonium hybrid); the one with the swirly leaf patterns had pink flowers, while the rest had red flowers. i got 6 new guinea impatiens (Impatiens hawkeri), and one boston fern (Nephrolepis exaltata).
while watering the backyard, i spotted a mourning dove is casually sitting in the grass. i took its photo, and as i got closer, i noticed it wasn't flying away. could it be brooding on some eggs? but when i got even closer, i saw it had a puncture wound on its chest. and from the back, it was missing some feathers. the bird was still alive, but obviously it was attacked by a hawk. i didn't check the trees but i should've, usually a hawk isn't far away from its wounded prey. i left it alone, hoping the hawk would come back for its food, instead of me having to take care of a dead bird.
after coaxing hailey back inside the house (she seemed more happy to be outside), i left by 3pm. the automated sprinkler had just started running, and i noticed my father had readjusted it so it was watering all the front lawn again, not just the reseeded area. i adjusted it back, otherwise the reseeded patch doesn't get enough water and the soil will dry up, preventing the seeds from germinating.
i returned to the cafe. i tried to get out of the way as my sister slowly put the finishing touches on her catered meals, with total disregard to the time. she still disappeared often, whether to deal with contractors or the cleaning lady. the insulation guys were finishing today, leaving behind a dusty mess that the cleaning lady came to clean but there was still insulation dust everywhere.
around 5pm i told my parents it'd be raining soon. they didn't seem to believe me, but i pointed to the darkening sky, and showed them the doppler radar. why that was important was because my sister had a bunch of her stuff outside (there was no more room inside) while the contractors worked. my father and i rushed over to my sister's place to help her bring everything back inside. even then she still had the audacity to tell us to take off our shoes, even though her place was a mess after the contractors left. i noticed patched up holes all along her outward facing walls, where the insulation must've been pumped in. my father and i basically piled everything back inside and let my sister sort through the mess. my sister also asked me to reinstall the wifi, which was removed so the insulation guys could access the walls. it took a while for her to find the networking equipment. i noticed one of the antennas on the router had broken off.
i returned to the cafe, where i helped my mother bring in the patio chairs and tables, before my father and i closed the umbrella. to my knowledge, nobody sat in the back deck today despite the good weather. anyway, it'd already started to rain. my roommate was there having dinner, and my mother said he'd already dropped off the housekey, which i took. i then hurried home, but not before my mother packed me some beef rollups.
i was prepared to get thoroughly soaked returning home. didn't help that traffic was terrible, took me 10 minutes just to travel a few blocks. all the while it was raining and i was getting wet. also the roads were slippery too, and i kept imagining myself in an accident, which bones i'd break this time around when i get thrown off my motorcycle.
i finally got back home by 6:17pm. i was expecting some more torrential rain, but the storm clouds seemed to peter out as they approached the coast. that's when i got a text from bruce, asking if i eat stuffed peppers. i said sure, before heading to their place for some leftovers. this time i brought some food in return, a jar of homemade seville bitter orange marmalade. i left with two stuffed peppers, a recipe bruce said he learned from his mother.
i dug into the still warm stuffed peppers as soon as i got back. they were without a doubt the best stuffed peppers i'd even eaten. stuffed peppers i've had in the past were just filled with rice or other vegetable fillings. these stuffed peppers were filled with meat and various spices, along with cream cheese, rice, and beans. every bite offered a new flavor experience, as i tasted fennel and had crunched on some surprise bacon. they were so good i wanted to save one for later but couldn't resist and ate them both.
since my sister's place is still in the process of cleaning up, she stayed at my parents' place tonight. i called her to ask if she saw the mourning dove outside. both my father and she didn't see it, so it meant the hawk came back for its meal, which is both happy and sad.
i turned the habanero peppers i got from haymarket last weekend into a hot sauce. some of the peppers had already gone bad (moldy stems) and a few had rotten centers. it was a simple hot sauce, processed habaneros with garlic combined with some brown sugar and salt, and then left on the kitchen counter to ferment.
no basketball game tonight so there wasn't much to watch. i finished the chris pine dungons & dragons movie, honor among thieves. it's anachronistic and silly, but a surprisingly fun movie to watch, and has garnered some good reviews.