i woke up this morning with one thing in mind: to fix the front step. i went outside to take a look one last time, figure out what materials i needed to get: square drive wood screws 1-5/8" size #8, joist tape, wood glue. i watched a youtube video earlier where this australian guy filled in some old screw holes using nothing but wood glue and toothpicks. i also got a piece of cedar shim to fill the gap between the leftside stair stringer and the riser. with those info in mind, i left by 10:20am.
first i made a quick stop in the community garden to water. wayne was there with his girlfriend working in his plot. he saw me in my motorcycle helmet and asked if i was riding. i said yes, and asked him if he rode himself. he surprised me when he answered yes, and old suzuki, but after he had a bad accident he gave it up. it happened in lincoln, he was struck by a person backing out of a driveway without looking. he broke his jaw, several ribs, and some limbs. he had to be medevacked to the hospital, that's how serious it was. his story gave me a newfound appreciation for him, which until now i thought he was kind of a doddering gardener who never seemed to remember who i am even though i run into him all the time.
arriving in belmont, i passed by a memorial day assembly about to happen by the belmont cemetery. they attached a massive american flag to the ladder of a fire truck (belmont: no money to plant new trees but plenty of money to buy a giant american flag).
i left soon after i arrived, leaving with my father to home depot. we didn't go by grove street to avoid the memorial day road closure. we checked out some lumber first, to replace some rotting wood in our raised bed frames. we figured out it was actually more expensive to buy the 2x10"-12ft treated boards than it is to get the 2x10"-8ft treated boards ($13.78). next we searched for square drive nails. they had none, they seem like a specialty item that can only be ordered online. so instead we just searched for a matching screw that had the same size. we ended up settling on some 1-5/8" #8 stainless steel deck screws ($16.97). the original screws from the steps seemed to be #7 but it's actually better to have a slightly thicker screw so it can have more purchase when screwed into the preexisting holes. next we looked for joist tape substitute. i read online that flextape can be used as well, and i saw home depot sells them for a bit less. but when i found the tape in the paint department, it was only for a 5ft roll of tape. so i ended up just buying normal joist tape ($17.98). we also picked up some gorilla wood glue even though i have some at home, just need to find it. my father also decided we should get 3 2x10-8ft wooden planks as well. they wouldn't fit completely inside the car so we drove with the back hatch partially opened.
it was noontime when we returned to belmont. i had some leftover pasta salad for lunch before returning to cambridge around 12:45pm.
i went to work immediately. first i broke apart the cedar shim so they'd fill the gap before gluing them in place. i thought about also nailing/screwing them down, but since i was going to put joist tape over them, i didn't bother. i also put a small piece of shim in another part of the stairs that had a gap. next i coated toothpicks with wood glue (i found my old bottle of wood glue in the garage) before tapping them into the old screw holes. then i covered the top of the stair risers (total of 6) with joist tape. finally i put the step board back into place before screwing it down with a dozen stainless steel screws. i used my sister's bosch impact driver, which made quick work of the screws. whenever it encountered any resistance, it would stall for a brief millisecond, before powering through and drilling in the screw. if anything, it was too easy to drive the screws in too deeply. the repaired step was now super solid.
i used the bathroom and took a quick shower before finally leaving around 2:15pm, heading back to belmont. i noticed housekeepers were trying to go upstairs, but they didn't have the key. i ended up letting them in with the spare house key. one of them saw me with my motorcycle helmet and asked if i was riding. i pointed to my bike parked across the street. she told me she also has a bike, but it's in brazil, a cruiser as well. i don't think she rides it, instead it's her boyfriend who does and takes her around.
i had garden work to do in belmont. a lot of our cold weather plants have started to bolt, including the baby bokchoi and the daikon radish. the japanese giant red leaf mustards are still growing strong. anyway, we ended up pulling all the daikon from RB3. it was wasn't a surprise that none of them had fully-grown radishes. of the stunted radishes, they were all eaten up by underground pests. when we grow daikon again in the fall, i might try growing some in grow bags, to protect the radishes. 
my father sorted through plants, removing all the leaves for future eating.
something is eating the seedlings in RB4. my guess is a chipmunk. it'd already killed one eggplant and 3 peppers. i planted a new eggplant seedling yesterday, and it defoliated so there was just a leaf left. so i ended up replanting another eggplant and a few peppers, but protecting them with a plastic cup collar.
my father noticed sticky residue on the osmanthus plant. that's never a good sign, and upon closer inspection, i saw there were scale insects on the stems, especially the tender tips. 
my father ended up spraying the leaves with water before i doused it with neem oil, which supposedly can kill scale insects as well. it's a type i'd never seen before on any other plants, so i wonder where it came from. or maybe it was always on the plant, and we're only noticing it now.
my mother and sister were going with her godmother to spring shabu shabu for dinner. i don't know who's treating who, but they specifically didn't invite my father and i. instead my father cooked some salt & pepper shrimp in the outdoor wok. this time the shrimps came out better, but i think it could've used more flour for a crispier outer crust. there was a very strong wok hei flavor, and the shells were still crispy enough to eat along with the shrimp. my mother was still home at the time and tried a shrimp before leaving (although she was afraid to do so, given it might reduce her buffet appetite).
while i was cleaning up in the backyard (getting ready to go home), i heard a voice, before i saw matthew and my aunt wandering into the backyard. my father must've heard them as well, because he was sleeping in the living room before i saw him coming out in the backyard too. matthew came to drop off a thatching rake. we'll use it to remove the thick layer of thatch from the larger section of the front lawn.
because the night time temperature would once again dip into the upper 40's, i decided to move indoors the wandering jew plants, the orchids, and the tiny jade plant. as a side note, the water spinach seeds i planted into water-soaked rock wool plugs still haven't germinated yet.
i got back home by 6:45pm, admiring the fixed front step as i walked inside the house. the rest of the early evening was spent preparing for the start of game 7 at 8:30pm. little did i know the level of disappointment later in the evening.