arriving in belmont, my father mowed the lawn while i did some weeding and moved things out of the way. besides the grass being a bit long, it was also a good time to mow before it started to rain later today. i set up a complicated gopro rig on the lawnmower, not sure if it was worth it. the strong vibration from the lawnmower caused the camera to eventually spin in the wrong direction on the selfie stick. while turning the compost heap, i uprooted a few large green june bug grubs. i put them in a jar of dirt for the time being, before adding them back to the compost. i'm really curious to see what these grubs will turn into, i'll have to do some research on how to keep beetle larvae alive indoors during the winter.
my mother made some pan-fried raviolis for lunch, we ate a bit after 1pm once we were done with yard work.
after we finished eating, we went back outside so my mother could harvest the latest batch of bitter melons. for a while it looked like they'd stop growing, but a new crop soon appeared quite suddenly after a few weeks.
we also walked a few blocks to see a neighbor's flowering lotus. i spotted it coming back from star market earlier. my parents told me the neighbor had a lotus plant weeks ago, but i scoffed at the very idea, since from my own experience, it's impossible to raise a lotus to blossoming before it gets too cold and the plant dies (at least above the water). this neighbor must've grown the lotus from a tuber instead of a seed. what's even more amazing is it even managed to flower. makes me think maybe next year i'll try growing a lotus from a tuber as well.
i called belmont town hall asking about their tree planting schedule. we're still on the wait list, but the woman i spoke to couldn't tell me when they'd get around to planting a tree. definitely not this year, and most likely not next spring. "probably not a few more years," she told me, the reason being the pandemic backlogged all their scheduled activities. the norwegian maple in front of my parents' place was cut down back in april 2020 (marked for removal in october 2019), more than 3 years ago. at this rate we may have to wait over half a decade before belmont will get around to planting a tree. she did tell me about belmont's commemorative shade tree planting program, where you pay $500 to have a tree planted in recognition of a person or an event. it's basically a scam to get private citizens to pay to have the town plant public trees, something they should already be doing given the amount of property taxes residents pay. other neighboring towns like somerville and cambridge are planting trees at a rapid pace. why can't belmont do the same?
my father and i were trying to figure out how to turn a used pole-mounted satellite angling bracket that we can buy cheap off of ebay into a pole-mounted solar panel mount sturdy enough to hold two 100W panels. i was pulling up youtube videos of interests, until i came across a video of someone doing exactly what we wanted to do. instead of using professional solar panel rails, he used something called a unistrut. that opened up a brand new world of strut constructed solar panel mounts. my father estimated that it'd cost around $100 to DIY a pole-mounted solar panel mount.
our HQST MPPT controller started acting up again. it began last night, when we couldn't find it on bluetooth anymore. then today we noticed when we connect the DC load to our TYT ham radio, it would activate the short-circuit protection whenever we tried to transmit on anymore than low-medium power. at least the daly BMS bluetooth still works, which tells us the actual charge of the LiFePO4 battery. i'm supposed to contact HQST customer service to see if i can get a warranty replacement.
my ZRDR CO2 generator kit ($60) finally arrived today. a couple of things i noticed: the 2L 304 stainless steel bottle is actually quite heavy, which is a good thing, because it needs to be thick in order to hold in the pressure; the kit included a few things not mentioned in the ad like a backflow prevention valve and spare rubber gaskets; however it didn't include starter packets of citric acid and baking soda - looking at the amazon listing, i found out they didn't explicitly say it'd be included and the photo it showed was actually a quality certificate (so a bit of false advertising); the pressure dial is tiny, about the diameter of a US quarter; the units on the pressure dial is psi, while in the advertising it's kg/cm2 and elsewhere i've seen bars as well; i tested the solenoid valve it works, i didn't notice it getting hot. that was just a quick look, i'll examine it in more details when i get home.
it didn't rain all day so in the early evening i decided to go outside and water the grass a little bit. that's when i discovered the hose wasn't connected to the transfer pump. however when i went to connect it back up, i saw the outlet valve of the transfer pump was left open. that meant all the collected water from all our rain barrels could potential drain from this one outlet. and that's exactly what happened, after my father went around to check and discovered to our horror that all the rain barrels were empty. this after all that torrential rain from this past weekend, our barrels filled to capacity, now all gone because nobody turned off the valve. luckily it started to drizzle a bit, and there's still a forecast of rain for tomorrow and wednesday, not to mention the possibility of hurricane lee grazing new england if not outright landing. so we'll fill those rain barrels back up in no time.
for dinner my father cooked some bitter melon with salted duck egg along with a stirfry of chinese smoked dried "bacon" (臘肉, purchased from costco) with homegrown broad beans and green chili peppers. we managed to finish everything, no leftovers. the smoked bacon was more cantonese style, so sweeter than salty. the best 臘肉 i've ever had were all in chongqing. everything else is weak sauce!
immediately after dinner i checked the doppler radar and saw a window in the rainstorms where i could get back home without getting soaked. so i got dressed and packed my things and left by 6:30pm. i stayed dry, but the lower half of my jeans were soaked from riding through all the puddles.
back at home, i unpacked my ZRDR CO2 generator kit and used the kitchen softboxes to take photos and reexamine all the equipment. i also took some photos of the fish tank for posterity, so i could do a before and after comparison if this CO2 injection really takes off. i did notice something i didn't before. the lid for the bottle has an attached filter. on both ends are cotton inserts - like the filters on a cigarette - but inside was empty, when there should be desiccating pellets. maybe that's why i also didn't get any citric acid/baking soda, that somebody had tampered with my kit.
so i went online trying to see if i could contact ZRDR. there was no contact info besides amazon, so i ended up doing an online chat with an amazon representation. i told her i was missing a part of my filter. she didn't even ask for additional details. she apologized, and said she'd sent a new kit free of charge, and that I COULD KEEP THE OTHER CO2 GENERATOR KIT. i thought she made a mistake, so i told her i'd be happy to return the other kit. she said no, and said i was all set.
later i did some digging, and discovered that ZRDR in fact don't use desiccating pellets in their filters, and it's just an empty tube with cotton filters in the front and back. so there was no missing piece. so i make a mistake, and now amazon is sending me another kit for free. i'm so confused yet at the same time i'm already dreaming about having two CO2 injected aquatic plant aquariums.
the big event of the evening was monday night football between the new york jets and the buffalo bills. this was aaron rodgers first game as a jet, and all collective eyes of NFL fans were watching this game. unfortunately i didn't get to see him play. by the time i tuned into the game, he was already out with an injury. i watched the replay, it looked like nothing, he just fell, and then couldn't walk anymore. but those are the worst kind of injury, because it usually means something bad happened internally. later people were speculating it was an achilles tendon rupture, which means the end of the season for rodgers. with him being out of the game you'd expect the bills to totally dominate, but it seemed to have thrown a wrench into their game planning, as they seemed out of sorts, and josh allen managed to throw 3 interceptions. nevertheless, nobody expected the jets to win, not without rodgers, and definitely not with former starting QB now backup WB zach wilson. wilson's plays were tentative, it looked like a JV QB playing against professionals. but here's a testament to how good the jets are this season, that they managed to keep the game close. and wouldn't you know it? game goes into overtime, and the jets win with a punt return touchdown.
i started a load of laundry before the game and afterwards went to fold my clothes in the bedroom. i didn't use any fabric softener this time, because i don't like the way it smells, too strong, and an unpleasant scent. i may end up getting some scentless fabric softener. the fragrance from the detergent alone is good enough. i also noticed while in my bedroom that there was some mold growing on my desk furniture. i wiped it down with alcohol. not sure how it happened, maybe it's just too damn humid. i look forward to the dry winters, when i don't have to deal with molds.
