the first thing i thought of that might be broken was the powered solenoid valve. even though the light was green (meant it was turned on), i couldn't tell if the valve was working. luckily i had a backup CO2 generator set, so i just swapped out the solenoid valve. no go. was there even any CO2 left in the tank? so while the solenoid valve was removed, i turned on the needle valve. i could feel pressure coming out of the hole, so there was nothing wrong with the pressure.
so maybe the bubble counter was broken. so i replaced the bubble counter. to do that i needed to remove the air tube. when i did that there was a pop as the pressure seal was broken. when turned the solenoid valve back on and turned the needle valve, the bubble counter started bubbling. success! but after a few seconds, it stopped bubbling.
i could see water in the air tube, and thought maybe the check valve was broken as well. so i removed the tubing assembly, blew the water out, and replaced the check valve. once again, the bubble counter bubbled for a few seconds before stopping again.
finally i replaced the diffuser. that was the problem, the diffuser had clogged. once i replaced it, the CO2 started flowing again. i did notice that the CO2 bubbles in the counter would only stream rapidly for a few seconds, until the pressure built up in the tubing, then it would only show a few bubbles at a time, 
no matter how much i turned on the needle valve.
all that CO2 drama overshadowed something new i discovered about my aquarium: new pennyworts! in the back of the tank i noticed an undergravel rhizome root that i didn't remember planting. 
sprouting out of that rhizome was a tiny new pennywort leaf. signs of rhizomes growing mean the pennyworts are actually thriving despite not really showing it. over time, i expect the pennyworts to eventually take over as they are considered an invasive species.
fredrik successfully sent me money from norway via wise.com. he said the fees was just $1, compared to paypal where they charge extra fees for credit card transactions and bad exchange rates. i couldn't figure out how to get the money out of my wise account though. i think after a few days it gets automatically deposited into my bank account, at least that's what i'm hoping. this could be how wise.com makes money, by temporarily holding onto customers money for a few days, which in turn they could transfer to other people.
i didn't leave for belmont until noontime. my parents had gone to the somerville market basket to get some supplies. i was outside doing some yard work (cutting down the mint stalks, goldenrods, irises, phlox) when they came back. my father said they got the chicken for the curry but they were out of boneless pork butts. after pruning, i started digging out the hollyhocks and foxgloves from the raised beds, so they can be tranplanted to other areas of the yard. before i could plant them, my mother called us inside for lunch.
lunch came in the form of chicken noodle soup. my mother used some more of that thin noodles. i was halfway done eating when my sister showed up with esme. we all piled outside to play with the dog. i only came back much later to finish my noodles: it was already cold and the noodles had absorbed all the broth.
my sister told me that "esme" is spelled "esmei." i took off her dog tag, erased "gidget" (the name they gave her at the pet shelter), and rewrote "esmei". my sister told us that esmei is actually behind on her vaccinations. normally a dog by week 10 would've gotten all its shots. because she's still not fully vaccinated, my sister hasn't walked esmei yet, afraid she might catch some disease.
my sister brought a collapsible dog house, which is just a glorified clothes hamper. esmei explored the dog house but played outside. when she got tired, she did climb inside the house to take a short nap, which gave her a sense of security. she's small enough that she can fit inside, but after a few weeks i expect her to outgrow the house.
my mother noticed that esmei's paws resemble tiger paws, the patterns of tan, black, and white fur. plus the fact that they're so big makes her look like she's a small dog wearing oversized tiger paws on her feet.
esmei has a very powerful nose. she's able to sniff out fallen quince fruits in the backyard even though they're hidden underneath leaf debris. she thinks they're chew toys for her to play with, until she managed to bite inside and taste the super bitterness that is quince.
everything is new to esmei, but she's also learning. yesterday she was captivated by the camera shutter sound, today she hardly noticed it. she also had never seen a garden hose in action before, and was trying to bite the hose as i pulled it out of its coil. she also had never seen a water sprayer, and went to investigate the water spray (definitely not a timid dog like hailey was). she tried to bite the water but was confused that it had no solid form. she then sat in front of the water to watch before lying down.
esmei also learned to climb up the stairs today. she couldn't do it yesterday, but after successfully following me into the house (i didn't even know she was behind me), she seemed to solve the mystery of the stairs, and was able to go up and down. coming down is still a little scary, but i'm impressed she managed to figure it out so quickly.
i noticed something new about esmei's fur pattern. she has the classic tan-black pattern of dogs like rottweilers and dobermans, including two tan diamonds on her chest. that she inherited from one of her black and tan coonhound parent. but she also inherited a white patch in the middle of her chest from other other mysterious parent (spaniel? who knows). this gives her an eagle fur tattoo pattern on her chest.
my sister brought esmei back home around 3:30pm after it looked like she was getting tired from running around in the backyard for a few hours. by that point i'd already replanted the hollyhocks and foxgloves. i'm kind of worried about spreading out the foxgloves because esmei has a habit of chewing on leaves, and foxgloves are poisonous, and can be deadly if eaten enough, especially for a puppy. we just have to keep an eye on her when she's in the backyard. by the time we were growing foxgloves in the backyard, hailey had grown old enough that she wasn't randomly eating the plants.
for dinner my parents warmed up the costco sous vide beef short ribs casey gave us. the meat itself was incredible succulent but the sweet sesame soy sauce it came with was overpowering and ruined the otherwise choice beef preparation. i think if you took the short ribs and grilled them on the barbecue afterwards that would be a most delicious dish.
i returned home by 7:30pm. i might return to belmont tomorrow to do some more yard work, didn't get to do all the things i wanted. for one thing, i wanted to clear out the remaining raised beds 
so i can plant some cold season crops like bokchoi, mustards, cilantro, even chinese celery.
my CO2 generator had already turned off for the night, but my CO2 checkers were still green (means good CO2 levels) and all the plants had pearling.