i wrote t-fal customer support a message through their website about buying a replacement heating element. honestly, i didn't think they'd write back, at least not so soon, and wasn't expecting them to actually offer me a solution. they sent me a link to smallappliance.com. it looked exactly like 1800parts.com, which was one of the only other website i visited yesterday that sold the replacement heating element. their price was $33 plus $10 in shipping (as you recall, t-fal sells the replacement heating element on their website for just $19.50 plus $15 shipping onto to texas/minnesota). it was also a special order item, which meant it's take 2-6 weeks to deliver. i had serious reservations if 1800parts.com was even legit or not (their website is clunky to say the least, like it was designed in the late late 90's), and from the reviews i read online, there were many complaints. on smallappliance.com the part was $41 but with free shipping. the price difference isn't that much: t-fal $34.50 (won't ship to massachusetts) or smallappliance.com $41. chances are we'll end up ordering from smallappliance.com, seems like the only option if we want to repair the old deep fryer.
i called chip farm in bedford and asked if they had any chicken manure in stock. yes, the woman replied. when i asked if there was enough if i wanted to buy 5 bags, she giggled and answered yes, so i got the feeling they have a big supply.
i left by 11am, went to the cafe to pick up the car. it was a cold day, not as windy as the past few days, but temperature was only in the 40's.
i drove out to bedford, took me a little over 20 minutes. when i got the chip farm, i saw the flatbed trailer loaded with bags of precious chicken manure. i went inside the store and paid for 5 bags of manure ($9/bag). before loading the manure into the car, i went inside the petting zoo to check out the baby goats.
the chicken manure where in those thick plastic bags zipped-tied at one end. the bags were heavy - i'm guessing 40 lbs. per bag. i made sure to only take bags that didn't have any tears or holes in them, didn't want chicken manure falling out and getting everywhere. looking at what i had, i decided to get one more bag, never know when we could use some more chicken manure. i personally don't think it's that great, but my father seems to love the stuff. i personally prefer compost, which we make at home, but never in enough quantity for all the raised beds.
i drove back into town, the inside of the car filled with chicken manure smell. it wasn't too bad because the manure was bagged up, but there still was a faint odor. i stopped in belmont to drop off the manure. i didn't want to put them on the ground (some critters will eat the manure), so i put some on an outdoor table while the rest i placed on top of a stack of bagged mulch.
i returned to the cafe by 12:45pm. i stayed long enough to try some of my 2nd aunt's korean inspired spicy grilled chicken wrapped in lettuce. it was okay, but we didn't have any korean ssamjang sauce, so the flavor was lacking. my 2nd aunt was inspired by all the korean soap opera she's been watching. she and my mother seem to be having a race as who can watch the most korean dramas.
i got back by 1:30pm. maybe it had something to do with how low the sun is in the sky, but it already felt late. i grabbed my tools and took the bike to the community garden. i haven't been to the garden in over 3 weeks, and have long since abandoned it, especially after the city turned off the water mid-october. there was still some sunlight in the garden so i didn't have to work in the shadows. my neighbor jen was there too, tending to her plot. an old asian lady wearing a face mask said hello to me and even knew my name. turns out it was liting's mother. even if i saw her face, i probably wouldn't have recognized her.
i spent an hour cleaning up my plot. basically i cut down all the dead growth. i also stacked all my tomato cages together, and piled the grow bags into a few discreet columns. a few of the grow bags had striped mallow plants that were still alive, i put those on the top to let them keep growing. i maybe come back one more time to do some weeding, noticed a lot of unwanted grass growing in my garden. but otherwise the plot is basically done for the season. time to start thinking about what i want to grow for next year.
i had 4 milk crates to take home. i stacked two on the back of my rear baskets, but they were too heavy and my bicycle toppled over, destroying one of my bike bells in the process. if i can't even get two, how would i get four? the solution was using my bungie cord to thread through the crates so they wouldn't just fall off if jostled. gingerly i rode home and managed to get back without all the crates crashing off my bike.
there were other things i wanted to do. like go to market basket, or possibly trader joe's. but i did none of those things. the only thing i did was to ride to the UPS store on somerville avenue to return the empty nespresso pods. i'd put them on my back porch to kill the vinegar flies and i think the freezing night temperatures did the trick. i saw the building opposite the UPS store that used to be a chinese restaurant has now been converted into a pot dispensary (called "the boston garden"). how many do we need?
i noticed my bike was acting kind of weird. the rear shifter - the only shifter i really use - wasn't engaging correctly. did it have something to do with my bike getting toppled over? and i just recently had all my bike gear replaced too! it didn't take too for everything to go to shit again. worst case scenario i can buy new shifters, but i think my gearing just needs some minor adjustments to get it riding correct again. unfortunately it was too late and too cold for me to do that today. maybe this weekend i can take a look.
once i was back home i didn't go out. another thing i had to do today was clean the house for drew's return next tuesday. but i managed to procrastinate and put it off, doing retroactive blog updating instead, so at least some minor good came out of it. i did do some light vacuuming in the evening, but what i really need is to declutter the house and wash the sheets.
trump visited biden at the white house today. a courtesy trump himself didn't offer when biden won the presidency 4 years ago. trump also announced more cabinet picks. kristi noem - dog killer - for homeland security. pete hegseth (who?) - fox news broadcaster - as defense secretary. marco rubio - little marco - as secretary of state. tulsi gabbard - democratic turncoat - for national defense. and matt gaetz - a supposed pedophile - as attorney general. the inmates are running the asylum now. would a republican led senate even confirm some of these picks? gaetz and hegseth are the two least experienced choices for their respective jobs. is trump picking people based on looks? i try to ration my daily intake of trump news. i learned from trump's first term that if you follow every crazy thing he does, it will only make you crazy as well.
i boiled some frozen homemade chinese dumplings for dinner. these were given to me when my parents went ono that canadian cruise. i prepared them during the halftime of the celtics-nets game (second of a back-to-back). once again, the celtics came out with a slow start. brooklyn had a 13 point lead in the first quarter. but the celtics got serious in the second quarter and took a 5 point lead going into the break. in the second half the celtics just dominated. nets never regained the lead, and close to the end of the fourth quarter boston led by 30 points. celtics win, 139-114. they don't play again until saturday.