in the early afternoon i went down to harvard square to catch the hasty pudding parade. originally i wasn't going to go because the woman of the year was cynthia erivo, and i'm not a big fan of hers. the only thing i've ever seen her in is the outsider (2020) stephen king miniseries and she was in bad times at the el royale (2018). then i was watching the news and found out the parade was today (i thought it was yesterday). i decided to go just for the spectacle, maybe i'll photograph something interesting. afterwards i planned on heading to belmont so i took some combination wrenches with me to work on the snowblowers.
i left pretty late - 1:30pm - for the 1:45pm parade. i parked the bike near the MBTA entrance opposite church street and walked down to quincy street for the start of the parade. there was already a crowd of people (mostly students) so i didn't get a good spot, just perched on the elevated marble barrier of a sidewalk tree. the parade ran late for some reason, but they were handing out free ice cream and cannoli. i beckoned to a guy who had a bunch of cannolis on a tray and quickly ate one while i waited.
the parade started with several marching bands, including one from burlington high school. marching bands have gotten cooler recently, but it's still populated with weirdos. that was followed by a mechanic bull ride, which apparently you can rent for functions. behind them were chinese lion dancers. not sure how that fits in with the parade, but it's part of the spectacle. speaking of which, blue man group showed up as well, shooting streamer guns in the air. only then did we finally see cynthia erivo. her convertible was behind the media truck. i was so glad she wore a hat, i was afraid she'd freeze with her bald head. very few people had actual cameras, everyone just had their phones. of the few cameras i did see, they were all dSLR's. pocket cameras are virtually nonexistent when they compete with phones.
once cythnia erivo passed by, i decided to leave instead of catching the procession against further down the street. did i mention it was a cold day, temperature in the 20's? i didn't wear my wool socks so my feet were starting to freeze after so much standing.
my sister sent me a text. esmei's test came back. she still has heartworm larvae in her blood. the antilarval medication (ivermectin?) isn't strong enough, so they're changing her prescription. that's the bad news. the good news is heartworm larvae (L1 stage) need to pass through a mosquito in order to develop into an adult. they can't reach maturity on their own, so if the larvae can be killed, that should hopefully stop the cycle. that means esmei is still contagious and could possible give heartworms to other dogs if she's bitten by a mosquito, but not a concern during the winter.
i left harvard square by 2:20pm. i rode down brattle street to reach belmont. it didn't take long, about 16 minutes, but it felt pretty cold in the shade. only when i finally reach some sunlit areas was i able to warm up.
a sprayed WD-40 into my rear derailleur shifter. it's been stuck all this winter, i can only ride in gears 4-7. it loosened the clickers but i still can't reach the lower gears.
next i moved onto the snowblowers. earlier i read online that the bolts securing the carburetor onto a craftsman 2-stage snowblower is typically 10mm. i had my 10mm combination wrench but it didn't fit. fortunately i was smart enough to bring a few other sizes, and it correct fit seems to be 11mm. this is a weekend project, and i didn't have time to tackle it today.
instead i focused on the 1-stage toro snowblower. there's a snowstorm tomorrow but it's only forecasted to dump 2-4" of snow. the bigger snowstorm is saturday night into sunday, with the potential of being 8" of snow. so if we can get one of the snowblowers working, that would really make shoveling a lot easier. armed with the impact drill, i managed to remove one of the stuck screws immediately on the snowblower cover, but the other one when i tried ended up stripping some more. there wasn't too much i could do at that point. however, with three cover screws already removed, i could lift up the cover far enough that i could stick my hands inside. the most important thing was to replace the primer bulb. the old one was stuck on the console fairly tight, i ended up breaking two plastic prongs in order to remove it. once i did that, it was a simple matter of installing the new primer bulb and attaching the air hose. i put all the screws back and restarted the snowblower. i tried it first without priming, but it didn't start. once i primed it 3 times though, it purred alive. so this toro snowblower is good to go. it could use some snow jet lube, but the can i found in the garage said the lube has to be room temperature to be effective, so i brought it inside to warm up. my father can spray some lube beforehand if he needs to use the snowblower.
with that i was finally done. i was freezing, working in just a pullover as i didn't want to wear my bulky jacket while i made repairs. i left around 3:30pm.
my day wasn't over yet. once i got home, left again for market basket to get a few groceries. with the snowstorm coming tomorrow, the place was pretty busy with panic shoppers. they had plenty of eggs and milk, but sections of the bread aisle were empty. i called my mother earlier, she asked me to get some napa cabbage, bean sprouts, and bananas for the cafe.
i contacted sydney, my back bay hyacinth vase seller. i told her i'd like to come earlier tomorrow - 8am - to pick up the two vases. watching the forecast i'm getting conflicting reports, but the snow tomorrow might start as earlier as 8am, so the sooner i'm done with boston, the better.
i had a half sour pickle as a snack then finished the other half of the asian salad. for dinner i reheated the three leftover slices of everything pizza from last night. nothing good on television tonight, so the perfect opportunity to go to bed early since i have to wake up early tomorrow morning.