i got a bonus hour of sleep due to the end of daylight saving time. nevertheless, i woke up earlier than usual, possibly because my body is still used to the old time. this morning i adjusted all the clocks that didn't automatically reset last night (like my computers and my cellphone): the clock in the bathroom, the VCR (yeah, i still have a VCR, but i use it as a clock), the microwave, and the kitchen wall clock.

inspecting the front porch, i noticed some of the caulk was still wet because of the rain last night. with dry (but cold) weather for the next few days, hopefully things will finally dry out by then.

the syfy network rebroadcasted all the episodes of the original v miniseries (1983-1984) today. i watched a bit from belmont. i couldn't get over how bad the special effects were, but to be fair, it was more than a quarter of a century ago, and the technology has come a long way. i didn't pick up on it as a kid, but the visitors are an obvious heavy-handed allegory to german nazis, down to their swatiska-like logo and military style uniforms. and in case you still couldn't make the connection, they also have a jewish concentration camp survivor as a character. the two scenes i will always remember from v is diane eating the guinea pig and the birth of the lizard baby. my 9 year old brain exploded when i witnessed both on television. why marc singer didn't become a bigger star i'll never know. i loved him in v, and the beastmaster is one of my all-time favorite sword and sorcery movies.

i finally got around to planting all my bulbs on the strip of garden on the western side of the house. i dug up the giant allium - which have never been divided since i planted them more than 10 years ago. there used to be a few but now only a single clump remained. from that single clump i managed to collect a dozen bulbs about the size of golf balls, and then several dozen smaller bulbs. in the back row i planted alternating giant alliums and azure alliums, followed by several rows of dutch irises, before rows of snow crocuses. i then scattered the handful of garden variety crocuses. i still had a bunch of iris rhizomes and planted them throughout the yard. the two peach astilbes i added to the hosta garden. i used my hands to dig through the dirt. my fingernails got so dirty, no amount of washing could clean them.

while i was working i heard the chirping of a cardinal. i didn't think much of it until i saw a cardinal in the garden (near the bare cornstalks). it wasn't hard to miss, a red bird lying on the ground, and i was glad i found it before hailey did. it was alive (unlike the thrush i found last week) but seemed stunned. i touched it with a finger but it only responded in the slightest, moving its head a little bit, but otherwise motionless. it had one of its wings opened, so i figured it was hurt somehow, maybe crashed into the window (although i didn't hear any thudding sound). with some gloves (i didn't want to get pecked) i moved the cardinal into a plastic bin. my sister gave it some oatmeal and a small dish of water but it sat in the box motionless. it did fold back its wings so it didn't seem like anything was broken. it was kind of panting and was struggling to keep its eyes open, like it wanted to go to sleep. we moved the bird into the sunroom to keep it warm, with the idea of calling the local animal control department tomorrow to have then take the bird away. periodically we'd check up on the bird, and each time it would struggle to turn it head to keep an eye on us, but not much else. i went back to cover up the bin so it wouldn't be stressed. that's when it began to be more animated and before i knew it i was screaming as the cardinal flew out of the bin and started fluttering around inside the sunroom. my sister ended up shooing it out of the house with a pair of peacock feathers.

although it wasn't as warm as yesterday, the daytime temperature today was still close to 60 degrees. however, returning home, it'd gone down to 46° and dropping. it would've been a pretty uncomfortable ride without the protection of the motorcycle windshield. my legs were cold but my torso remained warm enough that soon it warmed up the rest of my body. i can't wait for my first freezing point temperature ride! back at the house, i checked the porch once more before i went inside. i was happy to discover that the caulk had dried, and was now translucent instead of the original white color. since cleber once again didn't show up, i think i'm just going to paint the few spots myself.

mad men: instead of saving the JFK assassination for the season finale, the writers used it as the backdrop for tonight's penultimate episode. i think the stage has been set for joan to re-enter roger's life now that he's growing tired of his new young bride. don complaining about the lack of an art director might also bring back salvatore. peggy continues her clandestine relationship with duck, which is kind of gross, and made ickier by the fact he purposely unplugged the television so peggy wouldn't know about the assassination when she visited him at the hotel. and just when it seems don is trying to be a better husband and father, betty wants none of it and schemes to get away from don draper/dick whitman, even going as far as telling him she doesn't love him. honey, you might not love the DD, but plenty of people do! good luck with your new life. i'm sure there's a big market for high maintenance divorcee with children who acts like a child herself.