it'd been almost 3 weeks since the exterminators came to my parents' house to do a termite treatment and they still haven't gotten around to putting down the baits on the southern side of the house. i finally had to call ultra safe this morning, just to make sure they didn't forget about us. i think i spoke with chris, who redirected me to vick, who seemed to be the resident bait station guy. he wasn't there so i left a message. he called back a few minutes later, said he was coming tomorrow at 3:00.

i proceeded to belmont. i've got itchy dermatitis on the lower half of my palms again. could it be from the bike handlebars? maybe i'm allergic to the pollen that can accumulate on the rubber grips. in any case, i wore my bike gloves just so i wouldn't have to touch the handlebars directly. it was a bit chilly so i had on a jacket which made the gloves less obvious (it seems silly wearing them on the trek).

in gardening news, i helped my father install a new fence post in our honeysuckle wall on the western side of the house. the vines have grown so thick that it was impossible to remove the old post so my father ended up putting the new one right next to the old. we also repotted all his russian silverberries, a bottom layer of manure (which we got from home depot), a middle layer of compost, and a top layer of garden soil. before it started drizzling, we covered the compost bin with an overturned plastic kiddie pool. while planting scallion sprouts, my father accidentally beheaded a snapdragon flower stalk when he lifted up a protective mesh cage without looking first. i put it in a jar of water, hoping maybe to see a few flowers at least. critters seem to be ransacking the garden when no one's looking: squirrels dig in the raised beds, slugs or some other bugs have eaten all the asparagus beans and working on the radish leaves, and something (rabbit?) snipped my elm tree sapling in half (it did the same to a japanese maple sapling).

i also got some aluminum spacers from home depot but they didn't fit the bolt attachments on my rear bike baskets, so i'll have to return them. my father got a pair of toilet flanges, parts of a DIY compost tumbler (we're still missing the key ingredient which are olive barrel bins).

after dinner the rain has stopped. pedaling home, i noticed a slight fog. i made it back in time to catch the second half of game 5 between the 76ers and the celtics. boston was trailing but went on a run in the 3rd quarter to give them the lead which they not only maintained but built on to win the game, taking the series to 3-2.