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it was summer work day at the community garden this morning. i went down and put in my time, mostly weeding the common bed near my plot. there was about half a dozen other gardeners there, some of them doing real work, like installing new hose guards or clearing out the paths. i left before noon, my hands caked in dirt.

after my oatmeal lunch, i put some gas in the tank and made my way to belmont. the day was overcast but the weather forecast said it'd stay mainly dry. i saw the most unusual clouds up in the sky, which compelled me to pull over and take some photos. unfortunately i had the camera on the wrong settings and those initial photos were all over-exposed.

some of the small ears of corn have started to produce the female silks. corn is naturally wind pollinated, but once all the "flowers" have blossomed, it'd be good to hand pollinate the ears to guarantee a good corn crop. i visited the garden on friday and it seems the corn stalks have gotten even taller within just 2 days. elsewhere, the very first female bottle gourd flower is ready to bloom.

other than that one large gourd, there hasn't been any other calabash fruits - or any that've survived. there seems to be 3 possible new candidates however, all naturally pollinated since they're high up on the makeshift trellis my father and i clipped to the side of the house last month.

i'd brought my black light to belmont and was showing my mother the hidden kitchen stains. when i went into the bathroom with the black light, i was surprised to find it remarkably stain free. my sister said she cleans the bathroom periodically with bleach, which is even more surprising, since she makes a mess of the rest of the house. for dinner we had noodles and some fish; the fish was bland and too fishy, and i only had one bite.

when it finally got dark, i went outside and set up my white sheet trap. my father and sister helped out, indulging my amateur entomologist interests. the bed sheet came from hailey's chair and the black light was balanced on an upside-down 5-gallon plastic bucket. it wasn't a very good night to see bugs since the weather was too cold and there was a strong breeze. i wanted to set up the trap anyway, just to see how it works. with my black light shining onto a white bed sheet hanging from a rope, it immediately started attracting insects. the brighter areas of the white bed sheet drew in the most visitors. unfortunately they were all tiny nondescript bugs, things like flies and mosquitoes and small moths. with so many insects around, i figured i might get a few mosquito bites, but they were too distracted by the light to notice me. every once in a while a strong wind would blow the sheet, flicking off all the insects. i also hand-pollinated that one female bottle gourd flower with a male flower. shiny the black light on the flower revealed a fluorescent center (to better attract night time pollinators). after waiting a little bit longer to see what else i could catch, i took down the setup. hopefully i'll have more luck tomorrow night, when it's supposed to be warm and humid.