my father drove our relatives to connecticut before i arrived in belmont this morning. they were visiting the family of the daughter's boyfriend, who would then drive them down to new york afterwards while my father came back home.

with the house guests gone, the place was back to normal, albeit much cleaner. don't know how long that will last though, given the household's natural propensity towards clutter. my mother was at work while my sister would soon leave for nanny duties.

the most important thing i had to do today was recharge the dead motorcycle battery. i tried starting the engine one last time just to be sure. it gave out the crackling sound of igniting spark plugs without enough juice to start the engine. with that certainty i disassembled the top of the bike and removed the battery for recharging. i went with a 2 amp trickle charge this time around. the meter never moved, but i knew it was charging because when i dialed it to 6 amps, i saw ampage gradually decreasing from 4 amps down to 1.5 amps.

i started charging around 11:30 and stopped by 5:00 when i noticed the amp meter reading wasn't changing anymore. with a charged battery the motorcycle roared back to life. i pushed it off the lawn and parked it by the curb.

of the burpee hot pepper mixture, all assortment have been accounted for except for the large cherry peppers. i also injected some more Bt one final time before dumping out the remaining solution onto the squash (fancy gourd) plants.

my father finally came home in the early evening just as soon as my mother was getting out of work. for dinner we had the chinese leftovers from last night. the only thing that was fresh were about a dozen sweet corn i bought from haymarket ($2).

i almost had some more drama when the motorcycle refused to start again as i was about to go home. i'd already tried a few times with no success. surrendering to the idea that i'd need to recharge the battery once more (another hour at least), i caught a bit of luck when my father managed to get the engine going on his first attempt.

good thing i ordered a new battery today, and an associate trickle charger (trickle, not tickle!). hopefully both will get here this week. i'm afraid to take the bike on any long journeys at the risk of being stranded with a dead power supply.

i finally mustered the courage to ask my roommate about her unpaid rent. she'd been living here for more than 2 weeks now, but has never brought up the subject. i find money matter to be distasteful and try to avoid it unless i have no choice. she said she had the money and could pay me right now. "no rush, you can pay whenever," i replied, and regretted it the moment i said it. hopefully she'll pay soon, so i won't have to breach the issue ever again.