this was the first day this week that i didn't have to go to belmont to take care of some termite extermination related business. even then, taylor from ultra safe called me asking if they could reschedule the termidor treatment to wednesday afternoon (even better, since my father has the day off after the morning).

i decided to go down to the community garden to finish cleaning up the rest of my plot. there was a complaint this week about overloading the refuse bin and filling it up with dirt, and i was responsible for both grievances. it wasn't necessarily that i was throwing away soil, but the ground ivy i was tossing out had a lot of embedded dirt that i couldn't completely get off no matter how much i shook them.

i brought along a box of 7 milkweed plants which i transplanted. i figured since these were native flowers they'd be able to tolerate the cold weather at nights after just a single day of hardening yesterday on my back porch. i also relocated a parsley plant. almost all of the raspberries i relocated were dead from apparent frost damage because the leaves were all grey and shriveled. i'm not too concerned, golden raspberries are pretty prolific.

i met mary (plot 17), one of the more gregarious gardeners. this was only her 2nd year; last year she had a plot in the middle. she mentioned soil testing and told me another gardener (plot 3) had hers tested and it came back with high lead levels.

i returned home with some garlic (no bulbs, mostly stalks), a bunch of golden raspberries, and a bunch of chinese lanterns. i feel like i want to give the chinese lanterns away because i have plenty more in the garden; the raspberries i will give to my family members.

in the late afternoon i went to the dollar store to get some cleaning supplies (shower spray and toilet bowl cleaner). i also went to star market to grab a box of cereal (apple jacks, $3 on sale, but that's the regular price at market basket).

my roommate told me something he ordered off of ebay on monday would be arriving today so i was a little anxious because it required a signature. by the end of the day it package never came. i asked him what it was, he told me he bought a canon digital SLR. "are you into photography?" i asked. "not particularly," he said. these young chinese astrophysicists spend a lot of money with their disposable income/stipend. i've always felt guilty taking their rent money but who knows what they make in a month; apparently enough to buy bean bag chairs and a set of weights and a camera he doesn't need!

i filled out my health insurance renewal documents (to be mailed tomorrow). i also renewed my motorcycle insurance even though it's still in storage. this is my 2nd year with progressive and they just lowered my rate even more to $146 annual. last year it was $211, which was already cheaper than what i was paying before with commerce insurance ($300+).