while trying to get hailey to come sleep on the bed late last night, i smashed my toes into the leg of a chair in the dark. that, combined with the frostnips i already have on my toes, made for some painful feet. hailey is also the kind of dog who likes to squeeze next to people in bed, all 60 lbs. of her, so it's hard to move her with my legs. around 6:00 she woke up and i let her outside to go use the bathroom before she back inside to go to sleep. i was surprised that my sister had returned by around 7:30, here to pick up her dog. that meant i could go back to cambridge, but i kept sleeping until around 10:00.

i went to the galleria mall sears via memorial drive to go pick up that found socket. it still early enough that i found a metered parking spot outside and put in 2 quarters for 30 minutes. i went upstairs to merchandise pick-up. the fact that it took them longer than a few seconds to search for my item could only mean one thing: they lost it again! when i spoke to the department manager yesterday (al), he told me he was putting it to the side so it wouldn't get lost. but between shifts, something must've happened, but they couldn't find it again. this is my 4th visit to sears and i'm afraid it won't be my last. and old lady was there to pick up an HDTV. when i quickly told her my story, she was surprised that i was so upbeat about the situation. i told her it was just so ridiculous, nothing i can do but to laugh about it. the guys who worked there didn't even give me any options. they shrugged, "not sure what to tell you, we just can't find it." i was the one who brought up the idea of talking with al again, who would be working tomorrow. the only good thing that came out of it was i found out you can validate your garage ticket for free parking. so the next time i come, at least the parking will be free.

when i got back to the car there was just a few minutes left on the meter. i came back via cambridge street and finally returned home. after using the bathroom and taking a shower, i tried one of my tea eggs. with only one day of marinating, the flavor hasn't had a chance to fully penetrate into the egg entirely. the marbling is good, the egg white portion still on the pale side (2 days of marinating, the egg white turns brown). the yolk was in good shape, a sharply defined covering of greyish green but still yellow on the inside.

i also set up the 2nd T8 shop light that i bought yesterday at the watertown home depot. i took a power reading, 56 watts, just like the other T8 light.

i was back at home no more than 2 hours before i headed back to belmont again to do some gardening. i wasn't able to do it yesterday because the weather was so lousy, but today it was a bright and sunny day, with temperature in the 50's. the only bad thing was it was windy. because of the weather, i'd decided to bike.

i spent a good deal of time photographing a clutch of crocuses by the southern end of the yard underneath the plum tree. i'm learning how to better make use of the swivel screen when it comes to macro photography.

my sister returned to belmont as well with the dog. i went with her to home depot to get some garden supply for her own backyard, including 10 bags of garden soil ($1.88/bag, .75 cu.ft). my sister and hailey left soon afterwards, while i stayed in belmont to continue my garden work. i tidied up the clutter of junk by the eastern side of the house. i carried out part of an old door, to be tossed on trash day. i leaned it against the garage, but the wind must've caught it, because later i found it leaning up against the car with some scratches on the paint job. doh!

i also finally managed to plant some seeds: lettuce, radish (both red and daikon variety), fennel, bok choi, arugula, kale, and chinese celery. a very ambitious collection of seeds, even more so since these 2 raised beds will be recycled and used for planting other vegetables once the weather warms up (tomatoes, hot peppers, eggplants, cucumbers). these raised beds are also set up to be cold frames, but with the weather so warm, i left the glass covers off for the time being (don't think rabbits or squirrels with bother trying to eat these little tiny seeds for now).

after eating another tea egg from the fridge (my sister ate one too before she left), i biked back to cambridge around 5:00. i finally binged watched the entire first season of the knick. one thing i didn't realize was the actress who plays nurse lucy elkins is actually eve hewson, daughter of bono (U2). for dinner i heated up a brick of lasagna in the oven. later in the evening (around midnight), i took an epsom salt bath, reading the latest issue of entertainment weekly (summer movies special edition).