i left my house at 10:48am, arriving at haymarket in 22 minutes riding 3.6 miles. i was in much better shape compared to last week after a long biking hiatus (it took me 29 minutes last time). maybe the warmer weather had something to do with it: although i was still dressed for the cold, temperature actually climbed into the 50's and i was peeling layers.

like last saturday, i was in search of oranges. when i went back to the place where i got them last week, the navel oranges were the same price ($1 for 4) but they were much smaller than before. disappointed, i got them anyway, 20 for $5, without first checking out some of the other vendors. elsewhere i saw larger navel oranges for $2 for 5. i finally found a vendor selling them at $2 for 6 so i bought half a dozen to try out. i also bought: red plums ($2 for 6), asparagus ($1 for a bundle), scallions ($1 for 2 bundles), beets ($2 for 2 lbs.), yellow onions ($1 a bag), hungarian wax peppers ($1 for 6 and the vendor gave me another extra), long red peppers ($1 for 5), halo clementines ($1.50 for a 2 lbs. bag), and tomatoes ($1 for 1.5 lbs.). not a bad haul for just $18.50. i bought the large navel oranges and clementines from the same place, a little kid took my money and gave me change. he actually gave the wrong amount - i gave him $5 for $3.50 and he gave me back $2.50 - so i gave him back a dollar.

once i got back home i used the braun juicer to squeeze some fresh orange juice for my mother. just as i feared, 4 of the smaller navel oranges didn't give a lot of juice. even when i used 5 it was still less than last week. i ended up adding the juice of one of the larger navel oranges, which finally gave me enough juice. i also learned to press down a little harder to really clean out the orange halves, so there's nothing left but a rind and all the pulp is in the catch basin, maximizing the juicing.

i bought so much produce that i wasn't able to simply carry it all in my backpack. i also didn't want to carry them in my rear baskets because they'd get bashed in transit. fortunately i had a large box, put down a layer of towel for a softer bottom, and packed the produce into the box before strapping it to my rear rack with bungie cords. with that i left for my parents' place, arriving by 1:30pm.

first thing i did was to go out into the backyard and check the solar panels. i was there just before the shadow of a tall neighboring pine tree started creeping across the western-side panels. despite the wispy clouds, we were producing a surprising amount of electricity. by the end of the day we actually managed to generate 30.45kWh, the third most solar productive day ever.

my mother fixed me up some spicy sour noodles for lunch because i hadn't eaten all day. i gave her the xiaomi mi band 2 fitness tracker. it was out of power and needed to be charged first before we could use it. once that was done, i downloaded the mi fit app on my mother's xiaomi phone. the box said it was also compatible with iOS but when i checked the apple store i couldn't find any xiaomi app for the band. i just wanted to change the time (it was still on china time) but when i finally paired the device to the android app, it actually upgraded the firmware. not sure how well it works until my mother starts using it over the next few days.

returning home after dinner, i did a load of laundry and took a bath. i flossed and brushed my teeth immediately after getting home, which stopped me from additional snacking while watching television.