i arrived in belmont by 10am, worried that the woodchuck would come back again. my father had already mowed the lawn and he reported there was no additional sightings. maybe we managed to drive it out of our backyard, but that woodchuck seemed dumb enough to try coming back again.

last night i discovered that my wad of cash was missing, and was hoping maybe i accidentally dropped it at my parents' place. unfortunately it wasn't there. there was probably around $80-100, it might've fallen out of my pocket while i was riding the motorcycle, although that's never happened before.

after some sweet green bean porridge for breakfast, i biked to the cafe to check on the status of the rear view webcam which was offline. it took me a while to figure out it'd been unplugged (tracing the maze of extension cables), my 2nd aunt's handiwork when she tried to turn off the window fan yesterday. i also went to the cafe to grab the hose timer and wifi extender, as well as some ingredients my mother wanted (green peppers, tofu).

a little bit before noontime my father and i went to my aunt and uncle's place in arlington to water their yard. we noticed how sunny it was and that all parts of the roof was sunlit, good for solar panels. they don't have an unobstructed south facing roof, but there's enough coverage to still produce a good amount of electricity.

even though it was a hot day (94 degrees with a 71% humidity), my father and i still spent a few hours in the backyard doing yard work. we cleared away more obstruction (cinder blocks, rain barrels) from where the woodchuck made its burrow and filled it up more with dirt it'd dug out. i did a lot of manual weeding (broadleaf plantain, crabgrass, wood sorrel, smartweed, purslane) while my father went around with light pieces of wood and rocks to anchor the growing buttercup squash stems. i inspected all the squash plants for vine borer eggs (found at least 2 dozen). i trimmed off some infect grapes. added some mosquito bits to our water sources. refilled the willow bucket (pouring the rooting hormone water onto the shady south squashes). plugged two new holes underneath the eastern fence with rocks. planted some zucchini seeds in RB0. pruned back the ornamental grasses. staked some dahlia plants with tomato cages. sprinkled foxglove seeds into the perennial flower beds. planted some transplanted striped mallows (not sure if they'll survive). trimmed the hanging creeping buttercups (removed the stolons).

lotuses:

flowers:

cucurbits:

nightshades:

misc:

i think i got used to the heat. once you give yourself completely to the oppressive humidity and high temperature, and allow yourself to sweat so much you feel like you're drowning, it's actually kind of liberating. the cold water from the garden hose felt nice on my toes. towards the end though, i did start feeling some chills, which is sign that i should stop soon.

* grilled porkchops, chinese sausages, and drumsticks

after dinner my father and i went outside to take one final survey of the backyard. we noticed something interesting: all the regular jasmine flower buds were opening up. they seemed to all be opening at the same time, and happening around dusk. earlier my father had brought inside a jasmine plant to add some fragrance inside the house. the buds were all closed an hour ago but now they were all opened, just like the outdoor jasmines. he'd never seen these jasmines flower in such abundance before. strangely enough however, you could only smell the scent if you were up close to the plant. in another week or so, the india belle jasmines will start flowering again, and we can compare the two.

i looked for my missing cash one last time when i got back home, although i wasn't very hopeful. the only place i didn't check yet was the pair of shorts i wore when i went to haymarket on friday. sure enough, my cash wad was in the pocket. i called my mother to let her know, she seemed more concerned about the missing money than i was.