there was actually some sun this morning and the day looked promising. it was the aftermath of the heavy storm that rocked the area last night. i went to sleep late, and by 3am the storm had already quieted down. but looking outside, it looked like the aftermath of a hurricane, as the landscape was littered with leaf and branch debris. but it soon turned cloudy, and a check of the weather forecast said there could be some more sprinkles today, even though the brunt of the rainstorm had moved away.

my sister came to pick me up around noontime because she wanted to go to aldi's and i wanted to get some stuff from nearby harbor freight, with a peek inside OSJL.

i'd known about harbor freight since 2012, when i first visited the store in august. my father's first visit was later that year in december. since then we visit fairly often, once every month or two, or whenever we have a project that requires a specific tool or cheap part. so i was a little surprised when i discovered that my sister had never been to one before. maybe i shouldn't be that surprised, since up until a few weeks ago, she didn't really know about fellsway plaza and all the stores available like aldi and pet supplies plus. i was even more surprised that she wanted to check it out, since i always considered harbor freight a guy's store. she ended up really liking the place, leaving with $20 worth of stuff (i had a spare 20% off one item coupon for her) and wanted to buy more (denim apron! moving blanket! mini hammer! tool bag!) before i told her to come back next time with another coupon. i bought a magnetic tool holder and a few more pegboard hooks.

at OSJL i picked up more than a dozen wool blend yarn for my mother after coordinating with her over the phone by sending her photos of what i found. i only got a bag of rice crackers and some cola gummy for myself.

at pet supplies plus i was hoping to get some aquatic plants but they only had the few damaged ones i saw last time, no new stock. instead i gave the 20% off coupon to my sister who got some snacks for her dog. final stop was aldi's where my sister got a push cart full of groceries. i got mostly snacks.

it was 3pm before i finally had lunch, made myself a salmon cream cheese bagel sandwich with salmon slices, salmon cream cheese, capers, and onion. after wolfing it down in less than a minute, i went outside to clean up the storm debris, raking both the front and back yard. earlier i saw marti taking an uber with some suitcases, looks like she won't be home again this weekend.