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temperature today reached the 60's today, warm enough to bring out the houseplants into the backyard to get some sun. i inspected the jasmines and gardenia for mealybugs (seems to be more and more these days), sprayed what little i had of insecticidal soap (i ordered more in concentrated form), then did a Bti soil drench. in the grow room i thinned out the seedlings, mostly tomatoes, a few eggplants. none of the hot peppers have germinated yet, seems a bit long. i also helped my father empty out of the rain barrels because the spigot was leaking. turned out the spigot had been knocked at some point and it was sitting crooked now. not sure we could re-align the spigot without damaging the thread, easier just to recaulk, which was what my father ended up doing, as well as some of the other rain barrels.

we didn't get to prune the maple tree nor the grape trellis, so i'll need to come back tomorrow afternoon to do that. we also never went to OSJL to get the hose diverters.

in the late afternoon my father and i went to get our two propane tanks refilled ($17/refill). on the drive there we saw many people outside enjoying the weather, most not wearing masks, though employing some kind of social distancing, like standing farther apart when talking with neighbors or walking in the streets. midway to our usual propane refill station in waltham, my father had a sudden case of diarrhea in the car. i volunteered to fill the tanks while he stayed in the vehicle.

there was a customer getting filled and another waiting. the car ahead of us seemed to his lost his patience and drove off soon afterwards. the propane attendant didn't have a mask but did wear thick work gloves. i felt a little self-conscious talking to him behind my mask but he was still friendly. while he filled the tanks, i asked him about business. he said zero customers yesterday (during the snow-then-rain storm), but a lot of customers today. overall, he told me business has been good due to the coronavirus, as there aren't many eating options available with so many restaurants closed.

as we approached cushing square on our way home, my father ended up pooping his pants. as he quickly rushed inside the house to clean up, i unloaded the propane tanks and connected one of them to the barbecue, which my father had earlier air-blown the clogged burner nozzle and cleaned up with some degreasing foaming spray.

for dinner we grilled a fish outside on the side burner (it can also be done indoors, but with the smoke and oil splatter, it's a lot easier doing it outdoors). we also broke into the easter ham i brought yesterday, and my parents also made scallion pancakes.

today was had the highest production so far this 2020 year with 52.27kWh and just the second time this month we broke the 50kWh+ barrier. bear in mind that we never once broke 50kWh+ in april 2018 or 2019.