the previous one had corroded and broken into pieces so it was no longer usable. i searched online for wave washers of the right size. there was a place called blender mart that sold the a single washer for $1.40, but shipping was another $8. i found a seller on ebay that was selling 10 stainless steel washers of approximately the same size (16mm ID, 21mm OD) for $3 but the parts were coming from china so it could take weeks to arrive. in the end i decided to go with the cheaper china option, wasn't worth spending too much money to rebuilt the blade assembly when we could buy a cheap knockoff for just $10 (we've already spent more than that on parts and materials alone). the only thing i'm worried about is the integrity of the rubber shaft seal. the damage from the blade assembly looked like water had leaked into the housing. if it still leaks after we put the assembly back together, it means we need to replace the shaft seal. blender mart sells that part as well for $1.65, but once again, there's the issue with the overpriced shipping for such a small part.
today was a warm day, temperature almost into the 80's. it was also very windy. my mother actually closed the windows because it was too hot outside. 
bear in mind it's october and a few nights ago temperature had dropped into the 30's. we finally harvested all our buttercup squashes, they weren't going to grow any bigger. the biggest ones was from the one plant in front of the house, in soil we've never grown squash before. those squashes grew to cantaloupe sizes, my father had to tie them for additional support otherwise they'd rip down the vines. afterwards we moved the houseplants back outside (jasmines, gardenia, cactuses), as the next week will still be warm enough.
around 4pm my father fired up the barbecue grill. we hadn't used it since we replaced the burner shields. we were grilling some drumsticks and taiwanese sausages. the shields prevented flare ups (which in turn prevented the food from burning) but made it hard to see the flames. i learned the proper way to cook chicken is first on high heat, get the outer skin all crispy, before leaving it to cook on low heat (as long as an hour), then finally cooking it again on high heat with some sauce.
i had this sweet chili sauce that i put on half of the drumsticks (it was exactly like your typical thai sweet chili sauce), it made them taste so much better as the drumsticks themselves didn't have much flavor other than the brine my mother soaked them in overnight. my sister also was home, she cooked some sweet bourbon steak tips afterwards. so also brought some curry drumsticks she'd marinated, but i prefer my sweet chili chicken. we ate while watching hailey go around the table, trying to see if she could get some sympathy scraps.
it was still 65°F in the evening when i rode my motorcycle back to cambridge. some neighbors must be gone for the columbus day long weekend as there was plenty of parking. i brought back a bottle of iron out that i bought on amazon but accidentally had it shipped to my parents' place. i've got some rusty stains on my bathtub (from the leaking diverter valve) and was hoping this would get it out. it did for the lighter rust stains, but not the deeper ones that seemed to have eaten through the ceramic down into the iron underneath. for what it did manage to get out though, it was pretty fast and worked like magic. it also had a nice smell although the warning label said to be careful as it might be acidic to skin contact.
