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not having to wake up early to run errands, i was able to sleep a bit later today. the temperature was 30°F when i left for belmont. i noticed right away that my front tire was flat again. at some point i definitely need to pull out the inner tube and inspect it for damage. if i can't find anything, i'll just need to put in a brand new tube. i left after pumping up the tire.

my parents had just gotten back from costco, and made some udon noodles for lunch. i went into the backyard to adjust the solar collector on the outdoor string light and refill the bird feeder. i also raked the sunflower shells littering the bottom of the feeder. i noticed a small pot that had filled up with frozen water had cracked from the ice expansion. every winter we lose a pot or two because we forget about the dangers of freezing water.

there were two conference championship games today: between the buccaneers and packers, and between the bills and chiefs. i picked green bay and buffalo to win, so of course both those teams ended up losing. green bay was the surprise, i was sure tom brady's storied run would end in wisconsin, with the colder temperature, and how tampa bay showed last weekend that its defense had weaknesses. the packers mounted a drive late in the game that put the fear back into the buccaneers but time simply ran out (final score 31-26) and brady is going to the superbowl for the 10th time in his 21 year career. i'm conflicted. sure, i love tom brady, but the fact that he's not going to the super bowl with the patriots make me hate him.

in the AFC championship game, kansas city ended up winning (38-24). i figured with mahomes concussed from last weekend that the chiefs wouldn't be 100%, but they were every bit as dominant, thanks in no small part to costly turnovers on buffalo's end.

so now the super bowl matchup is between the buccaneers and the chiefs. i hate both teams, i don't want either of them to win. if kansas city wins, it will be back-to-back super bowl victories, something that only new england has managed to do in the modern era. but if the buccaneers win, it would mean another super bowl ring for tom brady, and in the minds of many it'd show that brady is greater than belichick, even though it's an unfair comparison given how hobbled the patriots were this season (also i am on team belichick even if he is friends with trump). can i bear to root for brady even if it means a super bowl victory sans new england? a scenario i can live with is both quarterbacks injured, their backups playing a sloppy game to an eventual victory, i could care less who won.

the drama today was kevin complaining that his upstairs apartment is too cold. the problem is the nest thermostat sits out in the unheated hallway. we watched as the thermostat was set to 21°C (70°F) but the temperature sensor seemed to be stuck at 16°C (60°F). that only measured the hallway, but the question is how hot was it in the bedrooms? especially if the heating was firing all day, 24/7 non-stop. we ended up ordering a secondary extra temperature sensor for the nest ($39). it should arrive on tuesday, will allow us to control the thermostat based on the temperature in the bedroom, not in the hallway. i'd never used one of those things before, it'll be interesting to see how it works.

after dinner i rode home. i was relieved to discover the front tire was still solid, had gone flat, otherwise i wouldn't have been able to bike home. temperature was 26&edg;F, 2 degrees warmer than last night, but it was windy. i've done enough biking now that i've started to build up some endurance, and i had no problems getting home, cold weather or not.

i ordered some fungicide to control the black rot on our concord grapes. i've known for a while that mancozeb was the recommended fungicide to use. i'd been reluctant to use it, but after exhausting all possible safe methods to deal with the blackrot (from judicial pruning, to safer biofungicides, to copper spray treatments), it's finally time to use a more powerful man-made chemical solution. i did some research and decided on spectracide immunox multi purpose fungicide spray (concentrate, 16oz, $14.79). the active ingredient is myclobutanil, which is a sterol biosynthesis inhibitor fungicide that directly affects the plasma membrane of fungi. what finally sold me was reading some positive amazon reviews where people have said it completely cured their grapevines of black rot.