we never reached the 90's today so the official start of the heatwave will have to wait until tomorrow. temperature was in the 80's, more humid, but wasn't that unbearable. when i got to my parents' place i noticed my father had already installed the floor unit AC in the living room. i had some wonton soup for lunch.

we left at 1:15pm for a supply run at the waltham costco. it wasn't too crowded despite being on a weekend. good news is they have the brown sugar boba bars in stock. we ended up buying 3 boxes. originally we were also going to the waltham market basket, but good we decided not too because the popsicles were melting. coming back, we stopped at the waltham american legion parking lot to fill up an empty propane tank for $17.

the big gardening activity for today was digging out the garlics. i read that once 3-4 leaves have turned brown, it's time to dig out the garlics. i didn't know this last year and was waiting for all the leaves to turn brown. i finally dug them out july 5th, after a very dry spring. the garlics were stunted and some of the bulbs were even falling apart.

the garlics this year have also started to fall over the past few weeks, which is another sign they should be harvested. when i finally dug them up, they were bigger, but still not the giant size i was hoping for. i think the only way to do that is to have very good nutrient soil. i scooped some fertilizer when i planted the cloves and during the spring i side dressed with nitrogen-rich chicken manure, but that still wasn't enough. after i finished harvesting about a third, my father came out to help my dig out the rest.

the garden kneeler ($30) i bought my father arrived during that time as well, and he was able to put it to use when digging out the garlics. there was still a good amount of green leaves left, and he wanted to harvest some to use for cooking. i sacrificed some of the smaller garlics so he could collect the leaves, not sure how well they'll cure without them. we tried one of the garlics. strong flavor, better than last year, and the one i had was very spicy. another thing about fresh garlic is how crunchy and juicy they are, like an apple. i sorted through the remaining garlics and tied them up into half a dozen bundles. i then put them in the basement - dark and cool - so they can cure.

at one point i wanted to get a photo of all my garlics. the best way to do that was from the sky, so i grabbed my drone. this was my first time using the 22" collapsible launch pad ($10). i staked it to the ground with the 3 provided plastic pins so it didn't fly away in the breeze. speaking of which, it was very windy, and i was afraid the drone would get blown away and crash into the house as it wobbled and struggled noisily in the sky. using the iphone 7 i had zero connection issues. afterwards i sent it into the air to take some snapshots before bringing it back down again. the large orange circle made for an identifiable landing target, and it also meant i didn't have to land in the grass and risk clipping the propellers on a bumpy landing surface. a part of me wishes it was a bit bigger (maybe 30") for a more generous landing area but that would make it too conspicuous.

rest of the time, i was inspecting the squash plants for vine borer eggs (i always seem to find some) and i sprayed the hollyhocks with a copper solution, hoping to stop the spread of rust disease affecting the leaves.

the other thing that came today was a new set of wireless earbuds. just some no-name chinese brand (carbest G5), originally $28 but i got it during amazon's prime day for $20. it's to replace the one my father currently uses where he lost one of the earbuds. i should've known there'd be problems because the production description photos kept on changing. when i finally saw it, it looked kind of cheap. made from plastic, and it wasn't heavy, which meant whatever battery it had wasn't very large. there was hardly any instructions, and what little there was wasn't very clear. we had a hard time connecting to my father's phone, and the earbuds themselves didn't seem to have any left/right designation. it just wasn't a very good product, and i can see why there's zero reviews. luckily i can return it for a refund.

after dinner i finally had a brown sugar boba popsicle. i'm hoping to take a box home with my tomorrow, if nothing else than to just free up some space in my parents' freezer.

i got back home by 7:25pm but immediately walked down to the community garden so i could spray some copper solution on my striped mallows, which have also started to develop rust (worse than the hollyhocks). spraying them at night prevents leaf burns that might occur during the daytime. i didn't water my plants though, they seem plenty moist, i wonder if someone is secretly watering for me. walking home, i spotted a lone turkey wandering around my street.

i watched game 3 between the bucks-hawks. it wasn't a blowout like game 2, hawks lead for much of the game, but the bucks were always within striking distance, not too far behind. in the second half, once the bucks finally managed to get the lead (but then lose it again), the tides seemed to be turning, especially when trey young briefly left the game in the 3rd quarter after stepping on a referee's foot and spraining his ankle. the bucks are just a really solid team, and behind giannis' force of nature domination they managed to win tonight, taking the series 2-1. it's essentially making up for their game 1 lost to the hawks in milwaukee, a game they shouldn't have lost. pivotal game 4 is on tuesday. it's a good time to be an NBA fan!

i actually turned on the AC in my house for the very first time. it was 81 degrees room temperature, wasn't too bad, but i ran the AC just to lower the humidity. i got it down to 79 degrees before turning off the AC again. it didn't take long for the temperature to go back up to 81 degrees. we're not even at heatwave yet. i expect to give my AC plenty of workout within the next few days.