even though the temperature outside had dropped into the 70's, it was still 82 degrees inside the house. i had no choice but to turn on the AC to help lower it. i made the last of my ham-egg-cheese english muffin sandwich for lunch before riding to belmont (12:30pm) to check on the garden. last weekend when i took some squash photos i noticed vine borer eggs that i hadn't removed. nervous that the eggs might hatch, i went to belmont to do a proper squash inspection. plus i was curious to see just how full the rain barrels were from last night's rain.

our weekend long rain event was due to begin around 3pm so i was also trying to get to my parents' place before that happened. i carried nothing with me except my phone, and wore clothes i wouldn't mind getting wet. it was a grey overcast throughout the day and i even felt a few raindrops. temperature was also much cooler, although still somewhat humid.

the first thing i checked was the rain barrels. with the amount of rain we got last night, they were at full capacity. that means all that rain we'll get in the next few hours throughout the weekend will not be going into the barrels.

because it was so cloudy today, all the flowers managed to stay open. the night-flowering jasmines were all still intact and i got to smell their fragrance. the morning-blooming squash flowers were all opened as well. i even saw a few squash bees hiding inside the flowers, first time this season. with squash bees living in the garden there's no more need to manually pollinate the squash flowers. unfortunately there were cucumber beetles too, i crushed all the ones that i saw.

a removed a few squash vine borer eggs with duct tape. checking the overall health of the squashes, i couldn't believe how many immature fruits had been aborted. later when i spoke with my father, he said the squash by the bare patch of dirt in the western outside garden had massive leaves when compared to the squashes growing in our raised beds.

this is clear indication that the raised beds soil is deficient in nutrients. to amend garden soil, either we need to add more compost, or aged manure. another thing i plan on doing is to do some foliar spray with miracle-gro, since it's a faster way for the plants to absorb the nutrients compared to just fertilizing the soil and waiting for the nutrients to be carried up through the plants via the roots.

the two largest squashes growing near the base of their respective vines i propped them up on some overturned pots for some support, otherwise it seems like they're pulling their vines down from the weight of the expanding squashes.

now that the garlics have been harvested, the 3 bitter melons in raised bed 2 have maximum sun exposure. while examining the plants, i even found a female bitter melon flower. i was thinking about hand-pollinating using the 2 male flowers nearby, but maybe because of the humidity or the rain, but there didn't seem to be any pollen (or maybe they were just stuck together). i decided to let nature do the work instead.

when i first arrived in belmont i noticed a small rabbit hanging around outside on the lawn, about the size of a grapefruit. while inspecting the backyard, i saw a bunny scurrying around the iris patch in the southeastern corner of the house. it was very small, about the size of a gerbil, i didn't bother trying to drive it out of the yard since it could easily just come back again. i don't mind the small critters (there are chipmunks in the backyard after all), it's the larger adult rabbits i don't like since they can do more damage. for the most part we've weathered the rabbit attacks. they nibbled some flower leaves, and ate one of the tomatoes and a squash growing on the western side of the house, but besides those instances, we haven't seen anymore damage. i did notice a new burrow hole along the side of the eastern fence gate; i patched it up with some dirt and rocks.

i left belmont by 2pm, mindful of the weather forecast of rain beginning at 3pm. i still had time when i got home to make a quick trip to the dollar store to get some snacks.

today was the first day people can sign up for the mass vaxmillion lottery. not only did i sign up myself, but my parents as well as my 2nd aunt and uncle.

the rain started to fall later in the afternoon. nothing serious, just a brief drizzle, followed by long stretches of dryness. after 8pm, the rain started falling in a steadier shower. as the evening progressed, the rain became increasingly strong, especially when it seemed to be directly falling on the eastern side of the house (makes sense, as the stormfront was coming in from the west), hitting the air conditioner so hard it drowned out all other noises and i was afraid water might start leaking in from the window (it didn't).

i had the last of my chicken caesar salad for dinner. i ate while watching game 5 between the hawks-bucks. each team was without their state player: atlanta was missing trae young, still sidelined because of a bone bruise, while milwaukee was missing giannis antetokounmpo, out due to a hyperextended knee (MRI showed no structural damage). so it was a matchup to see which team had the greater depth. maybe it was home court advantage, or maybe it was something else, but the bucks were in command for much of the game. the final score was 123-112, with 4 bucks players all with 20+ points. game 6 isn't until saturday, back in atlanta. i'd be surprised if trae young isn't playing, this is for playoff survival.

later in the evening i did a round of photo backups, from may to june, onto my 2 external drives, to clear up about 60GB worth of space on my laptop.

very late in the evening - around 2:30am - the noisy rain finally seemed to have stopped. i looked outside and saw that not only were the streets flooded, but so were the sidewalks. it looked like we were living on a lake. i opened the window to take some photos, not realizing that my opposite neighbor was also out in his 2nd floor balcony, looking at the flooded streets. i don't think he saw me, but i was only in my underwear because i didn't think anyone would be up so late.