t
o
n
y
a
n
g
'
s
 
w
e
b
l
o
g


i got to belmont around 11am for a waltham costco market basket supply run. the lot was nearly full, we ended up parking near the very far back of the property. however when we went inside, it didn't seem all that crowded, and there wasn't even any crazy lines at the checkout aisles. we were primarily there to get some eggs; there's still a 2 pack limit due to the ongoing bird flu epidemic (as of today, nearly 53 million poultry have been infected and destroyed with only a single case of human infection).

after costco we went to the waltham market basket. here too parking was hard to come by, and my mother and i got out of the car first while my father waited for a spot. like at costco, even though it was to capacity in the parking lot, inside the store it didn't seem all that busy. where are all these cars coming from?

we hurried back to belmont, my mother in the throes of a constipation relief drug she took earlier. she jumped out of the car before we could even safely park in the driveway to go use the bathroom. my father and i ended up going to the mechanic, where the toyota was getting serviced. after we arrived, i drove the honda back to the house while he collected the toyota.

by that point it was almost 2pm. i went into the backyard and did some yard work. i grabbed a bag of chicken manure and applied some to RB4, half of RB3, and the sides of RB2 and RB1 where i planned on planting some garlic. i then tilled the manure into the soil. i made holes in the dirt with a hand wander. i sprinkled some osmocote slow release fertilizer pellets followed by some bone meal. i then picked the largest garlics from my collection and broke them apart to get the individual cloves. a few of the ones i broke open had some dark fungal mold inside. i planted the healthy cloves. the remaining garlics i gave to my mother for cooking.

so normally i'd plant my garlics in late october or early november. but this year has been especially warm, and even now in december we're supposed to get a few days of mid-50's weather. truth to told, i'm sort of late when it comes to garlic planting. they should be planted when the weather turns cold, but not before the ground freezes solid. but i lucked out with this warm weather, hopefully it stays warm like this for a few weeks so my garlics can begin rooting.

while i was outside, i must've dropped my pixel 7 phone at least twice. both times i thought maybe i'd cracked the screen (protector), but both times nothing happened to the phone, other than some dirt getting into the case. i have no doubt the crustal palace case will protect the phone, but the thing is pretty slippery. i might want to get another case that's grippier.

i moved on to our indoor garden. i watered all the basement plants with mosquito bit infused rain water. there hasn't been too much activity on the yellow sticky traps, but i did see a few fungus gnats flying around. while watering the orchids (2 of which already have flower spikes), i noticed one of them had some mealybugs. i took that one into the sink and sprayed it with insecticidal soap. because i can apply systemic pesticide to the orchids, i have to keep an eye on them to make sure they don't get mealybugs. i was finally done by 5pm, went upstairs to eat some snacks before dinner.

my mother made a big pot of pork and potato stew. i could smell it outside when i went out briefly to take photos of the magenta sunset with my drone. i returned home around 7pm.

there was a package on my doorstep. at first i thought it was the trade-in return kit from google, but when i opened the box, i was surprised to see it was the renewed pixel 6. it must've been sitting outside for a while because it felt like a block of ice. but physically it looked almost identical to my pixel 7, just the camera layout is a little different. it was also in pristine condition, this must've been a return item because there's zero signs of usage.

later i turned on the pixel 6, i was surprised it wasn't factory reset, it actually went to the home screen (no password protection). if i hadn't known about the pixel 7 upgrade deal, i think i would've been very happy with the pixel 6. while i'm waiting for google to send me the trade-in kit, i'll test out the two phones. i'm particularly curious about the camera differences.

kirstie alley died today at the age of 71 from a recent cancer diagnosis. i know her best from cheers and her brief role as saavik in star trek II: the wrath of khan. in recent years she became a staple on reality TV and became an outspoken trump supporter.