–Breakfast at Holiday Inn; drove back to LSB. Easy trip.
–Carved a pumpkin, set it on a table in the driveway, dressed warmly and handed out 288/300 pieces of candy. Fun, but if we were going to be here next year, I’d have 600 pieces of candy.
Month: October 2019
–Went for home inspection at 12:30. Consensus seems to be that new roof is needed immediately. Also evidence of rats in the attic. Other than those, not so bad.
–Went to Rubio’s and got a Burrito Especial (steak). Pretty good.
–Still sneezing and coughing, but feeling a little better.
–Drove to Sac for pool inspection. Went pretty well: no immediate repairs needed, could replace some seals here and there. Paid $305 cash.
–Bought some supplies at Bel Air and checked into Holiday Inn Express. Need a long shower and a lot of sleep.
–Feeling lousy. Went to McDonald’s for breakfast and wifi.
–Got stitches out via Bregman’s assistant. Dr. Holloway cut out a KA (will look up), said he’ll do a non-Mohs surgery after biopsy results come back.
–Power came on around 4 PM. House is much warmer. Still feel lousy.
–Power went out around 9:30 PM. Having caught a cold, I had a miserable night.
–Went to McDonald’s, Target (batteries and candles), put gas in the Beemer. Waited for power to go out. Not yet…..
–Replaced hearing batteries around 9 AM.
–Messaged Dr. Liao, asking for biopsy of blemish on arm.
–Took the Beemer to Sac to look at 11474 Tunnel Hill again with Darla. Found a lot to like: pool is 37’+ and plenty deep, side yards are spacious and one is especially suited to bird feeder/bath/lemon tree/bird of paradise. Living room, unlike many, is perfect for watching TV and birds. Less than 8 minutes walking time to Bel Air.
–Darla will submit offer tomorrow: asking ($600,00) and owners pay $4,000 for 2-year roof repairs.
–Had dinner at Ruffhaus again. Super good Pig Sandwich: smoked pork and chimichurri slaw.
–Darla said Tunnel Hill pool is 38 feet and a nice 80-something lady, original owner, lives across the street and loves it. House is all-electric (boo), and needs $4,000 roof repair for a 2-year certification (will ask owner to cover). Will visit tomorrow.
–Toyama mukimono came in. Okay, but had a couple of pits and a less-than-even grind (thread) on the back side, so I tossed it.
–Trimmed plants in front. Exhausting, as usual.
–Took two Creminas to great Infusions for consignment. Nicer one priced at $1,000, Elliot’s at $800.
–Second scuba air blower came in. Took it apart and lubed it, works fine. Drilled pin out of first one and took it apart/reassembled as well, which stopped the leak. Couldn’t get it back together satisfactorily, though.
–Called Darla about 2147 Hesperian. Was about to make motel reservations when she called back and said it already had two offers over asking. This is really getting depressing. The more so because I seem to be stuck with Darla (via the loan) and she doesn’t spend an ounce of effort looking for things–the last two “surprises” were uncovered by me.
–Konosuke Fujiyama blue 240 came in–nice.
–Darla called: Hesperian sold for an all-cash offer, significantly higher than asking. Crap.
–2147 Dame Shirley came up again (had two pending offers from same person at $600,000; now offered at $585,000). May pursue; looks like a 40+ foot pool would be easy to install.
–Finished up Elliot’s Cremina; suggested taking it to Great Infusions for consignment; he agreed.
–Got Bagels at The Bagelry. What a zoo. 3 sesame, 10 3-seed (sesame, poppy, sunflower) that are small and appear to be whole wheat.
–Got a message from Darla that Hesperian open houses had been canceled–so maybe they’re going to accept my offer. I think I would have heard before now if that were true; more likely they disclosed my bid and accepted a higher offer.
–Got a buzz cut.
–Got my Cremina running with a standard dipper tube (and some teflon tape) after tapping the bunged up M10 threads with a 1/8 BSP tap. Don’t know why it worked, but it did. Eureka!
–Found another house on Hesperian this morning before leaving Sac. Met Darla there, liked it, had her make a full-price offer. Apparently the seller will be entertaining multiple offers. No house is the end-all, be-all; but would kind of like to get moving.
–Watanabe 210 gyuto came in–beauty.
–Drove to Gold River (2 hours 50 minutes) to look at house on Hesperian. It’s okay, but small even for a single story. Will look at Tunnel Hill again tomorrow.
–Stayed at Holiday Inn Express El Dorado Hills. Ate lunch/dinner at Ruffhouse Hot Dogs. Not bad.
–Had ganglion cyst removed at Sutter Maternity. Awful big fuss for a few stitches.
–Put gas in both cars.
–Put in new hearing aid batteries around 9 AM.
–Worked on Creminas. Got one going that I bought on eBay. Like Elliot’s, it has steam in frame–apparently a feature on early machines (1980 and 1981 in this case).
–Had a disaster trying to put a dipper tube on a Cremina grouphead. Pipe thread standards are a joke. Ended up forcing a 1/8 BSP male into a 10mm 1.5 metric female–then broke the compression fitting.
–Hearing aid battery went out around 9:30 PM. Will replace tomorrow.
–Bought some apples at nearby Clearview Orchard.
–Went to pick up Cremina grouphead at Great Infusions. Their expert had drilled it out and tapped it at M10 x 1.5. There MAY exist adapters for this to the 1/8 BSP fitting on the dipper tube, but all I found were M10 x 1.0. Bought some M10 brass bolts from China (no one else has them); will cut down, drill and tap for 1/8 BSP. He said.
–Grace’s Michigan cousin’s husband Joe committed suicide. She wants to go to the service next weekend.
–Went to PAMF Santa Cruz for EKG (me) and blood draw (Grace).
–Glued cocobolo handle to Fujiyama. Went well with the right (mix-in-the-applicator) epoxy.
–Marie Callender for dinner.
–Power went out last night at 11:20. Came back on today around 2:00 PM.
–Went to Monterey BMW for first oil change. Lunch at Fandango, walked along Ocean View.
–Waited all day for PG&E to cut power. 3 PM, nothing yet. Still okay at 11.
–Scuba hoses (for air blower) came in. Listing said 32″; hoses are 26.5″. Will return.
–Went to Dr. Liao in Los Gatos. She shaved a suspected basal on upper right shoulder for biopsy, froze several AKs on face, froze some cosmetic sunspots (maybe free for nothing).
–PG&E threatens to cut off power starting around 4 AM tomorrow fro ~36 hors. Assholes.
–Continued trying to polish Fujiyama. Dulled it so much that sharpening ruined the edge/profile. Tossed it. Gotta find a way to keep the blade dead flat on table while polishing.
–Got a new hummingbird feeder at Ace, went shopping at Safeway.
–Had a nice BT (heirloom) sandwich for lunch.
–Continued efforts at polishing hagane of Fujiyama. Looking good.
–Went to “craft fair” at Crystal Bay Farms. Many pumpkins (bought one), not so many crafts.
–Got some ground turkey at Nob Hill to barbecue with corn, squash, heirloom tomato. Best turkey burgers ever, perhaps because of high-fat (13%) turkey.
–Got the Cremina installed in kitchen. Works well, steams better than the Rocket.
–Finished up Cremina. Put pressure gauge on it and got .8–.9 bar, then noticed pressure gauge fitting was cracked and leaking. Ordered another.
–Ordered a bunch of stuff using eBay bucks.
–Got bagels at the Bagelry. Bad traffic at 10 AM for no apparent reason.
–Finished building a Cremina. Works, no leaks. Problems: (1) Boiled grouphead too long in citric acid; chrome became spotty. (2) Heated citric acid solution in boiler with top off to descale heating element. Solution bubbled out when hot. Hopefully I dried it sufficiently so it won’t develop any rust/scale issues.
–Barbecued pork chops, corn, asparagus. Yummy!
–Feeling crappy after flu shot yesterday.
–Park Tool truing stand and rotor tool came in.
–Went to Dr. Kim for permanent crown. Quick work, but two-toned crown looked awful. Went back, and he “bonded” the crown to better match neighboring teeth.
–Went to Round Table for dinner.