–Took Grace shopping at Trader Joe’s with Rick and Hatsumi’s gift card.

–Third Nymble came in, a day late. Someone at the PO had cut open the box, removed the knife and all accessories, then taped the box shut with the empty knife box inside. Second time in a week that the PO has stolen a knife. The one-day delay with this knife, plus the fact that it came in at 4 o’clock instead of 9:30 AM, strongly suggests there’s a temp carrier behind this. And there’s not one fucking thing I can do about it, except demand all future shipments be FedEx or UPS.

–Hung the kitchen patio door curtains I got yesterday. Fine job, but they’re not quite wide enough.

–Took a quick ride on the ARP with the InnerLight. Fun, but tiring.

–Took the Mustang to Mr. Pickle’s in Folsom for a BLT (good, but $12.29); Green Acres for a Bird of Paradise and pot; Home Depot for kitchen sliding door curtains; and Black Sails to pick up coffee.

–Android Auto worked well. It never speaks a street name, though.

–Took Grace shopping at Bel Air.

–Took a shower and shave.

–Spent hours playing with/swapping parts on a couple of EMP EDC Nymbles. Ended up leaving things as they were: blade 1 in frame 2 was a laughably poor fit. One more Nymble coming.

–Frozen for dinner.

–Slow day today. Trying to get Android Auto working in the Mustang, one way or another.

–Shirogorov/Sinkevich dark Bio came in. Nice. Not shiny like the light Bio, however.

–Played with Oz Roosevelts all day. Discovered the stop pin on the first one I bought was longer than all the other stop and scale pins because of the aftermarket scale that came on it. I can’t put the original scale back on (correctly) until I get an otiginal (shorter) pin. Crap.

–Made pizza for dinner.

–EMP EDC Nymble knife package came in; it had been opened (crushed or cut, hard to say) and the knife was missing. Messaged seller on Blade Forums. He quickly put in a claim, expects resolution soon. He seems to be unaware (ignoring? naive? scamming?) that the knife, according to the PO, had the standard Priority Mail insurance of “up to $100” (knife cost me $365). He said he told the PO the price in his claim, but that doesn’t mean (to me) that they’ll reimburse him $365. We’ll see.

–Third Oz Roosevelt came in. Nice smooth titanium scales, perfect centering. I believe this is the one I’ll keep. Was thinking of putting one of the other blades on it, but it turns out the blades have the serial number, and the COA card for the other knife (in addition to having the serial on it) says “speed holes.” There went that idea.

–Took a couple of very nice pictures of an abutilon bloom. The Q2 is a great camera. I’m the limiting factor.

–Rowena the mail carrier came to deliver a package and chat. Nice.

–Had a nasty email exchange with Lee Elliott last night. He claimed again that a $400k CD was maturing–March 31 this time. I asked for proof and he went bananas. What a disgusting little shit.

–Had to call Ally and resubmit all wire info, for security purposes. Looks like Kirill won’t ship until he has proof of wire. That sucks.

–Went to Target for Zone Perfect, shampoo, milk and cream.

–Went to Costco for sparkling water, dessert, pretzels, gas. Their new gas station costs exactly the same as the nearby Arco–but it and the store were nearly empty.

–Dr. Stegman is retiring in March; no room for Grace. We may both be looking for local MDs.

–Hung the quilt over my bed, and a couple of parking aids in the garage.

–Southard Tolk came in. Nice knife, and you can actually see the grind (it’s not stonewashed).

–Took a shower and shave.

–Walked to Bel Air for fruit and sesame bagels.

–Made banana bread for dessert.

–Played with Leica Q2. Got it mostly figured out. Great lens.

–Made pizza for dinner. Good stuff.

–Took the Mustang to the post office and picked up mailbox keys. Seems that’s standard procedure, though they didn’t mention it on my first visit.

–Stopped at Bel Air for (plain, sliced) bagels and chocolate chip cookies.

–Leica Q2 (my second) came in. Blew the SL2 with Lumix 24mm lens out of the water. It has its issues: no grip, the dreaded Leica focus knob, etc., but it’s fairly compact, has auto magnification, and takes great photos.

–Walked to Bel Air for fruit and Easy-Off.

–Still Queasy.

–Oleinikov “Solar System” came in. Perfection, as expected. Oz Roosevelt came in. Played with a LOT. Ended up going back to the original scale, as the custom one seemed to exacerbate the off-center issue. Works okay, but has an amazing in-hand feel. I just want to hold it all the time.

–Went to dinner at Jersey Mike’s, per Sterling’s recommendation. Good sandwiches I must say.

–Finally connected BofA to Heritage and paid off credit card.

–Still queasy.

–Still queasy.

–Returned the “andyfrankart” SFK to eBay seller. He claimed to be shocked, but (a) his isting did not show pics of the face that had “EDC” on it; (b) he apparently never questioned WHY it had EDC engraved on it when he (allegedly) traded a couple of knives for it.

–Took a shower and shave.

–Still queasy.

–Made bread. Good, but small.

–Still feeling queasy all the time, briefly relieved by eating.

–Stopped at Bel Air for cookies, cheese and bananas.

–Home all day, waiting for UPS.

–Feeling woozy all day, scarily assuaged by eating. Just read that 33% of those > 65 have Type 2 diabetes. Great.

–Took Grace shopping at Bel Air.

–Verified that my California Middle Class Tax Relief card is down to $0 balance. I thought it started with $600 or $800; hard to believe it went to zero so fast.

–Epoxied the 19″ x 15″ piece of glass to the outside of the kitchen sliding door. Seemed to go well.

–Successfully set up the required minimum distribution (RMD) at Vanguard, for Jan. 20.

–Marie for dinner.

–Went to University Art to get glass for the doggy door opening.

–NOS Braun shaver came in: beauty.

–Played with knives. Just cannot get Aquatic scales to work on other (nice action) Shiro F3s.

–Fed some squirrels.

–Made blueberry muffins for dessert.

–Had really bad diarrhea last night; felt woozy all day. Wish I knew what was going on.

–Two Braun Flex shavers came in. One was a tosser, but the blue-green one (a fabulous color I’ve never seen before) is near-perfect. It charged right up and gave me a great shave.

–Went to Bel Air for bagels and cream cheese.

–Second Shirogorov Aquatic came in. Swapped everything eight times, then discovered a bad sharpening grind on the new blade. These knives were REALLY rushed out, or something: loose screws, poor sharpening, etc. Ended up keeping the newer one as it came.

–Put away the Christmas stuff.

–Walked to Mimosa House for brunch, then Bel Air for groceries.

–Re-programmed external garage keypad to work; reset front gate lock to work with house key. More to come.

–Many old shavers came in. Not much remains. Got one working, with new cutter and foil. Amazing battery life for something that old (especially considering that most of them don’t even take a charge), but the shave is kind of crude. Norelco rules, at the moment.

–Made pizza for dinner. Another thick crust, though I overcooked it a little.

–Ally finally answered my query from a few days ago. Said that the $20k should have shown up by now. They’re looking into it and will get back to me. I think my case is rock solid, but it’s still scary.

–Put the vintage axe head on my new handle. Started with a pocketknife; ended with the belt grinder. Much dust. Took the cars out and blew everything away.

–Sent the Braun 5567 back to Florida for re-repair.

–Took a shower and shave.

–Played with knives a lot.

–Heritage shows that Ally “cashed” the $20,000 check I sent in with my application; Ally shows I still have $0 balance in checking and savings accounts. I submitted a help request.

–Koukin knife came in. Too small, not attractive. Ruined the pivot getting it out with a triangle bit from the iFixit tool set. $2,200 down the tubes.

–Finally attached the trickle charger leads to the Mustang battery correctly (strongly) and got it fully charged. Played some more with Android Auto/Ottocast on the Galaxy phone, but gave up: it often took 15-20 seconds for the system just to partially echo one of my commands. Hopeless. Siri rules…

–Went shopping with Grace at Bel Air.

–Soup for dinner.

–Grace left the fridge blocked open all night; it was 75 degrees this morning. Tossed the milk and cream; will see what else.

–Made pizza for dinner: best one yet.

–Vintage Braun shaver came in. Excellent condition for parts-swapping. Tried to reassemble it with that !@#$% spring, failed completely (and broke a tab off the case which ended any further exploration). Might get a junker and try to see the spring before disassembly, but I’m not sure that’s possible: I think I broke a tab on this one while pulling it apart, and the only video I’ve found shows reassembly only. Crap.

–Stopped at Green Acres for stakes and a nice pole-mounted tree saw/lopper.

–Second Shirogorov Touch came in. Not perfect action, but well-centered and no marks.

–Got more refunds from State Farm. Has something to do (I think) with homeowner’s policy mixup and multi-line discounts, but it’s getting sort of comical.

–Dank day, then rainy.

–Went to renew Trusted Traveller card, but they talked me out of it (really aimed at international travel). So I applied for a TSA Pre-Check card. Guess we need to get for Grace as well.

–Put several Russian flippers on the leather belt and really made them sharper.

–Happy New Year!

–Sunshine today. Didn’t do much: cut up some boxes, tidied up the bathroom, downloaded and watched “City of Ember.” Not bad.

–Played with the Shirogorov Aquatic a lot. Left it totally original, slightly better centered.

–Made pizza for dinner–super good.

–Had breakfast at Gold Miner Cafe in Folsom with Tom Elken and Steve Chaump, former BNR folks. Good food, good time.

–Put all my Shirogorov F3’s back together in original configurations. Trying to center the blade now on the nicest one, the Aquatic.

–Shirogorov F3 Aquatic came in. Nice scales, but not centered and not drop shut. After a LOT of noodling (it’s a major pain to work on), I swapped blades with another F3: perfecto. Don’t know what I’ll do with the other F3. If I can put it back together in working condition, I might just sell it without the box.

–Went to the Town Center to gather acorns for squirrels. All gone (gardeners). Parked outside the gate at DV and found a treasure trove right there. Good thing, as Mr. Squirrel seems to get them quickly, when we’re not looking.

–Took a shower and shave. Right-hand faucet was wonky (multiple streams, low pressure) so I carefully, gently got the aerator out and tossed part of it after thorough analysis. Works fine now.

–Took Grace shopping at Food Maxx.

–Braun razor came in. Good shape except for head frame. Bought one on eBay (sketchy: “Can I see a pic?” / “I have several; will send you the best one.”). Sent it in for battery replacement.

–Walked around Discovery Village; looked at lights and took photos.

–Voice still husky.

–Lotsa rain, but only half as much as the Rain Cricket shows. Must be the wind, I guess.

–Continued cleaning up front patio, trimming things and capping sprinklers.

–Boboli for dinner.

–Merry Christmas! Had orange rolls and opened presents.

–Dinner: turkey breast, mashed potatoes/gravy, cranberry jelly, corn, crescent rolls. Yum!

–Third Arcitec shaver came in (already returned one). KILLER! Clean, almost unmarked, works well.

–STILL have throat issues. Almost worrisome.

–Throat’s still husky.

–Went to Goodwill, where they took the hedge trimmer (among other things) and Walmart for some Christmas shopping. Then Bel Air for canned whipped cream.

–Philips Arcitec came in (second one; first was returned). No mirror-glass front, and only charges when sitting in its half-case (no socket on the razor itself). Nor does the motor seem particularly quiet. Disappointing. More coming.

–Investigated the “silo” on the back patio. Probably a lighting transformer. Tossed it.

–Two weeks after first symptoms of (what I believe is) COVID, and I still have throat-clearing issues. Got a Binax test at Rite Aid, did it twice, totally negative results. Best guess: my case is too mild for this (less sensitive) test to pick up. Paxlovid probably wouldn’t help at this point anyway, as everyone says it must be started within five days of symptom appearance.

–Went to the post office to send off (a) the Arcitec I’m returning and (b) the Shirogorov Touch going back for repair.

–Shirogorov Halloween came in. Small (no surprise) but great scales. Swapped out the slightly marred tiny body screw with another Shiro of the same model.

–Went to post office to pick up Philips Arcitec shaver–postage due, but PO will bill the seller. Sheaver is not mint; will return. Meanwhile, I bought three or so Arcitecs on eBay, one NOS so hopefully it runs quiet.

–Turns out Shirogorov won’t sell me a pivot screw for the Touch. I have to send it to Recon1, who will send it to Russia, blah blah blah. Totally sucks.

–Went to Noah’s for the first time in a while, got 13 sesame bagels for $9. Can’t beat it.

–Made brownies for dessert.

–Epoxy seemed to be working for Grace’s shower escutcheons. I caulked them and attached the handles. Good to go.

–Took a shower and (electric) shave. Felt good.

–Tasted a banana at lunch and much of dinner. Senses are returning.

–Heath from HD Lawn Care made quick work of replacing the Hunter sprinkler valve–$185. The other two valves look okay to me, which is good, since I’m not up for all the cutting and gluing he did. I spent another couple hours cleaning up the drip lines back there: cut some out, capped a couple, etc. I don’t think anything will currently get watered back there if we turn the valve on; easy enough to add drippers back in if needed.

–Finally got Sac County Utilities squared away. Added the 1956 DVL account, set up auto-pay for 1/27/23.

–Turns out Grace’s faucet installation by Ross Broadley was kind of rushed. He had the escutcheons on backwards (mine too) and hadn’t tightened one of the fixtures sufficiently, so it rotated. I fixed it all up. Sure hope those valve seats (which he didn’t replace on the shower) weren’t needed.

–Took Grace for big shopping ($200) at Bel Air.

–Went to re-pot a new sage/rosemary/thyme plant from Bel Air and noticed that the sprinkler valve was dripping, around once/second. Spent a while trying to figure it out–got one of the caps off-but gave up. Too old/unfamiliar/painted over. Called a guy I got from nextdoor.com and he’ll be over tomorrow to replace the valve for $185. Expensive, but super-quick, and I should be able to learn all I need to know for the other two valves.

–Yesterday may have been peak COVID–much coughing. Almost none today.

–Ross Broadley came to finish plumbing.

–Saw a dead finch on the front patio. I don’t think he hit the window; just died.

–Went to Bel Air for apples, oranges, dinner, dessert, cream (no cream, half-and-half).

–COVID might be migrating a bit to my chest. Great.

–Spent four hours at Pacific Skincare getting my basal cell carcinoma removed by Dr. An Yen. This small blemish now has a 2″ scar. What’s up with that?

–Another lunch at Burger King. Good people, good stuff.

–About 80% wrt the cold.

–Had a nightmare trip to the DMV to update address on my Real ID. After a new photo and $31, it’ll be here in two weeks.

–Feeling better. Cleaned up the back patio considerably.

–Marie for dinner.

–Still sick, still miserable. Lotsa rain today.

–Looks like I have a cold, not (or in addition to) dehydration.

–Bezel dies came from Esslinger. Turns out I already had two identical sets. So what was all the hoo-ha with pill bottles? I may find out the next time I try to press in a retaining ring.

–Felt utterly horrible all night and all day–presumably from dehydration. Just STANDING is apparently enough to cause lots of fluid loss.

–Turns out the Red Sub runs terribly. Kirill will send a label for me to ship it to LAWW for a service.

–Did laundry.

–Red Sub 1680 came in–beauty.

–Took a shower and shave.

–Took Grace shopping at a couple of toy stores in Roseville. Lunch at Panera.

–Frozen for dinner.

–Played with knives; restored the Shiro Touch after softening the epoxy in the oven. Gotta get another one of these.

–Played with knives. Destroyed the Shirogorov Touch. I had epoxied the female pivot to prevent rotation. The blade moved much more reluctantly, though I couldn’t see any leaked epoxy. Trying to remove the pivot, I marred it badly–it’s not coming off. (Reminder to self: one or two TINY dabs of epoxy will work.) I also noticed a ding on one of the scales. Took it apart for spares.

–Felt woozy and dizzy this afternoon; spent a while in bed. Don’t know if it was dehydration or not.

–Got coffee at Peet’s, lunch at Five Guys.

–Did paperwork, played with knives.

–Got some decent rain today.

–Grace talked with neighbors and retrieved our (new-looking) garbage toter. Yay!

–Sutter pension is still being deposited to Chase–after two attempts to get it to go to Heritage. I’ll try calling the benefits manager, but I’m not optimistic.

–Put up bar and circular towel racks in the bathroom.

–Talked to new neighbor Erica about garbage toters. They have 3 behind their fence. She didn’t know where the 1962 had come from, and when I explained about addresses she rolled it over there (they had already pretty much filled it). Still missing ours.

–Moved stuff around the living room a tiny bit, then Grace got in a snit.

–Took Grace shopping at Smart & Final.

–Learned that Papa Murphy’s Pizza in the Town Center closed today. Things are getting ugly.

–Set up stereo, without too much hassle. Grace noticed that the stand was loose in places, so I pounded it back into shape.

–Took a shower and shave. New razor from Charcoal Goods was doing really nicely, and then BOOM a huge cut on my upper lip, for no discernible reason. I do not understand it.

–Got some drywall anchors at Home Depot and hung Grace’s towel rack.

–Papa Murphy’s pizza for dinner using Mark Solich’s $50 gift card. HUGE medium pepperoni/mushroom for $6.99. I’ll look again, but I really don’t think this price is on their menu. Maybe I’m special.

–Went to Barnes & Noble for the latest Reacher and Best American Mystery books.

–Moved things around and around in the garage; got nowhere.

–Installed the new TV stand that came today. Kind of a pain, but it seems to work.

–Burger King for lunch, Bel Air for frozen dinners.

–Put folding handlebars on bikes. Seems to work great (haven’t ridden yet. Really opens up that side of the garage.

–Had a nice pseudo-Thanksgiving dinner: ham, yams, cranberry jelly, crescent rolls. Good stuff.

–Went to Lowe’s and got a couple of Kwikset door handles for the patios. Front one went on fine. Back one is a nightmare. Handle is farther back from door edge, so requires longer hardware. I had to leave the original spindle on. Gate is also far from fence, so previous owner (at our request) had kluged up a spacer to make it fit. Spacer is rotten and (perhaps necessarily because of a step in the fence) in two pieces, so I made my own. Too tired to try and fit it up tonight.

–Went to Sprouts for a pumpkin pie (reddit/sacramento recommendation).

–Moved stuff in the garage again.

–Went to Home Depot for door handle (nope) and coax face plate (nope).

–Took a shower and shave.

–Moved stuff around in the garage. Thinking about not using a table for grinder and buffer; they seem to work fine standing free on the bench.

–Papa Murphy’s for dinner.

–Went to Home Depot to look at faucets and door locks.

–Frozen dinners.

–Went to Five Guys for lunch (yum) then Smart & Final for fruit.

–Played with knives; actually revived (centered) the Touch.

–Frozen for dinner.

–Put some bins in the attic; unpacked all bins in the kitchen. Tried to improve the garage a bit, without much success.

–Watched Bullet Train. Entertaining, but too fast/complex for me.

–Continued unpacking. Set up the two glass-front bookcases by the fireplace.

–Walked to Bel Air for frozen dinners and to deposit the house sale check and a check for $50k written to myself rom Chase, preparatory to dropping Chase to the minimum (still need it for Zelle, maybe wires, etc.).

–Escrow closed this morning around 11. Yay! Picked up a check at American Title.

–Puttered around, put a couple of bird feeders out.

–Went to REI to pick up wall-mount bike holders. Installed later in the afternoon. I’m drained, but they’re not going anywhere. They don’t leave as much room as I’d hoped. This will improve with folding handlebars, but then it turns out that the sawhorse I was going to remount buffer and belt grinder on is too wide at the bottom. Crap! Nice to get the bikes on the wall, but I’ll have to get creative before I can do any polishing.

–Went to Bel Air for frozen dinners, cream, dessert.

–Heard from Mark Solich that the final walk-through was successful.

–Lunch at Panera (+ bagels and croissants).

–Picked up some Jack’s for dinner.

–Replaced four bathroom faucet stems. Utterly trivial. Wish the one I demolished had been so easy. Still have near-zero water pressure in my left sink.

–McDonald’s for lunch; Papa Murphy’s for dinner.

–Unpacked all day. Can’t find my knives that were on racks in the kitchen. Discovered the attic is clean and has a huge amount of storage space–floor and shelves. Could be a godsend, depending on what I can haul up there.

–Jack’s take-out for dinner.

–Went to Pause Coffee on Madison for breakfast–really nice place, with Ettore pastries even.

–The real challenge begins tomorrow.

–Went to Tunnel Hill for bagels and coffee. Hauler came over with a huge loader and two buddies. They tossed (literally) everything in and charged their minimum: $675. Oh well, couldn’t have done it myself.

–Comcast cable guy (another Russian) came over early and set things up. There were four cables under the TV nook: a white one that had been cut and shoved back in, two black ones with coax connectors, and one black one with the connector cut off. The last one turned out to be Comcast. The cable guy crimped a connector onto it, did some magic in our box on the side of the house and the “community” box across the alley and Voila! Internet seems faster than at Tunnel Hill.

–Took a shower and shave.

–Moving day. David and Joe from A Couple Great Movers (and good weather) got the furniture over with only a dropped file cabinet for $460. Now that everything is here, I believe unpacking will take forever.

–Went to Starbucks for wifi. That place, once a haven for me, has lost it. Undrinkable Americano, and the cream/sugar bar is empty: you have to ask for x packets of sugar, and they pour some cream (milk?) from a jug into a paper cup. Just awful.

–Bone tired. Took a load over; set up the house for mover access. Brought bikes over. Got an estimate of $500 for cleaning Tunnel Hill. Junk guy is coming over Thursday to haul stuff. Notary is coming over Thursday for signing papers. Got a chance to say farewell to Rowena the mail carrier. Lunch at Beach Hut Deli. Dinner disaster: Spilled Marie fetuccini out of the microwave and some dribbled inside the oven door, untouchable without disassembly. Crap. Ate a couple of Grace’s frozen burritos for dinner.

–Took a couple of trips over to DVL. Still seems like there’s a never-ending supply of things that need to be moved.

–Papa Murphy’s pizza for dinner, though not the one I (thought I) ordered.

–Took a load over to DVL.

–Bought, de-restrictored, and installed square “rain” shower head. Works nice. Noted that shower had been dripping since yesterday, as I failed to whang hard enough on the handles when turning them off. First turn of Mustang key (so to speak) went “click;” second turn started it up. Put it on the battery tender on return from Home Depot.

–Took a light load over to 1956 DVL. Turned on heat for a later shower.

–Marie for dinner.

–Talked to mark about the Tunnel Hill house like ours that came up yesterday at $599,000. He said he’s never seen buyers back out after all contingencies were closed, but he’s also never seen this big a price difference between two highly similar houses. He also said if we were the buyers and this came up, he would feel bound to inform us of it. There are barriers if our buyers want to switch (loan, second floor leak on the twin house, no solar pool heat, someone potentially snapping it up quick, etc. BUT there’s nothing stopping them from trying to negotiate us down to $650,000 (say), which would be very annoying.

–Boboli for dinner.

–Played with knives.

–Took a load to Goodwill. They didn’t take the low folding chairs (no furniture) or Grace’s lifejacket. They did take a handful of LPs.

–New Shirogorov/Sinkevich came in. Too small.