–Got apples (Hooverville), radishes, oranges (Kelso), andouille sausage at the light rail farmers market.

–Made BLTs for dinner with no-knead bread. Pretty good.

–A pretty nothing day.

–Reinstalled some photo editors; reaffirmed that nothing can touch Lightroom. Raw Power is close, mostly because of a beautifully simple interface.

–Pearl razor came in, along with a brush, shaving cream, and a zillion blades. Looks nice.

–White Casio Exilim came in. Nice shape. Compared it to black one, was going to switch cases, but then noticed black one has damage on top metallic parts (independent of case). Kept it as it came.

–Heard on the news that Sutter is vaccinating 65+. Signed up online. Grace got an email from Sutter this morning. I didn’t.

–Started some no-knead bread.

–Took a shower. Final test with the Wolfman razor. Worked okay, some self-healing bleeding. Will keep for now. At the rate I shave, I’ll only be using it twice a year.

–Fiddled with the pool sweeper a little more. Re-aimed the nozzle and set both main and aux2 pumps to 2,500 RPM.

–Roasted some caf beans. Came out nice.

–Went to Noah’s for bagels; it was closed.

–Chopped up the remaining wind storm tree debris.

–Made blackberry-lemon pancakes for breakfast (Grace’s Christmas present). Yuck.

–Cleaned up some tree debris outside. Worked a little on the pool sweeper, which was really slow today. Didn’t see anything that might cause slowness.

–Got some clementines, oranges, radishes, broccoli and Brussels sprouts at the Folsom farmers market. Had an orange with lunch: quite good for $1/pound.

–Pool pump and sweeper seemed to run for (what I hoped was) the programmed amount of time.

–Took a shower. The Phoenix Ascension copper razor worked great with a Derby Extra blade, though I did get a non-self-healing nick, perhaps due to over-confidence.

–Replaced hearing aid batteries at 9 AM.

–Took some photos with the Casio Exilim ZR700 after bumping up sharpness, saturation and contrast +1 each. Really phenomenal. The zoom is so long it can overfill the frame with the hummingbird feeder. And both a long zoom and a medium zoom allowed text to be read on the feeder; I don’t think any of the other small cameras can do that.

–Lots of rain. Got a second hose at Home Depot for draining the pool, if necessary.

–Left hearing aid went out at 10:30 PM.

–Cleaned up outside. Several large limbs came down in the wind.

–Casio Exilim came in. I ordered gold, seller said it was a mistake and was silver, whereas the camera is actually white. Looks okay, though. Metering (in low light, anyway) is miles ahead of the little Leica. More (brighter) comparisons tomorrow.

–Went shopping with Grace at Bel Air.

–Back is better (this evening; bad all day).

–Nenox paring came in. Small flaw on blade, very faded red handle. Crap.

–Back still hurts a lot.

–Did pretty much nothing today.

–Went to the light rail farmers market for radishes, cabbage, onions, clementines.

–Planted the mandarin clementine. Wrecked back immediately, then decided to replant it farther from the fence. Hope it grows.

–Brass Blackland razor came in. Looks nice, probably too aggressive.

–Casio Exilim came in. Works okay, but a couple of small chips on the LCD screen, and getting RAW requires Best Shot, which has its issues. E.G., it will ask you to pop up the flash if it thinks it needs it, regardless of whether you have forced flash off. So, I ordered a NEW Exilim, also 16 megapixels, but ultra slim like the one I had, and without some of the bells and whistles of the more advanced ones, like 9 shots with one shutter release for auto bracketing, ISO, etc. Also, got out the tiny Leica point-and-shoot, and noticed a weird color cast. The little Leica and the Casio were both warm and yellowish, while the Leica C is cool  and bluish. I recall the previous Exilim I bought some months ago also had color issues, so I’m really curious how the new one will look. Took a reference photo with the Sony AR7, and was again blown away by the quality. Might play with the color modes in the Leica C (standard, natural, vivid, B&W) to find one that works best. Also dropped the exposure on that camera 1/3 EV, as it seemed to be over-exposing a little compared to the Casio.

–Roasted caf and caf beans (bought Monkey Espresso from Sweet Maria’s by mistake, thinking it was decaf like the nearby Donkey Espresso). It sure tastes better than decaf, and should be okay if I drink it early enough in the day.

–Went to Green Acres in Folsom and got a mandarin clementine.

–Ascension copper razor came in. Very nice.

–Pulled the door off the Jenn Air oven so we could pull it out and replace the microwave with the new Panasonic. Messed up the hinges (again). Spent a long time figuring them out, but by then they were toast. Really poor design and cheap construction.

–Took a shower. Tried the Wolfman razor again, and again it seemed rough and harsh. Put the blade in the Paradigm 17-4 and got a nice shave. Now I have several Wolfmen to sell.

–Grace fell in the swimming pool.

–Made turkey burgers for dinner.

–Got 13 sesame bagels at Noah’s.

–Went for a quick, windy bike ride. AQI is 1 today.

–Went to Bel Air for meat, eggs, peanut butter, dessert, etc.

–Polished razor caps. Re-learning from 7-8 years ago (with knife sharpening) that one of the hardest aspects of polishing at this level is seeing. There was cloudiness on the Paradigm 17-4 that I worked on for a long time. Not sure I got rid of it–just got tired of trying to find the exact light/angle/distance at which I could see it.

–Ordered Sweet Maria’s caf and decaf beans.

–Jurgen Hempel Torpedo razor handle came in. Looks nice, but like the UFO handle, doesn’t really complement any of my razors. Hmm…

–Re: lion’s head engraving on Wolfman razor. Seller hasn’t responded to questions; just sent an email to Wolfman himself, but not really expecting an answer. Internet search finds ONE other engraving on a Wolfman: a “backwards” Army flag (i.e., a U.S. flag as it would look on a pole being carried by someone marching into battle). So, I’m pretty sure the lion is a custom request, and the guy I bought it from was not the first owner, and has no clue what it means.

–Went to the Folsom farmers market for mandarins and radishes. Saw some giant cauliflowers.

–Got a pole for the Wall Whale at Callen Pool. Works fine.

–Took a shower. Paradigm razor worked as advertised. Very smooth, one tiny weeper that healed itself before the shave was done (Wilkinson blade on its second use).

–Finally got the refund from eBay for the dud Contax N Digital

–1969 Gillette Black Beauty came in. Cleaned it up with some effort, popped the end cap and put some mineral oil in–that was the only way to stop a persistent squeak. Nice now.

–Paradigm razor came in from Australia (no maker’s marks), as did Blackland SB base plate (irrelevant, as I just ordered a titanium version). Did some polishing to the cap. That 17-4 stainless is indeed hard. Made good progress though starting with the soft felt wheel.

–Canon 1D X II came in. Already looking to replace it with a Sony. It weighs a ton, has a zillion buttons, two zillion submenus, and incredibly cumbersome focus magnification (LED screen only). Yuk.

–Neither USPS nor FedEx delivered today as they had promised.

–Borealis Estoril bezel finally came in from Portugal. Fortunately, bezel and insert were separate, so no risk of breaking insert when installing. Looks good.

–Accessories came in for the non-working Contax N Digital. Unbelievably complete set: manuals in German and English, two European plugs, AC adapter, CD, etc. After checking some stuff in the manual, I got EVERYTHING to work: jpg/raw, sensor cleaning, etc. It writes a file to the memory card (jpeg or raw), but the image is black. Really hoping I can find another N Digital with a good sensor and build one good camera. P.S. The camera failed quickly and totally with new Duracell Optimum batteries, then worked perfectly with freshly-charged NiMH 2700 mAh batteries–just like Eunjong Song said it would. Oh well…

–Replaced hearing aid batteries at 9 AM.

–Took a shower. Both open-comb razors (Blackbird and Wolfman) seemed harsh on second pass. Don’t know what’s happening.

–Made turkeyburgers, baked beans, and Brussels sprouts for dinner. Good stuff.

–Picked up mandarins, radishes, almonds at the Folsom farmers market.

Tried polishing the Wolfman razor stand with the “Foredom.” No luck.

–Cosmetic jars came in. Transferred Martin de Candre rose shaving soap to one. Cool!

–Cleaned up outside a bit. Reloaded the garden bird feeder.

–1969 Gillette Black Beauty (gold) came in. Nice after a little polish/cleaning.

–Wall Street Journal editorial said Trump should resign. Peggy Noonan said “Get rid of him. Now.”

–Went to Bel Air for milk, cream, cheese. Not all that fond of the (previous favorite) Castello blue–way too salty. Need to get back to Taylor’s for some St. Agur.

–Rubberset brush came in. Despite the attractive eBay photos, it is deeply blemished–corrosion spots I’m guessing, like all the others. It is a number 4 (my first), so I spent a long time polishing the brush collar so I could mount it on a cleaner handle.

–Trump supporters mobbed the Capitol. Wish I were in New Zealand.

–Wolfman Darwin handle came in. Nice.

–Microwave oven failed after I cooked a Marie. Grace had to use the real oven. Maybe now we get new appliances.

–Got sesame bagels at Noah’s.

–Had sausage and leftover potato salad for dinner; made brownies for dessert.

–Went to Harbor Freight for buffer wheels. Nope. Went to Lowe’s across the street. After much looking and almost giving up, found some 4″ and 6″ wheels. Prepped them on the buffer, with garage door open and fan on. The yellow ones (harder) seemed to work well in terms of minimizing swirl on the Tradere stainless razor.

–Went to Folsom farmers market for mandarins, radishes, almonds, Brussels sprouts, limes.

–After a ton of searching to see if Lightroom 6.14 would handle Canon 1DX II files (including a Lightroom 6.5 blind alley), I remembered that I could download sample RAW files for this camera model. I did, and Lightroom worked. Nearly 50 people are watching an eBay auction for a new 1DX II, currently at $2,000. Will $3,777 take it? Hard to say.

–Replaced hearing aid batteries at 8:30 AM.

–Took a shower. Tried the new Wolfman razor with a Wilkinson sword blade. Felt a little choppy, got a couple of nicks. Beard was not as long as usual, though, so who knows. Certainly not a slam dunk for razor or blade.

–Took a couple pics with one-day-old batteries in the N Digital, useless. Returned it, over the seller’s vehement objections.

–Wolfman satin finish razor came in: flawless. Feels good in hand, too. Wish I could heft a few of these razors without knowing their prices to see if this is just a sort of Tiffany effect (I paid a fortune, it must be good).

–Tristan da Cunha cap came in. A little small, but cool.

–Opened all heating vents everywhere. Reset temps and times.

–Both Contax cameras came in. Working model didn’t work well until I put new high-end AA batteries in. Now everything seems to work. Photos are dim and (perhaps) red-toned; I hope to remedy at least the dimness with a 1.4 lens just ordered from Japan (current lens is a Vario 3.5). Not as scuffed up as I had feared. Non-working one has a great case, but doesn’t write to memory. Also (as I recall from a previous non-working N Digital) it will not go into RAW mode using the “Custom Settings” or “Custom Modes” menus (that is, it won’t go into RAW mode at all–just defaults to jpeg). Found a guy on youtube/instagram who might be able to swap bodies, but that’s probably too risky, especially given that the working one isn’t really bad.

–Thor tamper came in. Sort of ugly wood (I knew that), heavier than expected, works fine.

–Grace is in a snit.

–Bell Brothers came by at 8 AM and got the heat pump running. I don’t know when they might have shown up if I hadn’t called them yesterday.

–Went to Black Sails (twice) to pick up the coffee I ordered yesterday.

–Painted black numbers in on the Gillette red dot, and a red ring on the Eclipse Red Ring. Came out pretty good.

–Recycled all the Christmas wrappings/boxes.

–Took a shower.

–Swept the ashes out of the fireplace. Didn’t help much with the odor.

–Went to Target and got a HEPA air purifier. Didn’t do much either.

–Went to the Folsom Blvd. farmers market for almonds, mandarins, radishes.

–Made a THICK crust pizza for dinner.. Turned out pretty good.

–Opened Christmas presents with coffee cake and coffee.

–Had apple pie and ice cream for dessert.

–Went to Bel Air for eggs. Dropped off a Christmas card for Imelda.

–Put a Christmas tape on the reel-to-reel, got it playing.

–Replaced hearing aid batteries at 8:30 AM.

–Rolex diamond dial Day-Date was supposed to be here by Noon; not here at 5:30.

–Left hearing aid battery went out at 5:30 PM.

–Bell Brothers heating guy came this morning (early). Turns out we have two heat pumps (not one pump/three zones). The second is only accessible via the hatch on the house wall above the garden. The “sequencer” on that failed, and will be replaced for $350. Whew!

–Downloaded and watched “Bad Boys for Life” on the TV. Glitzy, but preposterous. Bad guys not only didn’t shoot straight, a lot of times they didn’t even shoot. Etc.

–Did some shopping at Bel Air. Haven’t seen Imelda in a fair while.

–Tried to take some photos of the Jupiter-Saturn conjunction with the Leica Q2. Crappy. Movement on some, out of focus on many; camera seems to focus beyond infinity.

–Horrible electrical smell this morning. Seems the motor for the family room furnace baffle burned out. Other two zones still working. Bell Brothers will be out Tuesday to check it out. Meanwhile, radiators in the living room.

–Went to Taylor’s Market for New York steaks, blue cheese crumbles, Acme bread for Christmas.

–Bought two Contax N Digital cameras: one that works but has a scruffy bottom and zero accessories, and one that doesn’t work but has a manual and some plugs (probably not the plug I would need to lock up the mirror, though).

–Bought a Blackland Blackbird razor, machine finish.

–Masamoto KS carbon came in (two weeks late). Had a really hard time chiseling off the grotesque plastic handle, then discovered it had a hollow spot on the blade. Tossed it.

–Compared the Rolex diamond dial I just returned to others on eBay. In hindsight, it’s laughably fake. There’s a beautiful black diamond dial available, but it only fits five-digit Presidents (18038 etc.). Don’t know if I want to buy it and keep it in the chest for a watch someday or not. Kinda like the 5512 “tritinova” dial I have: it could be a long time and a lot of money before I find an appropriate vehicle for that.

–Accidentallt found Thom Brogan at Badger and Blade last night. He responded “yessir” to a PM asking if that was THE Thom Brogan, but went silent when I asked if he wanted to resume our correspondence. (1) He may think I was responsible for the downfall of Fred’s Cutlery Forum. (2) I have the vaguest recollection of a nasty exchange on a blog of his post-Fred. It’s been over a month since I’ve heard from Lee Elliott too, after he went on and on about how he was going to dedicate some time each day for corresponding. Nobody likes me.

–Went Christmas shopping for Grace at Oto’s, Sakura (near Osaka-Ya) and Staples. Done, I hope.

–Roasted caf and decaf beans.

–Spruced up outside a bit.

–Took a shower. Had a nice shave with the Blackland Tradere razor and Personna “red” blade.

–BIG shopping at Food Maxx.

–Got on the phone with Xfinity. Our one-year deal is up, with the rate going from $120 to $193. After a while, settled on same service at $145 ($105 plus a lot of fees, taxes, etc.). Could be worse…

–Got bagels at Noah’s.

–Got Rolex Day-Date back from Ivanov’s for $10. She said nothing was done, everything was fine. Not true. (1) That screw was seriously wedged in. (2) That wedged screw had a dome top; the new screw is flat, as it should be. (3) There are a couple of noticeable gouges around the screw hole that weren’t there when I took it in. Anyway, I put the watch back together with the original black dial and hands, and it runs great.

–Marie for dinner.

–Trying to prep for Christmas: took all art upstairs, put up the manger scene, moved the upstairs fireplace grate to the downstairs fireplace and added an extension to the damper handle. Still hard to close.

–Left hearing aid battery quit around 8 PM.

–Bad day.

–Bought Belgian coticule at The Shave Nook. Five messages from the seller came in unnoticed by me (and they don’t send email notifications). Finally saw the messages and paid for the stone.

–Communicated with eBay dealer who sold me the fake(?) Rolex diamond dial. Turns out I’m too late (61 days) to do a standard eBay return, so he’s going to send me a FedEx label.

–Went to Devon’s at Roseville Galleria to pick up the Rolex Day-Date that came back from RSC because of “non-Rolex” dial. Did some Christmas shopping. Had lunch at MacDonald’s on the way home.

–Took the Day-Date movement to Ivanov’s to ask them to free up the (incorrect) stemlock screw they installed.

–Overcast day, with a few tiny sprinkles.

–Tossed Titoni watch: date change only goes halfway, even after complete disassembly. Had the usual problems with stem reinsertion, but seemed to fix it by pulling the dial and fiddling with the mechanism from that side.

–Firefox started acting up–wouldn’t bookmark sites. After a lot of fruitless hair-pulling, I switched over to Microsoft Edge. Seems to work okay.

–Konosuke petty came in; nice. Used oven method to remove stock handle and replace it with a nicer Kono petty handle. The blade literally slid out of the stock handle while sitting in a 225 oven. Unbelievable.

–Found a Blackland Tradere razor for sale at Damn Fine Shave. Needed 10 posts + 2 weeks before I could PM seller, so asked John Gnagy (whence I obtained the Simpson Centenary brush) at Badger and Blade if he could PM Tradere seller with my email address. It worked! Tradere on the way.

–Saw a large hawk land and take off under the poolside bird feeder. Probably after a rat, but didn’t seem to catch it.

–Titoni watch came in. Super nice.

–Made blueberry muffins for dessert.

–Boxed and labeled 7 Christmas packages; dropped them off at the post office so I could get a receipt.

–Clean air (for a change) and 70 degrees got me out on the bike. Nice ride.

–Mergress razor came in. Beauty.

–Cleaned pool pump strainer, long overdue. Added chlorine to pool.

–Took a shower/shave. Rocnel razor is heavy (thought I would like heavy more than I seemed to), felt smooth most places but very aggressive on my upper lip. Closest shave ever, with one small self-healing nick. I wonder if the weight is why so many guys put tier-2 handles on tier-1 heads. Probably not, just personal preference for different handle styles.

–Went to the farmers market at Folsom and Sunrise (light rail station parking lot). Pretty nice, lots of produce, minimum gifty stuff. Got some great mini-tangerines, oranges, and some Winters Fruit Tree dips/jams for Tom/Kati and me.

–3-way valve (discharge or exhaust valve) runs constantly into the drip tray on first shot from Maximatic, not on second. I believe it’s because I’m using too much coffee, too finely ground. Hoping it goes away with the bigger grouphead using (proportionally) less coffee/coarser grind, as I have no idea how to access the valve and really don’t want to dig into that machine.

–Puy gas in the Honda.

–Did a little Christmas shopping at Bed Bath & Beyond. Had lunch at Five Guys.

–Mowed the lawn, cleaned the birdbath, sped up the aux 2 pump to (try to) make the pool sweep move faster.

–Called Cerini Coffee (it was clear they weren’t going to follow up on Monday’s email). They will have a 54mm group head for me in their next shipment, and sent a label for returning the 49mm group.

–Grace almost destroyed the new oven door hinges trying to close it on the pizza stone, which I hadn’t pushed in far enough. We fixed it, but it wasn’t easy.

–Successfully moved the TV into the living room, using the J-Tech wireless extender.

–Heard from Devon’s Jewelers that Rolex refused to work on the Day-Date, since the (diamond) dial was not a Rolex dial. Contacted eBay seller, who said he would take the dial back. He also said the dial came from a watch that had been serviced by Rolex. He’s either a great liar, or Rolex is messed up.

–Finally convinced Borealis to send me a black bezel. I destroyed the black one on the “swap” watch while removing it yesterday, so I hope I can make this change without damage. I ordered a Bergeon crystal lift after seeing a video where someone used it to remove a bezel, also a set of bezel dies (delrin-lined) for pressing the new one in. Here’s hoping.

–Made pizza for dinner (couldn’t shop because Grace was waiting for FedEx(which never came).

–Got 13 bagels at Noah’s for $8.00 MINUS 10% senior discount. First time that’s happened in many visits. Do I look older now?

–Went to Devon’s in Roseville Galleria to drop off two more Rolexes for service (in Dallas, I was told)–rhodium Datejust and 5513. Got receipts. Don’t recall getting a receipt for the white gold 1803 I dropped off a couple weeks ago. Will call.

–Black-dialed Borealis Estoril came in–very nice. Swapped cases with my blue-dialed one (fewer nicks) and noticed that bezel is also blue (very dark) on that one. Tried to swap bezels. Rolex bezel tool failed to remove black bezel. eBay tool got it off, but one side came up much sooner than the other, and bezel was cracked beyond redemption at the end. The eBay tool has done that before I think–lifting the moving screw side much earlier than the stationary side. Don’t know if there’s anything I can do about it. Will try the other eBay tool (sharp wheels rather than blades), but not on the Estoril.

–Had a late lunch at (outside) McDonald’s.

–Cerini Maximatic stuff came in. Turns out the 54mm group head I ordered was exactly the same (49mm) as the one now on the machine. ‘Twould be a shame if they didn’t have a 54mm group.

–Went to Target for HDMI cables for TV wireless extender, Bel Air for apples and oranges.

–Christmas tree from Target was delivered, also the squirrel photo ornament from Walmart.

–Rolex 5513 dial and hands came back (untouched, as requested) from James Hyman. Got them back on the watch and ready to send off to Rolex for service. Maybe.

–Went to Barnes and Noble on Sunrise in Citrus Heights for Best American Mysteries 2020; got some other stuff for Christmas.

–Replaced hearing aid batteries at 8:30 AM.

–Did a load of laundry; changed sheets on the bed (bottom sheet was ripped, presumably by a sharp toenail).

–Made pizza for dinner.

–Stopped Livietta knocking sound with a piece of rubber between (age-warped) water tank and cover. Steaming still not great (N of 2). May upgrade with 54mm group head/portafilter/funnel/tamper, teflon gasket, steam wand with replaceable tip.

–Left hearing aid battery quit around 8 PM.

–Yet another Super-Speed (listed at Etsy as an Aristocrat Junior) came in. Came apart easily, but a small ding on the handle and plating loss on the doors and tray make it an unlikely candidate for mix-and-match.

–Marie for dinner.

–Roasted caf beans. Set up Pasquini Livietta at the coffee bar. Made a pretty good latte.

–Took a shower. Tried a Dorco blade in the red dot. Dull, and got a nick.

–Went to Smart & Final for water, Coke, apples, oranges.

–Another Gillette Super-Speed came in, post-1947 (ordered before I knew what was what). Had nice silo doors, so I tried to mix and match with my (presumptive) 1947. Destroyed both razors. Ordered another (theoretical) 1947. Will not try to remove handle from head on this one, as it’s almost guaranteed to break the solder (?) joint between stem and blade tray. One can imagine rubber-jawed pliers that might work on these–will look ’em up.

–Not much happening today.

–Mowed the lawn; fixed the grabber that was all bent out of shape.

–Made egg salad sandwiches on Acme bread for dinner. Forgot the mustard in the egg salad. Crap.

–1947 Gillette Super-Speed came in. A little rough but serviceable. I did manage to take it apart. Just bought another one (looks identical, though it’s called an Aristocrat Junior), and may mix/match parts to put together something nice. [edit] Turns out that IDing a 1947 correctly could be more complicated than notch/no notch. Crap.

–Made pizza for dinner.

–Went to Taylor’s Market for bone-in turkey breast; got Acme bread, jam, cookies, pizza dough/crusts, etc.

–Took a shower.

–Replaced hearing aid batteries around 9 AM.

–Asked James Hyman in UK to return Rolex 5513 dial/hands he was going to relume so I can send the watch off to Rolex. It will be interesting to see what they do with it.

–Got bagels at Noah’s; did big shopping at the nearby Raley’s.

–Watched a couple of Bruce Willis “paycheck” movies. Bad bad bad…

–Went to Devon’s (original location; papered-up one on previous trip is what they’ll be moving to) and dropped off the Rolex Day-Date for service. Was assured that my name would still be on the list for an OP 36 turquoise.

–Took a 12-mile bike to Hagan Park. Nice, but too many squirrels crossing the trail.

–Replaced the springs on the oven door. Works better.

–Walked to Bel Air for dessert. Marie for dinner.

–Went to Roseville Galleria to drop off Rolex 1803 for service at Devon’s. Devon’s was boarded up. Turns out they were temporarily in another location at the mall, but I didn’t find this out until I called from home. They could have put a sign on the window. Got a pizza stone and paddle at Williams Sonoma.

–Used the new Kitchenaid stand mixer to start some bagel dough. Misread the directions and used tablespoons of yeast instead of teaspoons. We’ll see.

–Squale Onda Azzurro came in. Tossed it. Gotta stop lusting after Squale (too big, among other things) and Steinhart (bad lume color).

–1803 hands came in. Tried to swap dials back to diamond dial, couldn’t get the stem back in after mounting (original) hands and putting watch back in case. Stems are going to be the death of me. Will send the watch to Rolex; it could use an overhaul anyway.

–Manchester Watch Works watch came. Nice, but super-big-appearing black dial (perhaps because of minimal text and hour markers that are right at the edge) is not hugely appealing.

–Took a shower. Used the Simpson Centenary Chubby II. Put a large dab of Bigelow shave cream on it, only got one pass. That’s okay, it’s really a collector’s item.

–Spent a fair while updating logins that I missed a week ago. Also added Firefox to my phone, and apparently as it synced up it resurrected dozens of old logins. The internet never forgets.

–Made pizza for dinner.

–Went shopping at Safeway Citrus Heights.

–Made some cream cheese with chives. Good but not amazing.

–Simpson Centenary brush came in. Nice. Also Lillicrap’s hone. Nice.

–Sold Shig 135 kitaeji petty. Went to Bel Air to mail it, turns out they’ve closed ALL Raley’s/Bel Air Guest Services desks. Crap. Went to the PO to mail the knife.

–Roasted some caf beans.

–Figured out how to adjust timing on Rolex 1570 movement (in the rhodium Datejust). Unfortunately, that watch runs slow and low amplitude at best, and the 5513 with the 1570 movement doesn’t run at all now, possibly because I unscrewed the lever set (stem lock) screw by mistake. Crap.

–Right hearing aid battery (replaced yesterday) failed. Replaced both again around 6 PM. It’s conceivable I put the old (right) battery back in yesterday when I replaced them.

–Biden is resident-elect!!

–(What turned out to be my second) Gillette rhodium razor came in. Really tight and squeaky at first, but okay after a Dawn soak/ultrasonic. Red paint on the spring “window” makes it clear that seller didn’t disassemble razor before cleaning and plating. Not sure what I’ll do with it (them).

–Replaced hearing aid batteries around 5 PM. Seems soon.

–Got a scuba tank filled at Dolphin.

–Was playing with the 5513 movement, thinking it was the 1803. Was surprised to see the stem-locking screw work okay. Then noticed the watch wouldn’t run. Possible I messed up by loosening the stem-locking screw (Ivanov called it the set lever screw) too much. But winding seems to work, and turning the stem seems like it would move the hands. Crap.

–Returned the ill-fitting Rolex 1803 link. New link came in, fits perfectly.

–Yet another Rubberset brush came in. Like the last two, it was speckled with corrosion. It also had a major chip (break? fracture?) in the knot half, and lots of pitting in the lower half. Tossed it. Lesson: No matter how good it looks in eBay photos, it’s crap. That aluminum, probably not flawless when new,  just doesn’t age well.

–Made pizza with dough from yesterday. Pretty darn good, but that was mostly because of cheese and tomatoes. Dough was weirdly non-elastic. Practice makes perfect.

–Biden appears to be winning, but it’s close. All the pollsters were wrong–except maybe the Mulcahy guy, with his “deep” methods for getting at true intentions of people who don’t want to admit being Trump voters.

–Marie for dinner.

–Changed the clock on the pool controller. Tried to adjust the pool sweeper to speed it up, but after looking at a manual, turns out out what I did was kind of irrelevant. Much to learn.

–Took a ride to Karen’s Bakery in Folsom and got some cookies. Surprisingly tiring.

–Cleaned window at coffee bar overlooking garden. Will likely have to clean it again tomorrow. Looks good, though.

–Misdirected Gillette Fat Boy came in. Turns out it lacks the notches for easy disassembly, so I tore it apart. Not a great razor. Later shaved with my Fat Boy (also lacks notches), and noticed it appears to have been polished and re-plated. Beautiful razor.

–Made cinnamon rolls for dessert.

–Pruned stuff in the garden and planted the milkweeds.

–Emptied the bag on the pool sweeper. Tried turning the adjustment screw by hand but couldn’t. Later.

–Got produce at the Sunrise farmers market, cream cheese and apple streusel at Bel Air.

–Gillette Fat Boy razor was “delivered” today, but it wasn’t in the mailbox. I hope the neighbor who got it by mistake and kept it is happy.

–Pool pump and sweeper are finally working perfectly according to schedule!

–Carved a pumpkin.