–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.

–Took the Beemer to Lunardi’s in Los Gatos for meat, cheese, danish, apples, oranges, etc.

–Took a walk on the beach.

–Played with Fujiyamas on the buffer.

Made pizza, as Grace was busy with Bochy farewell broadcast.

–WWII bubble lens flashlight came in; cool. Ordered 18650 battery; will be too small, but should work.

–Omeprazole arrived.

–Got scary email to wsf@comcast.net from scammer who knew froggy11 password. Turns out that email address was compromised, though not sure how they got the password. bf and flurbun seem safe at the moment.

–Played with regulators. Thought I had a severe setback when Mk5 kept blowing out; turns out the o-ring under the HP seat had fallen out at some point. All good now.

–Went to FedEx on Clare’s St. to send Rolex 5512 back to LAWW for warranty work.

–VDH stuff finally came in. Pin spanner too big for HP seat cap, but the “bullet” worked nicely to install piston stem through o-ring. Mk5 reg seems really consistent now. Tried 4 different HP seats, found that the “+” seat gave best IP at 125. May add a shim; may leave it.

–Went shopping at Farm Fresh Produce and Safeway; got a breakfast sandwich and some pastries for dessert at Donut Basket.

–Sorted out Scubapro Mk5 o-rings (sort of) and built as far as I can. Waiting for a couple parts from Vintage Double Hose.

–Barbecued hamburgers, corn, squash, plus heirloom tomatoes. Good!

–Went to Steven Bregman, PA, for another stab at getting rid of the ganglion cyst. He injects lidocaine and then squeezes the crap out it. Not necessarily the best approach, in my opinion.

–Deep Six first stage came back; I think it’s a new regulator (as opposed to a repaired original).

–Roasted some wet process beans. I think those are all I’ll be buying going forward–no chaff to clog up the roaster.

–Got new speedometer on Inner Light. Setting it up is another matter.

–Discovered that hour hand was loose on Rolex 5512–the one that came back from LAWW with dust under the crystal. grrr…

–Took a walk to the bluff with Grace, got some bearclaws.

–I went to Ace for a scuba tool and Safeway for milk, cream and eggs.

–Second Scubapro Mk5 came in; it’s in really nice shape (IP around 110 though). Took it apart, cleaned it up. Waiting for some additional tools/o-rings before final assembly. Doing this one right.

–Mowed, pruned, etc.

–Scubapro Mk5 came in. Took it apart and cleaned it. Waiting for rebuild kit.

–Went to Phoebe’s Art Gallery in Capitola and bought some cool stuff.

–Got some bagels at The Bagelry.

–Roasted caf and decaf beans.

–Further, turns out that “modern” high pressure seats are not flat like every one I’ve seen; they have a sort of rounded concave cone in the middle. Even further, newer rebuild kits come with THREE of these seats, different sizes to allow adjusting IP higher or lower. Oh well, fifth time’s a charm…

–Had a good breakfast at Holiday Inn Express.

–Takeda petty came in from Arizona Custom Knives. Piece of crap–pitting right up to blade edge. Oh well…

–Took the Beemer to Sac to look at houses. Zero traffic; trip took 2 hours and 43 minutes.

–Dame Shirley house is single level, nice yard (no pool), needs interior updating. We’ll let it go to someone who’s been after it longer. [Also a security sign with “armed response” at beginning of Dame Shirley.]

–Dinner at Panera. Pretty good, though no more pastries for an extra $.99 (crappy cookies only).

–Went to Capitola Art/Wine Festival. Fun, but hot. Got a t-shirt, an etched-metal art piece, and got to see The Great Morgani.

–While I was playing with regulators, second stages showed weird popping behavior. Turns out new Deep Six first stage must have broken a seal and was way over pressure. Strange, since I just tossed a nice Scubapro Mk5 first stage that was also way over pressure. The tank tonight was only at 1,300 PSI. I don’t know what’s going on.

–Took the Beemer to Farm Fresh Produce (Moss Landing) for apples, oranges and such. Got gas at the Chevron station on US 1.

–Finally heard from Nate Newsom. Loan pre-approval seems to have gone through.

–Took the Beemer to Nepenthe; couldn’t find a place to park. Went back and had lunch at Rocky Point, on the other side of 1 than my memory said. Stopped at Carmel Cutlery, bought an OTF knife, put in a request for a Laconico super-grind.

–Went to Dr. Kim for phase 2 of the crown. One more visit, I think.

–Dinner at Round Table Pizza. Good!

–Another Konosuke Fujiyama came in, from Bernal Cutlery. A keeper, finally.

–Replacement garbage disposal came in from Home Depot, missing some parts. Scrounged some bolts and spent the day trying to install. No go. Uninstalled it, took out the original sink ring, and will try again tomorrow with the replacement sink ring and a longer PVC drain pipe.

–Returned too-wide sink disposal to Home Depot. Bought disposal installation kit (PVC pipes) and plumber’s putty.

–Bought skin cleanser for Grace and hearing aid batteries at CVS. (Mixed up old and new batteries last night, so needed something prior to eBay batteries arriving.)

–Scubapro dive knives came in. Kinda crappy, pitting for example.

–Went to Target for deodorant and eye drops, McDonald’s for lunch.

–Replaced hearing aid batteries around 7 PM, after 11 days. Turns out the ones I ordered from eBay were size 10, not 13 as needed. I’m an idiot. Ordered some 13s.

–Kirill Yuzh noticed that crystal was mis-installed on ceramic Daytona I sent for consignment. CRAP! Asked him to return it. Good thing I didn’t put the warranty card in it.

–Heard from Randall Frey (Army, Afghanistan) that brass Tekna arrived in time for his dive trip to Philippines.

–Fixed EUFY wheel that was clogged with hair.

–Shopping at Farm Fresh Produce and Safeway.

–Went to Shoppers Corner for salami, cheese, apples, oranges.

–Took out the garbage.

–Rolex Daytona came in. Nice. All stickers, 0 beat error, no name on warranty.

–Went to Dr. Kim for root canal. Went fine. Two more visits: build up tooth, then crown.

–Rolex Daytona coming tomorrow, after many threats from me.

–Watchco Seamaster came in. Runs nice, so put it in best case to keep. As usual, tossed two movements because I couldn’t get the @#$% stems in properly.

–Rolex GMT 1675 crystal came in–a top hat with a large bevel, as was originally on the watch. I installed it, taking the opportunity to clean up a lot of gunk under the crystal retaining ring. Good job. Wondering whether to put same crystal (incoming) on 1680, which currently has original “no bevel” top hat, which MAY make the dial of the watch look slightly smaller. Tough choice.

–Had some Insight Ethiopia this morning. Good stuff, with berry aspects, but my tastes are changing towards darker roasts.

–Went to Chalk It Up, took pictures, got a t-shirt (undated).

–Went to new Temple Coffee on P Street (formerly Insight), found they stopped putting dates on roasted beans. Bye. Went to original Insight and got some dated beans and green beans.

–Grace dislikes inside of house we looked at, at 1900 Studebaker in Gold River.

–Drove to Sacramento. 5.5 hours. Miserable.

–A little shopping at Bel Air, then back to Holiday In  Express.

–Took the Beemer to get gas, fruit, Pajaronian, fritters.

–Bought another Rolex Daytona ceramic.

–Replaced hearing aid batteries around 9 AM.

–Got paperwork off to Nate Newsom of Valley Funding for loan pre-approval.

–Rolex 5512 and 1680 came back from LAWW. 1680 is nice and runs well. 5512 does not run so well and had dust under the crystal (I cleaned it up). Guess I know which one I’m keeping.

–Left hearing aid battery went out around 9 PM.

–Got water (and replaced lost membership card) at Costco.

–Stopped at Safeway for BBQ fixin’s and dessert.

–Cleaned asbestos off Cremina boiler, then broke dipper tube. Crap.

–Had Oceanic and Scubapro regulators going nicely. Then tried to switch bodies on the Scubapro. Free-flowed again, no matter what, then I noticed some metal threads had moved in the nylon housing, then the Scubapro first stage sort of blew up (even the Oceanic was acting weird). Put the Conshelf first stage on, Oceanic was okay, decided to just ditch all Scubapro D series stuff. Way too complex and touchy.

–Took Cremina apart; Grace blew up when I foolishly mentioned asbestos on the boiler. Reveal only what is necessary…

–Went shopping at Nob Hill. Also got cough drops and Pajaronian.

–Scubapro 350 reg came in, as did Cremina.

–Went to Farm Fresh Produce; bought lots.

–Talked to Nate Newsom of Valley Funding re pre-qualifying for home loan. Looks good.

–Back from Sac. Long hot drive. Beat.

–Went to Sac to look at houses.

–Saw a couple of homes with Darla. Mother Lode, not so nice. Hesperian, very nice–sold today. Time to get on a stick and sell 110 Playa and get (pre-qualified for) a loan.

–Dinner with Tom Elken at Moto Osteria in downtown El Dorado. Very nice.

–Scheduled to meet with David Chapman for lunch tomorrow around Noon. Then Darla Haubner, realtor, at a house in Gold River. Likely dinner with Tom Elken.

–Read The Invention of Morel, possible inspiration for Last Year at Marienbad. Pretty amazing.

–Made reservations at Holiday Inn Express El Doarado Hills for Sac trip 8/21.

–Mowed lawn, pruned some. Beat.

–Replace hearing aid batteries around 6 PM.

–Rained last night, dreary today.

–Played with Scubapro D300. Working yesterday, free-flowing today.

–Finished making strawberry jam with (undetectable) serrano peppers.

–Everything ordered, arrived. a) Watch waterproof tester. b) Scubapro D300 tool. c) Rolex 1675. Cleaned up fantastic, after a scare with the stem. d) Hair dryer.

–Started some strawberry jam.

–Went to REI in Marina to pick up bike wheel truing stand. Pointer that came with it was useless (for disc rotors anyway), but had a brainstorm and put pointer from previous stand on it. Bingo!

–Scubapro D300 regulator came in. Really nice breather. Can’t wait to get the tool (from Thailand) so I can rebuild it.

–Seascape again. 201 pounds, 8 laps, .3 miles on inclined treadmill.

–Went shopping at Farm Fresh Produce and Safeway. Got some great corn at FFP, some awful “blackened” burger patties at Safeway.

–Went to Seascape Sports Club for first day of one-week trial. 2/5 swimming lanes open when I arrived, 4/5 when I left. Swam 6 laps or so, then 10 minutes on the inclined (15 degree) treadmill. Decent facility. I’m wiped out. Hopefully I will improve.

–Roasted some decaf beans.

–Ordered atorvastatin and lisinopril refills from CVS/Caremark.

–eBay seller of bird feeder I ordered a while back asked for feedback. I noticed (and told her) that tracking shows it isn’t even in transit yet. Crap.

–Went to Seascape Sports Club. Got a tour, despite Nordic Naturals tennis tournament. Seems reasonable, so will start a one-week trial tomorrow.

–Climbed up and down Breve a few times. Tough. Useful?

–Made cinnamon rolls.

–Tried to talk to Grace about moving. Nope.

–Replaced hearing aid batteries around 2 PM–roughly 11 days of use.

–Took Boris T. Beemer to Felton to shop at Wild Roots. Nice produce, crowded aisles. Got some stuff to barbecue.

–Scubapro D400 came in. Seems hard-breathing (and noisy) to me. Broke the pin spanner trying to open it. Real tool coming; couldn’t wait.

–Made baguettes! Not quite as crusty as the first batch, but technique is improving.

–Thunderbird (or someone) still deleting trash. Oldest email in trash today is from 7/29. This is absurd. Checked all settings on Thunderbird and cPanel—should save trash forever. P.S. Just installed Apple Mail. Looks okay; we’ll see if it deletes trash quickly.

–Konosuke western HD2 came in. Blade had been thinned or something, beyond redemption. Tossed.

–Took a walk on the beach; beautiful day.

–Swapped nice-running movement into Steinhart Ocean One Maxi LE. Still can’t wear it because of faux-old lume.

–Got bagels at The Bagelry.

–Returned non-working gold Rolex.

–Shigefusa 210 kitaeji gyuto came. Beauty!

–Rolex Day-Date came in. Nice watch, but (a) gold just doesn’t seem to work for me, (b) day and date can be changed with the stem, but don’t change when time is manually advanced past 12. Will return.

–Did a little yard work. Learned that strawberries under lemon tree are mock strawberries (no taste), not wild strawberries. Bummer.

–Picked up scuba tanks at Aqua Safari.

–Took a shower.

–Shopping at Farm Fresh Produce and Nob Hill.

–Barbecued turkey burgers and corn, plus heirloom tomatoes (yum).

–Sold the Kato 240 for $1,000. Good riddance!

–Took a walk to the beach.

–Played with regulators. Ended up tossing the two Scubapros: they wouldn’t hold IP, and dropped 15 PSI when breathing. The Conshelf holds IP and drops < 5 PSI.

–Played with regulators. Getting tiresome.

–Bought 1991 Rolex Day-Date, unpolished.

–Went shopping at Nob Hill: milk, cream, cream cheese, corn, hamburger. Got dessert at Top Donuts.

–Grace’s watch came in (eBay via Amazon Prime). Looks okay, a little heavy.

–Replaced (initial) hearing aid batteries around 6 PM. They lasted 10 days.

–Books and Brews at LSB. Okay, but cool/foggy weather.

–Made a pizza for dinner.

–Got a buzz cut at Supercuts on 41st.

–Roasted caf and decaf beans.

–Called Soquel Creek Water. They advised to change auto-pay date from 1st to 5th. Did that.

–Watch for Grace came in–way too small (25mm). Ordered a 36/37mm watch; hope it isn’t clownishly large.

–Mowed. Tough.

–Played with hearing aids a lot to try and hear NPR on the radio. Some success.

–Grace still in bad shape.

–Rolex Daytona came in–killer!