–Took Grace shopping at Bel Air. Spent > $200 for not a ton of groceries.

–Painted the Leica “soft touch” shutter button with Krylon black lacquer. Came out fine, but not as glossy as I had hoped.

–Another rainy day.

–While trying (and failing) to use a diamond-loaded strop to hone a Shamwari, I put a couple of large scratches on the blade rubbing it with a cloth that had picked up some diamonds. Tried half-heartedly to save the blade, but ruined it. This was the Shamwari that came with issues, was “repaired” by Bull, and re-anodized by Ted Rooney. Good riddance.

–Frozen dinners tonight.

–Went to the dentist for “cleaning.” One month after 2 crowns and a cavity, 2 more cavities (one of which may need a crown) and filling replacement. Grrr…

–Put gas in the Honda.

–Took Grace shopping at Smart & Final.

–Red Baron for dinner.

–Rain and wind all day. Back gate blew open, breaking the tree branch with the bungee cord. I put three bungee cords around the tree trunk; it’s holding.

–Was reminded again that the M9 won’t focus with adapted lenses that don’t couple with the rangefinder–Biotar and Zeiss 85mm, for example. They would focus on the M11 using live view, but not in the viewfinder. Decided (for now, as usual) to go with the CL, which offers magnified viewfinder focus for any lens, native or adapted. Hoping the Paul Smith CL is as mint as was claimed in the eBay ad.

–Took a shower and shave. N of 1, but the Gillette Spoiler blade that came with a razor was pretty darn nice.

–Picked up leather strop at UPS. Quick test did nothing. Also got the third GE toaster oven. This one is in extremely nice shape AND IT WORKS! With a bell even when toast is done.

–Cleaned up paperwork, scuba stuff. Did some quick testing of small Leicas. The 007 D-Lux 7 seems fine compared with another D-Lux 7 and a C-Lux.

–Picked up the chromed Tekna regulators from Sherm’s. Nice work. Spent a LONG time this evening putting them together–lots of free-flow issues. Had to use parts from the eBay plastic Tekna that came in today–body was cracked, but innards were okay. Lost a circlip.

–Second set of Jubilee links for the Datejust came from Wholesale Outlet on eBay. Like the first, they didn’t fit. Might have to give up.

–Took the Beemer to Hooverville Orchards to get jam and pastries.

–Played with Shamwaris. Turns out you can get just about any Sham (washers or bearings) to have great action if you tighten the pivot properly.

–Got the Leica M9 out (giving up on the M11 for now: seems to be the worst of both worlds: no magic M9 sensor, no DSLR advantages (anti-shake, auto-focus)). Took another “in my room” photo and started working it in Capture One. Disturbingly choppy, especially for a not-that-large file. Dropped Capture One (again), brought back RAW Power and Affinity.

–Got the seller to accept return of the Leica M10-R. Boxed it and mailed it out.

–Left hearing aid battery died around 8 PM (5+ days).

–Leica M10-R came in. Scuffs on base plate, occasional hairline elsewhere. The Leica Sync app said 26 shutter actuations; who knows? Wrote to seller, asked for refund. They’ll refuse. Could open a case, could just buy another base plate ($300), try to transfer the label from this one, and sell the camera, along with 17 others. I have problems. The focus magnification in live view is okay, but I vastly prefer doing it through the viewfinder–not possible on a Leica rangefinder. Don’t know whether to go back to the SL2, or sell that and go back to the Sony, or just give up on high-megapixel cameras and go with CL and D-Lux 7.

–Tried to reconcile finances. Seems that a CD at CIT Bank I thought would mature in 5/24 (12 months from purchase) is actually a 6-month CD, which must have matured in November 2023. I got no notice, though, so I don’t really know what’s going on. Will call them tomorrow.

–Crap.

–Went to Dr. Taylor, ophthalmologist. Big scare the last time much reduced today. Both retinas seem more or less normal. Will need to keep taking Latanoprost forever, though, to keep the pressure down. Same with erythromycin ointment for blepharitis, though only occasional use needed, not nightly. Got some Cequa (cyclosporine) samples and (hopefully) a prescription. We’ll see. (heh heh)

–Verizon restricted Grace’s phone for some reason, likely related to my debit card expiration. Only three levels of chat needed to restore.

–Cleaned the sink at the espresso station. It gleams now.

–Slow day. Looked at a lot of toaster ovens on eBay.

–Dropped off the old Macbook trade-in at FedEx.

–Right hearing battery died around 5 PM (6 days). Replaced batteries around 6 PM.

–Leitz 35mm/f2 lens came in. A tiny bit stiff in focusing, so I started to take it apart, then realized all videos I had seen (3-4) dealt only with the optics and shutter blades, not the helicoid. So, I put it back together. Takes a fine picture, but I’m not big on focus tabs, as you know.

–Sun came out today.

–Janesville arbor press came in. Heavy, smooth; it did take some setting up. Pressed down the detent ball on my newest (really stiff) Shamwari, and it worked. It took like 4-5 stages with decreasing feeler gauges, and lots of pressure, but it did work. As I think about it, using a hammer and punch might be better: the ball might rather be shocked down than eased.

–Yet another crappy drizzly day.

–Lunch at Burger King, shopping at KP and Target, Red Baron for dinner.

–Removed my presence from the old Mac and got it boxed for return.

–Played with the new Mac. Pretty impressive. Capture One works pretty well on it, so I bought it ($300–yikes!). Much more customizable than any other editor I’ve used.

–Pan pizza for dinner. Not bad, but not my best.

–Picked up the new Mac M3 at UPS. System transfer took 30 minutes, and the new machine is a 100% clone of the old machine. Downloaded and played with ON1 photo editor, which was horribly slow on old machine. Works great on new one. Bought it.

–Yet another dreary day, with .01″ of rain.

–Bought another Reg Barber yellow tamper. Can’t believe I tossed the one I had. Oh well…

–Rain off and on all day.

–Took apart Leica 50mm f2 lens to ake it a little smoother-focusing. Can’t get it back together of course, and haven’t yet found a video for this lens. Oh well…

–Cleaned up Christmas stuff a little.

–Got the Honda washed (finally) at Folsom Car Wash. Good job. Might be the first time it’s been washed in Sacramento.

–Tried out the “new” toaster oven with a bagel. Worked okay, burnt a little on the inside part.

–Took Grace shopping at the new Grocery Outlet in the commercial center within Sunrise and Coloma. Nice new store, beautifully stocked, but they didn’t have much to tempt us. Probably won’t go back.

–Lunch at Jasper’s. Youngish Hispanic-looking couple running it, no sign of former staff.

–Haircut at Great Clips. Brittany again (after a couple with others, not nearly as good). Will have to mark the next one on the calendar, as she only works Mon-Tue-Wed.

–Picked up GE toaster oven. Kind of cheaply made (to my surprise), but it might work for bagels.

–Went to UPS and picked Swarovski crystals I don’t remember ordering and two shaving brushes: Paladin and Rudy Vey. Neither grabbed me, so into the closet they go.

–Took a shower and shave.

–Took Grace shopping at Bel Air.

–Covered the bird of paradise and Kenny’s succulents with perlite in an attempt to keep the squirrels from digging up the soil.

–Helped Frank the gutter guy unclog Sherry’s downspout. Tough work, but it’s clean now.

–Red Baron pepperoni pizza for dinner.

–Went to UPS to pick up Zeiss Biotar 58 f2 lens. Seems to be pretty sharp–much better than the “new” Helios 44-2, which I’ll trash. I was reminded that I cannot use this lens on the M9, as it won’t couple with the rangefinder. It will work with an M that has live view, which I’m considering.

–Scary stuff: Was searching yesterday for M10 Leicas at the Leica Miami Store, as recommended at reddit. I somehow got redirected to a site called leicaous.com (Leica Online US), where all Leicas were available cheap. I thought I bought one with the Heritage credit card, but nothing came through. Turns out leicaous is a copycat site that somehow intercepted my search and tried to sell me stuff. Turns out NOBODY has Leica 10-Rs for sale in black paint or even black charcoal. The cheapest silver one (new) is around $6,200 from Hong Kong, and the cheapest used black paint ones are $9,000 (leicaous had them for $6,100). Scary stuff–just hoping they didn’t steal my CC number to sell it.

–Took Grace shopping at Koreana Plaza.

–Played with knives, with some success.

–Took the Beemer to pick up coffee at Black Sails. Sweet car. Trying to deodorize it now with activated charcoal.

–Bought a Leica M10-R from the Miami Leica store (based on a recommendation on reddit). Free shipping, no tax–eBay is fast becoming a last, not a first, resort.

–One more dreary day.

–Made another sheet pan pizza, with Jack cheese this time. Not great.

–Big recycling toter got swapped in today.

–Revived Affinity Photo. Removed most fluff from most menus. Develop is the only persona I need now, with a keyset command for Export. It is blazingly fast (not necessarily because of my customization), MUCH faster than Lightroom, which was turning on my computer fan and being extremely sluggish with big Leica SL2 photos. Don’t know why it took so long for me to do this.

–Started cleaning up Christmas stuff.

–Took a look at Sherry’s downspout that’s leaking on our fence. Got the snake to where it goes underground (I think), but no further. She’ll have her gutter guy come out to take a look at it.

–Slow day. Made a sheet pan pizza from a recipe in the Cooks Illustrated book. Not bad, not great.

–Another dismal, dank, cold day, with not enough rain to make it worthwhile.

–Played with knives, had amazing success getting many Shams to open easily, close hydraulically. Opening seemed mostly a function of lockbar pressure (I don’t have my spiffy new arbor press yet to play with detent ball height); while closing was related to pivot tightness.

–Played with knives, mostly. Discovered the little arbor press I got (220 pounds) was not enough for detent balls. Ordered a 1 ton press (with ram stop) from Amazon. That will work.

–Took Grace to Dr. Firoz–no news. Took us both to the dentist. Grace had a cleaning, I had a filling and crown (started). Pretty uncomfortable.

–Proxxon arbor press came in. Nicely made (especially for the price). Tried it on a hard-to-open Shamwari detent ball, and it worked! I could feel the ball moving in (which was scary, actually). Highlights the need for a very smooth rack and pinion mechanism, so you can feel the knife, not the machine.

–Bad news in the neighborhood: homeless guys sitting in front of Bel Air and Rite-Aid, and further mailbox tampering in Miners Village. Crap.

–Picked up Swarovski crystals at UPS: too small I think.

–Tried to sort out all my cameras. Did okay. Just missing the box for the D-Lux 7. Can’t imagine it came without one (it came with a manual), but I sure don’t see it.

–Went to Target with Grace for sundries. I had breakfast (and bought a dozen bagels) at the nearby Bagel Cafe (formerly New York Bagels, I’m pretty sure). Still run by Asians, likely the future source of bagels.

–Played with cameras again. Resurrected the Leica C-Lux, which I had forgotten I had. Heckuva camera: 20 megapixels and huge zoom range. Seems to take a decent picture. I guess I had gone with the D-Lux 7 because of its low-light lens (f1.7)–not something one really needs much on a point-and-shoot zoom camera. Also: After looking at (and getting dangerously close to buying) a Canon 1 DS or DX, I looked anew at the 5D Mark II I have. Turns out it has 20 megapixels, not the 6 or so I had thought.  Also read up on the 50mm 1.4 lens on that camera: seems to be a dog. Put an offer at eBay on a Tamron 45mm that got high marks at reddit for its auto focus and shapness. Hoping that will turn the 5D into a really nice vintage digital camera.

–Pizza for dinner: Grace’s instant pot meal didn’t firm up.

–Went to Bel Air for bagels. Cinnamon, blueberry, sourdough cheese garlic, everything, cheese—not a plain bagel in sight.

–Took a shower and shave.

–Another dank day.

–Played with cameras some more. Finally discovered that the red cast on Leica D-Lux 7 pics came from the “cloudy” white balance setting. I set it on AWB-C (cool) and it seems good. So D-Lux 7 is back in, X Vario is out.

–Went to the Folsom farmers market for tangerines. Not many vendors there–cold and wet.

–Motor City pizza for dinner.

–Took Grace shopping at Smart & Final.

–Kirill Yuzh wired $7,000 to CIT Bank for the Rolex yellow gold 1503, which I don’t even remember.

–Went to Harbor Freight to get a butane torch, then to Home Depot to get some butane.

–Cut up a whole bunch of boxes.

–Took Grace to Dr. Taylor, ophthalmologist in Folsom. Apparently her eyes aren’t as bad as she thought. Got a referral to a retinal doc, and MAY need cataraact surgery.

–Red Baron pizza for dinner.

–Went to Dr. Cecille Taylor, ophthalmologist, in Folsom. Turns out I have really bad glaucoma in my right eye. And cataracts of course. And blepharitis (inflammation of eyelids; cause of dry eyes, so Restasis is useless). She prescribed some drops for glaucoma and will follow up in a month. Also prescribed erythromycin ointment for blepharitis. Crap.

–A quiet Christmas. Gifts were exchanged, ham/mashed potatoes/broccoli were eaten.

–Put up the little Christmas tree and some minimal decorations.

–Still have to wrap Grace’s (few) presents. Just not in the mood this year.

–Bought yet another Cremina. This one was not cheap ($2,000), but seems genuinely never used.

–Played a lot with cameras. Brought the X Vario out again and retired the D-Lux 7 after taking some pics of birds and squirrels through the patio door. Though the X Vario is bigger and heavier and (maybe) a little slower, its image quality is way better.

–Discovered (maybe) one reason Helios and Zeiss uncoded lenses look crappy on the SL2. It’s complicated, but has to do with Auto ISO reverting to weird default values depending on the shooting mode. In a nutshell, low ISO (100, say) –> slow shutter –> motion blur.

–Downloaded RAW Therapee and played with it a bit. Could be interesting.

–Still deciding which Watchco to keep. Non-date is running well, but hands aren’t perfectly aligned. Date is running even better, but I can’t seem to change the date by popping the crown in and out, as I thought I used to. Grrr…

–Took some pics with the Helios lens. Even though the SL2 showed perfect focus, the abutilon blooms came out fuzzy. Same thing happened with the CL. Don’t know the cause. I was at some distance, but still: monster sensor, huge magnified image in the viewfinder. Will try some more on the M9 when the adapter comes, but I don’t know. The lens is a 44-2, which is supposed to be the best of that model, and the glass is pristine. I can see the rangefinder not being calibrated to it, but with the SL2 it’s real-time super-magnified focus. It should be magnificent. [Edit] Compared the Helios with the Summicron 50 on the SL2. Night and day. Helios is crap; will toss.]

–Played with regulators. Found some Tekna parts (no tiny springs, though). I have five that work nicely.

–Picked up stain remover (for Grace) and fourth Paladin Halloween brush (for me) at UPS.

–Initiated transfer of $212,734.03 from CIT Bank savings to Ally Bank savings.

–Went with Grace to the dentist for prophylaxis; dentist had no record of appointments. Okay…

–Went to Ivanov’s Watch Repair to pick up Watchco Omega I dropped off a couple days ago, thinking it was toast. Turns out they did a couple simple things (oil pivot, for example) for $60 and now it runs really strong. Saved myself a lot of time and grief not sending it back to OmegaAddict Tim McKrain.

–Tekna brass regulators came in. Like my recent Olympia espresso machines, they are near NOS, and include a box and lots of papers. On the tank, they both work perfectly. Took one apart, and the needle valve seat looked new. I’m certainly on a run with new old stuff. Will likely take them to Sherm’s for chrome plating, as there is noticeable pitting in the original chrome.

–Picked up the powder-coated Maximatic cover at Perfect-It.

–Eye doctor sick; appointment re-scheduled for 12/26.

–Went to Ivanov’s Watch Repair to drop off Watchco Seamaster. Stopped at Corti Brothers on the way back for some Holiday Ravioli–gift for Grace.

–Took a shower and shave.

–Played with cameras. Long story short: going with Leica CL for daily photography with different lenses; M9 for CMOS photography and vintage nostalgia; probably D-Lux 7 for quick high-zoom pics. As good as the X Vario feels (and made in Germany), I just think he D-Lux 7 outguns it.

–Put two abutilon cuttings in a pot in the garage with a grow light. One seems to be triving; the other dying. Strange…

–Went to the Folsom farmers market for Satsumas and broccoli.

–Sprayed the Erie Spider skillet with Easy-Off and left it in a garbage bag outside.

–Played with the two OysterQuartz watches for a while. Bracelets are kind of a mess. I have one small collar that seems to go nowhere. Really can’t decide if it’s worth sending one or both to Rolex. It would be expensive, and they might lack replacement parts like dials, bracelet links, etc. Found a really nice-looking one on eBay from Japan (of course), only to note it’s missing two lume dots. I suppose I could build a nice franken (undetectable), but then I’d be > $15k into OysterQuartz.

–Played with the two new cameras: X Vario and M9. M9 seems nice, could possibly replace the SL2. The eBay listing said < 1,700 shutter activations; I checked and found < 1,000. Not so clear on the X Vario. more testing needed.

–Second Rolex OysterQuartz came in. Chamfers not nearly as impressive as in seller’s photos. Scratches on dial. Then it stopped running. Case has less pitting than the first one. Will probably send both to Rolex and see what they recommend.

–Leica M9 came in. Much heavier than, and much better than, the M-E (which must have a lot of plastic in it). Almost seems as though I can focus it.

–Leica X Vario came in. Very nice camera, exudes quality build. I immediately took to it (somewhat to my surprise), and expect to enjoy the heck out of it.

–Packed and mailed (via UPS) all outgoing Christmas presents. Whew!

–Red Baron pizza for dinner.

–Took Grace to Folsom Premium Outlets, Brainy Zoo Toys in particular, where, miraculously, she finished our Christmas shopping.

–Went to the post office to mail some of Grace’s presents (had to go there because of Rob in Canada).

–Not one, but TWO battery chargers came in today (and not the OysterQuartz I was hoping for, which, I learned later, just got authenticated today).

–Grace went into full panic mode again. She ordered some local chocolate and had a lot of trouble communicating with the maker. At one point, after getting a voicemail, she dragged me out of the house yelling “She said she left it on the air conditioner at the kitchen!” Grace took this to mean the clubhouse kitchen here, which is totally preposterous. Eventually I drove us to a little industrial campus on Pyrites Way, where we found a box of chocolates sitting on a window air conditioner outside one of the businesses. Scary stuff, as when, while on the phone with a Stanford Benefits rep, she screamed “WHERE’S MY PHONE??!!” Also scary is how many decades it has taken me to actually note and categorize this behavior: she’s always had issues on the phone. Don’t know what it means, if it’s at all related to alcoholism, just don’t know.

–Rolex GMT came in. Very nice.

–Correct portafilter gasket came in from Orphan Espresso. Finally got to try out the Maximatic: also very nice. Huge amount of crema. Steaming was okay; I need (a) more practice and/or (b) a steam wand where I can replace tips.

–Went to Bel Air for bagels (got three plain; still no sesame), cream cheese and bear claws.

–Red Baron pizza for dinner.

–Played with knives. Discovered (again) that when detent ball is too low, (a) knife can be flipped open and (b) there can be serious lock rock.

–Noticed a squirrel on the back patio (maybe a new one) eating berries from the Chinese Pistache tree.

–Polished the meteorite a bit with 80 grit paper. Might be pretty close to flat.

–Sent off Rolex 5512 and Day-Date to Kirill Yuzh for consignment.

–Blaze pizza for dinner.

–Had lunch at McDonald’s–pretty good.

–Played with cameras.

–OysterQuartz crystal came in. Replaced chipped one with much trouble. Later, bought another OysterQuartz: the Mark I model, without “Officially Certified…” on the dial. That model MIGHT have wider chamfers, though it’s hard to believe Rolex would change how they made the cases. Turns out the OysterQuartz is really low production: 25,000 in 25 years.

–Some rain came. All downspouts seem okay.

–Red Baron pizza for dinner. Good as always.

–Picked up powder-coated Cremina case at Perfect It. Cost $175. They did have to drill a small hole in one of the inside brackets, but finish is impeccable. Dropped off the Maximatic cover for them to do in black.

–Took lots of pictures, trying to figure out why some cameras seem to have given up the ghost. Part of it, I fear, is that I’m getting old and forgetful, and don’t always set things up optimally for the prevailing conditions (less light now than in April, for example). Ugh…

–Removed Lightroom CC and installed LR Classic (desktop). Turns out it STILL requires CC to be installed. So I ran one more showdown between LR and Affinity/ACDSee/RAW Power on a tough photo (tiny white lights in the dark). Scary how easily LR blows the others away with the simplest adjustments of exposure and highlights. Don’t like it, but nothing else comes close.

–Took the Beemer to Hooverville to get some jams and pastries. Nice ride.

–Bought Omeprazole on Amazon. WAY WAY WAY cheaper than anything on eBay.

–Had mild success lately getting rid of sour taste in lighter-roaster coffee (Black Sails The Moans, Queen Anne’s Revenge) by using hotter water and finer grind. It could be that in the old days a kettle without PID would get to 212; the PID in the Stagg kettle slows it down so much at high temp (so as not to overshoot) I’m usually at 208 when I start brewing.

–Took a shower and shave. Used a Wolfman WR2. Fabulous shave and further evidence of cognitive decline. I swore off all Wolfman razors thinking even their small gap ones were too harsh. Turns out, as legions of smart shavers know, harsh can be efficient, so you don’t have to keep going over and over the chin (say), causing bleeders.

–New neighbors (renters) moved in.

–Went to Bel Air for bagels (slim pickin’s), milk and lunch fruit (after forgetting about today’s farmers market). Grrr…

–Polished up the Maximatic and turned it on briefly. Machine is in fantastic shape. The only 54mm bottomless portafilter I could find has a big lip at the bottom (as noted at Home Barista), so likely won’t take baskets any bigger than a standard portafilter. So, 49mm it is.

–Red Baron Classic Crust pizza for dinner.

–Took Grace shopping at Target.

–Tapped in detent balls on a couple of Shamwaris. May have helped a little.

–Went to Lowe’s and Home Depot looking for a lighted shaving mirror. Nope.

–For the 19th time, ran a competition between Lightroom, Affinity and ACDSee. On these night lights photos (at least) Lightroom reigns supreme.

–Picked up popcorn from Mark Solich at UPS (the long-awaited mystery package).

–Picked up Zeiss 85 lens at UPS. This one (unlike the first one) is tight as a drum.

–Walked around the neighborhood and took pics with the SL2. Processed them with ACDSee. It took forever and the results were less than pleasing. Downloaded Lightroom (for about the twelfth time) and re-processed the photos. Night and day: LR was quick, easy, and higher quality. I don’t know how they do it with that few controls, but it sure works. It just took some really challenging photos (bright colored lights in the dark) to show off the differences.

–Called Blue Shield and found out that Restasis is covered; the generic cyclosporin requires prior auth. Told Firoz this. He replied that Restasis is “not covered,” and the ophthalmologist will have more insight on what to use. Jerk.

–Replaced hearing batteries around 10 AM (5.5 days).

–Played with cameras. Spent hours looking into Leica ME issues. Thought it was a failed sensor, but eventually noted it was replaced in 2015 with a sensor that (allegedly) would not go bad. Much later, I checked out rangefinder calibration at infinity. Seems to be quite off, if the light I was focusing on was really at infinity. Will try to calibrate tomorrow, when it’s warmer outside. I always want something “new” of course, but the M9s on eBay are pretty sketchy.

–Had lunch at McDonald’s Gold River.

–Took the Cremina cover + Traffic Red powder to Perfect It. They sid (a) it will be $200 because it’s so hard to remove the original powder coat, and (b) they might not be able to do it because are prohibited (by me) from drilling a hole in it so as to hold/electrify it while powder is being applied. Will call tomorrow with diagnosis.

–Stopped at UPS. Meteorite came in. Hefty, rusty. Started flattening the two cut sides. Looks doable. May soak in Evap-O-Rust and coat with wax or something. Oz Roosevelt Silver Surfer came in. Really nice (deep maching as promised). Second Lumitime clock came in. Works fine, but neon bulbs seem dimmer, even when not behind two windows. Not sure what I’ll do with it.

–Took a shower and shave.

–Walked to Bel Air for bagels, cream cheese, cheese, pizza doughball.

–Pizza for dinner.

–Cleaned the fountain; spruced up my plants. Propagating the abutilon turned out to be a dismal failure.

–Went to Gold River McDonald’s for lunch. They reinstalled the drink machine, for reasons unknown. Had a McCrispy Deluxe chicken snadwich. Okay, not great. Good fries though.

–Zeiss 85mm f2.8 lens came in. Unusable at first, then I read up on it and changed the camera from Auto to Manual and used the thumb button to zoom; very nice then.

–Went to Bel Air for milk, cream, chip-smoking foil pan.

–Barbecued a turkey breast with hickory chips. Came out good, though only mildly smokey.

–Had a tele-visit with Dr. Firoz. Went fine. He prescribed Restasis for my eyes and stretching exercises for my back.

–Hearing aid batteries died and were replaced around 6 PM (5+ days).

–Oz Rosie and pen came in. Rosie blade was a mess. I took the nicks out of it with the belt grinder, then swapped blades with another Rosie because the scales on this one are so nice. The pen also has scratches. I’ll likely send it to Ted Rooney. None of this was disclosed by the seller.

–Dr. Firoz’ office called. He’s a little sick and wants to do tomorrow’s appointment by telemedicine. Okay.

–Met Tom and Sandy Elken for brunch at Mimosa House in Folsom. Good time.

–Lumitime clock came in. Cool enough, but not working well. Bought a nicer-looking one on eBay.

–Ray and Sherry’s helper Frank came over to clean out gutters. He had trouble (as did I) getting water to drain through a downspout, so I lent him my new snake. Apparently it worked. $50.

–Took a shower and shave. Used the new Mergress razor on its mildest setting. Really great shave, which surprised me.

–Picked up Cymbalta (duloxetine) at UPS. Took one, not much happened until after an espresso: big diarrhea.

–Made some no-knead bread. Beautiful loaf, minimal taste, maybe under-baked.

–Chad Nell knife came in. Typical mirror: fog and scuffs. Tried to polish, didn’t do much.

–Replaced hearing aid batteries around 2 PM (5+ days).

–Took Grace shopping at Bel Air.

–Had another Red Baron Classic Crust pizza for dinner; good stuff.

–Went to Jersey Mike’s for lunch, then Koreana Plaza for Fruit and cheese.

–Got an online prescription for Cymbalta. Sounds like magical stuff: good for depression/anxiety AND lower back pain.

–Re-positioned the hummingbird feeder.

–Noticed yet another gutter/downspout (short one) on the back patio. Cleaned it out, but noticed the drain (which goes underground) was backing up. Went to Home Depot and got a 25′ snake, used it, drain clear!

–Walked to Bel Air for bagels.

–Cleaned out the gutter over the front porch. Lots of mud, though maybe not as thibk as the side gutter I cleaned a couple weeks ago.

–Replaced hearing batteries around 1:30 PM (5.5 days).

–Got a Blaze meat-eater pizza. (1) They burned it. (2) It wasn’t as good as the mozarella/basil one we had a week ago.

–Watched Chaplin’s “Modern Times.” Not bad, but Paulette Goddard stole the show. What a presence!

–Took Grace shopping at Bel Air.

–Picked up Gareth Bull Colibri at UPS. Super nice knife. I of course had to “perfect” it. After many rounds of disassembly/assembly, I noticed a screw was going into the pivot collar crooked (it didn’t come that way, but that does explain some big issues I had geetting it together earlier. Finally got it together, seems less good than before. I’ll reverse the pivot to how it came, Loctite it and hope for the best.

–Took Grace to the PO for a postage-due package, then to Koreana Plaza for meat.

–Tried to re-watch City of Ember. My eyes are horribly dry. Hoping it’s fixable.

–Went to UPS to pick up the Oz Roosevelt. Fine knife, but it turns out you can’t polish stonewash.

–Went to Smart & Final for fruit, milk, cream, etc.

–Went to UPS to get desk pad (nice) and Sony hearing aids.

–Spent a while trying to get the Sony hearing aids working with iPhone and/or Galaxy. They sort of worked, but had poor volume, were minimally adjustable even with the app, and didn’t handle the phone well at all. Another several hundred bucks down the tubes.

–Took a short bike ride. InnerLight seems perfect.

–Discovered the jump in the PG&E bill was due mostly to the weather. I had thought we used gas for the water heater only, but it turns out the furnace is gas too. I knew that, just forgot.

–Picked up 49.5mm tamper base at UPS. Works great. Stopped at Bel Air for bagels and such.

–Bedroom was 71 degrees. Checked vents; all open. Closed bathroom vent (hard to believe it was open), thinking it can’t get much colder in there. I could be proven wrong.

–Went to Jersey Mike’s for lunch, then to Gren Acres in Folsom for Perlite, peat moss and rooting hormone so I can try to propagate the abutilon.

–We got a 10-minute rain today. Noticed that the downspout on Sherry’s side of the house was overflowing. Talked to Sherry, and she will have the guy who cleaned her gutters clean ours. I could do it (again), but I’m getting old.

–Took Grace to the Sunrise farmers market and to Macy’s, where she bought me sweatpants with lots of pockets.

–Got a haircut at Great Clips: $20 + $5 (lowest “suggested” tip).

–Took a 6.8 mile ride around the ‘hood. Wiped out. Time to get back in the saddle.

–Got a PG&E bill for $124—3 to 4 times normal. Going to look into replacing the gas water heater with electric.

–Took the InnerLight back to Bob’s Cycles for them to add brakes. They had a set of Shimano hydraulics for $109 each. They’ll also install the seatpost and fix the fork play I noticed (they got a little defensive about it).

–Got a Tekna regulator from eBay. Took it apart, de-rusted it (Evap-O-Rust and sanding pads), put it back together. Looks like it might work.

–Took a shower and shave.

–Picked up the InnerLight from Bob’s Cycles–all seemed good. Put the handlebars on then tried for the brakes. Nope. Those things are such a kluge, with spacers and all, then my back gave out. I’ll take it back to Bob’s tomorrow and have them put a set of hydraulic brakes on it.