Over...Over Due, Over Worked, Over It, Over All

Yeah, I'll get around to writing something worth reading, soon.  I promise.  Right now, though, the title 'bout says it all.  Mom is no longer allowed to drive, which means that I am chauffeur for her and for A.  A's schedule is variable week to week and we never know the next week's schedule until the Thursday night prior.  We used to rely on Mom to fill in as needed if I had a tuning appointment or just someplace I needed or wanted to be.  No more.  How do I work full time and do this? 

Add to it that Mom's memory has failed considerably.  Makes me unusually cranky to have to remember stuff for her, check that she eats correctly, takes her medicines, remind her many times each day of appointments, errands, bills to pay, repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat.

I know she can't help it.

I tell myself that over and over and over.  It helps for a couple seconds!

Past Time

After the last post where the time was combined with old piano parts, I got thinking about what I have created over the years from other parts of pianos.  One side table is missing from the photo line-up below.  I still have it, but it is stored due to lack of space.

A simple shelf in my kitchen was once a piano lid

A pretty fretwork front panel becomes a 'stained glass' wall panel when old silk neckties are used to fill the open design

I needed a coat rack in a narrow space at the top of my staircase.  This half front panel and some added hooks worked.

A little storage truck.  It was once on legs but wouldn't fit under the window in its new home (still have the legs).

A bookcase (currently rather messy) from an old reed organ case.

An entertainment center and display cabinet from two piano cases circa mid 1870s

A large oak storage truck at the foot of the bed.  I use it for extra linens.

It's Time...

to reveal a little project undertaken last month.  I received my PTG Journal and there was a photograph of a birdhouse made from piano parts.  Well, I could do that, I thought.  But I don't want a bird house.  I don't even want a fake bird house.  Maybe I'll just make a storage box...or something.

Then Ray said, "You could put a clock in it."

Why hadn't I thought of that?

So........

Concert Roller Organ

I know there is a way to post video on here, but I just can't wait long enough for the upload.  There has to be a better way.

So here are some photos instead.

I love the decal produced by Decals Unlimited.  Just wish they also had the decorative ones originally located on the front and sides of the case.  Of course, all were originally stencils, not decals.

Looking pretty good.  It was rather beat up and the workings needed a complete restoration when I bought it.

I got 8 old rollers (cobs) with the organ.  Then I bought these 5 new cobs.

I don't remember if I ever posted the restoration photos on here.  I'll check.  I just might also try uploading that video in a separate post.

Puzzling?

A massive 2000 pieces, 3 people, and 2.5 weeks of on and off puzzling and..........

it's FINISHED!

Old Dolls

Britula Puppe dolls

Here are some old dolls that I have had stashed away for a few years.  The ones pictured above are only 3 - 4 inches tall.  I looked online for info about them based on the tags they are wearing:  Britula Puppe  Made by Baltic Refugees   Below is what I found, copied from a site called Worthopedia (you have to join to actually find the value of things...ah, no)

Baltic Sea Refugees
Between 1944 to 1948/49 over 15 Million Refugees - Expellees
were forcibly removed from the lands south of the Baltic Sea -of
Eastern German- Prussian Lands. Millions of people from Ukraine,
Poland ,Russia , Tchecheslowakia were brought into these German
Lands.
To this day the Governments -The Allied Control Council - which
administered these Lands under Military Occupation between 1945
to 1948 and 50 years after are silent and do not acknowledge
the 2 1/2 Million Germanic people that died during this resettlement.
They were mostly women and children .
This is almost never mentioned by the Official Governments involved
except by a very rare individual as " peaceful resettlement" .
Hitler had in 1932 by Military take-over ousted the Prussian Govern-
ment under Otto Braun . The Allied Control Council did the rest.
The lands are still occupied - not returned to the original population
Complicity of the Western Allies with the Communists 50 years ago
made recurring "Resettlements in the Balkans" possible in the 1990's.

I have some other dolls, too.  The pictures below show them.

Little Women dolls...one naked!  Porcelain heads, arms, and legs.

All stamped China with composite heads, arms and legs

His bench is stamped Made in China.  He seems to be made of leather.

This poor guy has no markings.

Someday (soon, I hope) I will be selling these.  None of them are in very good condition but I would think they are worth a few dollars.  Must find out.

All the Reasons...

that I haven't written here for too long...might consolidate into this:

I'm busy...and not just with work, and therefore...I'm tired.

Work has been good.  I decided that I would try to take a month off from tuning and work only in the shop.  Mostly that's working out okay.  I don't remember the summer from last year.  I was too busy working.  After this past winter, I'm determined to notice some of the summer.  A bit of free time?

Well, not really.  It has given me time to catch up with work around the house.  Painting doors and walls.  I have also done some prestaining of outside trim work.  I hired some work done on the exterior like replacing the rotting trim and a new roof.  Last winter was hard on everything!  Anyway, since I don't deal with heights very well, not to mention not owning a ladder that would reach even if I could force myself to climb it, I had the contractor deliver the wood a few days early and I stained it all with feet firmly on the ground.  The first bill for the work arrived yesterday.  There's a dent in the savings account.  I'm still waiting for the bill from the roofer (contracted separately) which will cause a gaping abyss in my account. 

Other than those things I'm still busy shuttling A to work.  Then there's keeping up with Mom's bills and chores.  Mom's short term memory is very...short.  Knowing that she can't help it should help me deal with it...but it still is extremely frustrating.  That won't get any easier.

And on top of all the family and house and working stuff, there's the historic society.  They assured me that if I would be vice president for a term (three years) that I would not have to take over as president.  Uh huh.  The best I will offer is to be an interim for a year.  They need to find someone else...maybe someone who is retired?

That's REtired...not just too tired.

I'll try to be here more often.

Words of a Picture

Some time back I wrote a post about a picture that I came across while looking through some stuff my Dad had stashed away.  I just checked to find that the post is dated from April of 2008.  Most of you will remember reading it...hah. Those of you who don't can refresh your memory about the post here.

Most of you will also remember that a couple years ago I went through the mess of settling both my cousin's and aunt's estates.  During that process 'R' and I traveled to South Carolina to sort through lots of their stuff and make arrangements for the clearing out, repair and sale of their home.  I sent a box, that contained a lot of photos, back home to myself.

In that box was this photo:

Remember?  If not, go back to that link I gave you.

Same photograph is in the photograph.
It gets better.
We have the statue that belonged to my grandparents.  The one that the original photograph was propped up against to be photographed.

So......today I finally did this:

The Dark Side

I was up for a change.  Don't know as I'll keep it but it sure makes photos look good.    I have no idea what this font color will look like on the dark gray...

Comments welcome.

Okay, just previewed it to make sure it's readable.  Won't keep the color but fun to play with.

Talkin' Turkey

You'd think they would make themselves scarce this time of year...

I've named him Dinner.

"Oh no, it's THAT time of year?"

Leftovers.....(how many can you count?)

May Be Worth Noting

Deb dressed up...

Well, not fancy or anything, but more than the norm of jeans and jeanish things.  Two and a half weeks ago I had to temporarily assume the role of president of our local historical society when the reigning pres was hospitalized.  I'm the vp.  Of course, much to my dismay, this was just two and a half weeks before the annual meeting and 'chowdah supper'.  The informative email that I received from the pres's wife was that nothing had been taken care of.  Oh _____.  So, while juggling a massive amount of key work (which seems never ending at this point still), tunings, SC estate stuff (though now minor), and of course canning(!), I endeavored to get it all together for the meeting...which I had to lead.  Which I can force myself to do, but I hate public speaking.  And to my surprise the recuperating pres. showed up and ate. Well...it's done with.

And...

I am so glad to back to jeans and a t-shirt today!

On The Beach

It seems to be periwinkle season!

The last two times that A and I have gone for a walk, we have headed for Front Beach.  Each time it has been low tide.  Lower today than the last time.  Each time we have collected an abundance of beach glass.  Eventually we will come up with something clever to do with it other than piling it in a couple Pyrex custard bowls.  Then I'll take a picture of our pretty glass.  In the meantime, you get a couple other pictures from our walk this afternoon.

Very foggy way out to sea.

Why I Haven't Been Writing Anything

This year Skip's opened on Mom's birthday

I've been busy with.........

1. work-as in tunings
2. Sandy Bay Historical stuff
3. work-as in keytops
4. getting the vegetable garden ready for planting
5. planting seeds to start indoors
6. watering those seeds and marveling that the cucumbers sprouted, the green peppers sprouted, the red peppers didn't
7. springtime raking
8. housework
9. cooking
10. birthday in April number one
11. birthday in April number two
12. birthday in April number three
13. finding and working with a SC attorney to settle my aunt's estate
14. working to take over as representative of my cousin's estate so that I can settle my aunt's estate
15. keeping up with social media even though, well, I'm not fond of it
16. more work
17. painting (as seen in the last post) and two more in my head but no time to start on them
18. switching the closet from winter to summer clothes
19. shopping to fill in the needs in summer clothes
20. reading, I'll update the sidebar soon
21. filling out applications for various estate settlement issues
22. time to visit with friends
23. walks with A
24. Skip's opened so...trips to Skip's
25. checking out some auctions with R
26. laundry...mustn't forget clean clothes
27. working at the Town Meeting
28. working the Senate primary election
29. oooh, NASCAR season is underway, so I'm watching the races
30. washing windows

Okay, that's enough for you to get the idea!

Up for Air

Ivory keys stained by mouse urine - yuck

Regluing all the loose ivories using special clamps

 Yeah, it has been busy around here.  Mostly work, work, work.  Which is a good thing.  R and I have been to Maine to service a player piano.  Then I went to Wakefield the following week to repair another player piano.  I've had a lot of ivory key repair work in the shop.  I love the finickiness of regluing, bleaching, and other key repairs but three of them at the same time takes up a lot of bench space!  I put some pictures here and you can see more on my FB page.  Just look for Debra Legg Piano Service on FB.

Same set of ivories - much prettier after bleaching!

Anyway, I'm finally down to one set of keys still working their way through the process, so I'm a bit more relaxed.  Today, R and I went to the Cape Ann Museum.  Every January they have free admission for Cape Ann residents.  We spent about 90 minutes taking in a whole bunch of neat stuff.  I wanted R to see the Ralph Coburn exhibit, so we started with that.  Then we worked our way down from the third floor checking out all the rest of the neat stuff there.

So yes, I'm still alive and have resurfaced!  And.....



the staircase is still clear!

Very Clever

Dickiebo sent this along...outstanding! Don't bother with volume, you don't need the narration anyway.

Just For Fun

Weekend Work

So...I wanted to take the weekend off.





So...4 sets of keys arrived on Friday.





Of course they did!






Saturday I worked on keys after A and I went for a morning walk in town.  We are trying to walk together at least once each week.  The other days she uses her treadmill and I...well...I don't.  I work and work and work.  I just can't get caught up with everything.

Today was Try To Catch Up Day.  Did the third of three loads of laundry this weekend, with R's help I put the AC unit in the window, I sorted and reorganized and cleaned the workshop, and yes, I worked on keys.  I've finished two of the four sets and I'm well on the way to completion of set three.  Set four has been started but will still take some time to finish.

Still to do today...stop to think.  Which reminds me...yesterday, on our walk, we stopped at a shop on Bearskin Neck.  It has a very limited inventory relating to the Babson Boulders.  I bought a T-shirt with a drawing of a boulder that says "Use Your Head".  Anyway, after I finish writing this I'll jump in the shower.  Cleaning the workshop gets a person rather grimy.  Then there will be dinner to prepare...a cold macaroni salad that R likes...and maybe a short walk.  A gets out of work at 8 tonight, then I'll come home and collapse.

In case you have been waiting to find out what the picture has to do with the post, you can stop wondering.
Nothing.

Just Because It's My Birthday!

This is the Rock's Village Bridge.  It's part of our main route to Skip's. I guess it's about time to fix that wooden road bed.  Yep, macadam over wood.  In recent months the sign has changed from "Only one school bus at time may pass" to "One way traffic" (with a traffic signal at each end of the bridge to alternate the flow.)

Within a reasonable distance, we have three alternate bridges we can use to get to Skip's.  The Groveland/Haverhill bridge is a very rusty span but is open to traffic while they build a new bridge next to it.  The Interstate 95 bridge is open in Newburyport, as is the Route 1 bridge there.  The Hines Bridge in Newburyport has been closed and under repair for several years.

I wonder how long Rock's Village will be closed?

When Free Really Means...

$178.99.

I decided about one year ago that when I needed to renew my driver's license I would break down and get real glasses.  The last time I saw an eye doctor, about 15 years ago, he said I could manage well with over-the-counter readers.  And I did.  Except for the last year or so my readers have become permanently attached to my awake face and I've bought new glasses just for reading.  This becomes extremely annoying for someone like me who likes to read and watch television at the same time.  When I read during ads I have to switch glasses.  Back and forth, back and forth.  How many times are there ad segments during a one hour show?

Well anyway, you get the idea.

I knew it was time for............

Bifocals.  Yep, finally.  So, my health insurance member's booklet says that if I go to one of 'their' places, my exam is free, my lenses are free, and if I pick from the correct frame group, the frames are free!  What's there to argue about with that!

I finally set up an appointment.  Mom and A went along because they wanted to help me pick the frames.  The exam was kinda fun and the doc was pretty nice.  She made some recommendations about lens types and commented that my two 'readers' were correct for magnification (no surprise).  She wrote the 'script' and sent me on to the frame folks.

That's where I got the bad news.  Free isn't really free.  You see, the wording in the member's booklet was correct BUT... the UV coating that ALL the lenses have is actually an extra, not covered charge.  The same with BETTER, HARDER scratch resistant coating.  Then, of course, they recommended the damage warranty (add $29.99) covering one year.  Oh, and that free frame selection?  Well, the insurance covers up to $80, so if I happened to like one of those half dozen they'd be free.  Otherwise..............

Amazingly, I chose frames that were only $79.99.  I didn't look any further than the grouping that seemed to range in price from $79.99 - $169.99.  I set a top limit of $99.99 and still liked the lesser priced ones the best.  The main thing was that they fit.  Very well.  And didn't look weird on me.  Here's a picture from the store's online site.  The site says these are THE frames.  Close enough, although these look brown and mine are black.

Image from LensCrafter web site

Oh yeah, they advertise glasses in about an hour.  For me?  Of course not...special order.  I've got to wait about 10 days.  They'll call.

************************************************

On to another subject.

We started some veggie seeds about a month ago.  I start them under a grow light and transplant the seedlings mid-May.  The seedlings pictured below were started in special veggie starter soil.  They didn't like it so I transplanted into good potting soil.  Most of them perked up a bit, but several aren't happy.  The green beans died a slow and pitiful death.

The first batch - a couple cukes, a couple pumpkins and a few tomatoes have survived

On the other hand (and just in case the first, unhappy batch withered and died), I planted more seeds (in potting soil) shown in the picture below.  These are under the grow light and from the time I took this picture yesterday to today they have grown leaps and bounds.  Really.  The bean plants (bottom right) are about 4 inches tall now and the cukes and tomatoes aren't far behind!  They look so much healthier than batch one.

The second batch are all now over 3 inches tall!

We're hoping for a good crop of tomatoes, cucumbers, and green beans.  And maybe a couple pumpkins for fun.

Awareness

I have a new one relative to a recent project.  A new awareness, that is.

Not for the website

I've been accumulating text and photographs to throw myself further into the business world with a website.  I had a vision of what the site would look like.  I drew it up on paper...an expanded plan noting my color choices and style.  It would be five pages, basic but classy.

Vision...
Would be...

So I looked at some DIY sites.  Not a thing close to what I want.
I contacted a local website designer and had sticker shock...

Until I contacted two other local designers and needed to be scraped off the floor.  Evidently designer number one was pretty reasonable.

Which brings me to the conclusion that I have beer taste on a tap water budget.

I should have known.  This is often the case with me.  I get the idea, even see it all in my head, only to eventually realize that it isn't out there.  Well, not within my means, at least.  Usually my idea, concept, want or need is not extravagant at all.  It's just that little bit too far removed from the norm that it must be specially created.

Creating a 'special' website, the one that is in my head, is beyond my personal capability to create.  And even though it's not something flashy or super high end, it's beyond my pocketbook.

I must re-evaluate.  I must now start with no preconceived idea.  I need to look at what DIY options are available to me and work within them.  So that's plan B.

As I mentioned, I have been taking some photographs for possible inclusion on my website.  This is not one that will be used, but for you piano technical types out there I'm putting it here.

From a prior technician (term used loosely)

This is soooooo wrong!