More for the Anti Facebook Crowd

Photos of storm number two.

Yesterday they brought the big snow blower to widen the road.

This morning looked like Tuesday morning, just less room for snow.

By mid day they had brought in the big equipment to get a bit ahead of things...helped for about 15 minutes then you couldn't tell it had been around.

Guess I'll be digging out the oil fill, bulkhead, and deck again.

Tonight we got our own snow pile.  That's supposed to be Dodd's Lane on the other side of it.

Even the articulated loader has a difficult time trying to pile it higher and higher.

A Big Project...

still in the works.

You might notice a new link - at the top of my Links list in the sidebar.

This has been a major undertaking with a very steep learning curve!  I started at 9 a.m. and it's now 2:48 p.m.  I've only taken a 45 minute break for lunch.  I'm done for today.

There is still much more that I want to do with the site and over the next few days I hope to add more...including pictures, and change the contact page with a contact form that uses my site email.  It'll all get done.

Just not now.  Not after a grueling 4+ hours.

Another Rowe?

This is a bit off the general train of thought from the last few posts.  However, I received a comment on an older post that got me to thinking...and checking back...and failing to find the ebook documentation that I had found a half year ago.

Anyway, here is a photo of the memorial stone of Major John Rowe of Rockport.

Dev?????  Comment?  Based on everything I have read online and at the Sandy Bay Historical Society, I'm still betting that they are one and the same...that is, Major John Rowe is actually buried in NY but this is the memorial stone in Rockport.  (As I recall, Sr. was a different rank.)

In the Park

I suppose a few of you might be wondering.

What?  No one is wondering?  Oh well, I'll tell you all anyway.
Volunteer Clean-up Day at Haskins Park was a success!
A HUGE success.

A neighbor, a dog walker, and R loading the last load of the day (we filled it with twice what is shown here)

It all started last Wednesday when the DPW sent two representatives to meet with me at Haskins Park.  D, C and I walked the grounds and discussed the property.  I requested only their crew mow and weed-whack.  Two areas in particular.  Oh, and park a couple small dump trucks on site for Saturday. They obviously thought I was taking on too much for volunteer labor (and they were correct) because they offered to bring up big equipment on Friday to do the massive loading and hauling.  They also offered some welcomed suggestions for future improvements to the property.  I was pleased.
More than pleased.

As a matter of fact...after they had left and at the finish of an impromptu walk that I took in the woods with a local artist...I got back to my truck amazed to find one of the guys already weed-whacking!

On Friday morning the big equipment was on site.  Major debris pile removal was taking place.  I could actually see the southwest stone wall!  The crew had filled two small dump trucks and one massive truck by 9 a.m.!

R and I arrived at 7 a.m. Saturday morning.  After seeing how much debris the DPW had removed, I had figured the volunteers would only need one truck.  It arrived by 7:30.  It was full by 11 a.m. and one brave volunteer drove it to unload at the 'dump'.  We filled that truck two more times before our pack of 21 hard-working volunteers finally could work no longer.  What a day.

R dragging a load of clippings from the east wall

 At some times there were only 3 or 4 of us working hard at loading up debris, other times there were a dozen folks at a time.  The average age of our volunteers?  62!

One of the first of the day volunteers working on trimming overgrowth from the stone pillars

Thank you everyone.
Amazing what a bunch of older folks can do!

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I'm looking forward to seeing a lot more photos over at Mr. Scribbler.  He took some great shots on Saturday AND from the DPW work on Friday.  Please encourage him to post them.

New Promise and Recognition

Well, I didn't want to say anything here until I was sure that it would be a go.

I have met with the Town Administrator - twice. 

I have submitted a 17 page proposal to the Board of Selectmen from the Sandy Bay Historical Society.

I have attended two Board of Selectmen meetings.

Soon the Heberle brothers will be traveling to Rockport and they will be visiting the Haskins property.  Their father was Dr. Heberle...the doctor who ran Restcroft at the Haskins Hospital...and they lived on the property for six years.  Richard from the age of 2 and Clem from the age of 3. 

So, the brothers will be traveling with daughters, nieces, and cousins. The first of several goals is to be sure the property looks nice for them. 

This is what the posters look like (my contact info won't be whited-out).  They will be all around town by Tuesday.
___________________________________________________________

Business on Facebook

Since Facebook had already provided a basic page under my business name, I decided I'd better claim it.  I'm not a big fan of Facebook, nor of its clumsy approach for doing just about any kind of modifications, however, since people had visited the 'blank' page...well, you know how things go...

There's not much on the page right now.  I plan to add photos and some piano related tips in the future.  If you so desire check it out here and please Like me!

Me tuning at the RAA last year.

A Seedling Update or...

 Jack is planning a visit!  Jack, of beanstalk fame.

Tomorrow the seedlings will be taken out from under the grow light and brought to a sunny window.  The grow light encourages legginess.  The window will help them fill out.

And Then There Was More

I'm guessing that I spent about 8 months of part-time research before I felt that I had found everything there was to find out about the Manning Organ Company.  So, I wrote a lot of material to edit down for a submission to a trade magazine (still not completely written) and amid that managed to put together a PowerPoint presentation for the Sandy Bay Historical Society.  Now, 2 months later, here it is...another photograph shows up!

The former Manning Organ Factory after the fire (SBHS)

I really wish I had this for my SBHS talk.  I'm definitely including it in the magazine article.

She Finally Got There

She being me. There being Thacher Island.

Six a.m. is not a good time for me! Off went the alarm clock and I knew I could not ignore it. I had a bit of readying to do before heading down to T-Wharf to catch my 8 a.m. Thacher Island launch. Things like grabbing those tools, that might be useful, that I thought of at 2 a.m.! Oh, and a shower, breakfast, and pack a lunch, and the bug spray...just in case. I was ready to board at 7:45, once the reservationist remembered my name (on her list and we had talked 3 times the day before...I think I see a trend). The launch got fueled up and loaded up. 15 workers and crew trying to sit amidst weed wackers, tool kits, building siding, some screening and dowels, a few sweet corn plants, extra gasoline, a dog (yes) named Lucy, and a stack of life jackets! It was sunny, humid, and promising to be a scorcher. My kind of day.

Then we rounded Gap Head and the skies were hazy and grey. There was a chop on the water and fog in the distance. I put on my sweatshirt. The spray from the ocean, as we headed out the nearly mile offshore, was chilly. So much for tanning if I finished my work early.

We were met at the boat ramp (actually hauled up it to secure the boat) by the Keepers and the Intern Keepers. Keeper Sylvia, who had wrangled the spot for me on the boat and plays the organ the most, invited me to join everyone for coffee and donuts at the guest house. While she and the others unloaded the rest of the gear, I hauled mine to the Principal Keeper's House. (the white building) I was anxious to see what was wrong (and right) with the organ. By the time the entourage of workers reached the house, I had opened the organ and fixed the stuck key. Nothing more than a bit of debris giving it a grab while depressed! I had also found that, indeed, the knee swell linkage was broken. The end of the seesaw of the linkage had snapped off. This piece of the linkage is much too thin and delicate a piece of wood to endure the forces against it. Especially now that it is well over a hundred years old!

Coffee time gave me thinking time and afterward Sylvia and I headed for the organ to remove and fix the linkage. This required unscrewing the entire 'guts' to the organ and sliding them back in the case about an inch and a bit more in order to remove the one pivot screw holding the wooden linkage arm. That done, I set about the gluing and reinforcing job while Sylvia worked on fixing a lamp near the organ. I also traced a pattern of the wooden part and took a couple photos. I'll be making the part out of steel or brass in case the repair fails in the future. I can almost guarantee that it will due to the wood being so thin. We put the organ back together, examining it well to see what the winter cold had done. The island is unmanned from October through June and the buildings are unheated.

All in all, the condition was not too bad. Seems mostly altered by the excessive humidity rather than the extreme cold. The repaired soundboard has expanded at the former cracks and is bulging a bit. I am glad that beyond the epoxy repairs, I had made 'band-aids' from pneumatic cloth to cover the exterior of the cracks. The cloth is now trapped down in the cracks as the humid wood forced the splits even further closed. The edge of the soundboard, at the bulge, is still sealed and a permanent repair will be made in September when, hopefully, I can get out there again! A small strip of wood on the back side of the music rack has swelled, warped and partially come unglued and needs to be reglued and clamped come September. And again on that upcoming trip, the back of the organ needs to either be run through the tablesaw or be hand-planed at the top edge. It swelled so much we had to use a mallet on the inside to bang it open for removal and now it won't fit back in no matter how hard we try to wedge and bang it in to place. At least that's not necessary for the organ to function.

Around noon time we all gathered at the boat house to relax over lunch. At 1 p.m. the worker volunteers what back to sawing, painting, mowing, repairing, and I boarded the boat with a load of tourists for the trip back to T-Wharf. While on the island the skies had cleared. The trip back was nice and toasty! Now I have started writing an article for the Reed Organ Society Quarterly about Thacher Island's Smith-American reed organ.Old photograph of Thacher taken at about the same time as the Smith-American organ was built. (And for those of you picky sorts, the photo is labeled wrong in my computer. It is vintage 1890 not 1690 as some of you may have noticed.)

Sailing, Sailing...

over to Thacher Isle! Yep, nearly unbelievable but it's happening. A message, a call back, another phone contact, and I'm on the 8 a.m. boat to Thacher Island tomorrow, tools in tow. Yikes that's early. Not a bit of rest for the weary. Oh well, even though it is unpaid work, it should be a pleasant, relaxed morning. Once I actually drag myself out of bed that is.

The Week Flies

I had commented earlier that I seem to be missing out on summer. Okay, missing out on most days. If I'm not working, I'm doing for either 'A' or my mom or some intrusive nuisance. So I'll have a look at what has happened so far this week and what is upcoming.

Sunday was work at Tuck's. It was extremely busy and I was glad to get home and put my feet up. But wait, Mom wanted some garden landscape timbers moved before I ate my dinner. I was so tired I honestly can't remember Sunday evening after that.

Monday began with a visit from a local police sergeant. He called first and set up a convenient time. He was ON TIME with his visit. He left us some paperwork to fill out about an unfortunate incident that I had reported last week. Then it was more work in the shop and off to Tuck's to work for the afternoon and evening. The young man that I was working with was absolutely useless. Not his usual mode and I was getting very annoyed with him. A customer actually came back in to the shop and told him that he had been treating people rudely. I stayed out of that! It was busy again until just before closing at 10 p.m.

Tuesday I finished up a set of keys, went to the bank, the grocery store, and to ship the keys back to Georgia. I was home by 11 a.m. and sat with Mom while we filled out our police paperwork. A furniture re-upholsterer came to Mom's to give her an estimate on repairing my dad's leather chair. I had to be there for that. More keys arrived so my afternoon was spent working on them. I may have watched some TV on Tuesday night, but honestly I can't remember! Drove 'A' to work and picked her up.

On Wednesday I had a morning tuning job. The tuning went fine. Had a few minor adjustments to make for a couple sticking keys. The customer showed me some furniture alarms. What? Cute high pitched alarms that are about the size of a cigarette pack. You place them on furniture such as a sofa or chair. Why? They are a very sensitive motion detector that sounds when a cat (or dog) tries to get on the furniture. They even sound if a cat tries to knead on any part of the furniture! Scares the daylights out of them and sends them running! Called the sergeant to let him know he could pick up the paperwork. He was off that day. Hmmm, novel idea, a day off. More shuttling 'A' to and from work and much more work on keys. Watched "America's Got Talent" in the evening. Well, sort of. I was reading blogs and a book during the show.

So, today is Thursday. My friendly Sergeant called this morning and asked when it would be convenient to stop by and pick up the paperwork. He came by the workshop and asked a lot of questions about the key work I was doing. Nice guy. 'A's work called asking if she could be in early to cover someone's shift so instead of 3 pm she had to be there by 11 am. At least she'll be out in time for supper. Worked on keys all morning and early afternoon. Mid afternoon Mom wanted company on her trip to the upholstery place. She had to confirm that she wanted the work done and that the color of the leather was a close enough match. An hour or so later, I was back home in the workshop. I'll be picking up 'A' shortly and then having a decent dinner. Tonight I hope to relax a bit although I'm hoping to get started on a letter to the Chief of Police complimenting the sergeant.

Tomorrow morning I'll be finishing a set of keys and maybe getting them shipped. Also I'm hoping to get to town to the Old Sloop Fair and see what kinds of stuff they have at the silent auction. In the afternoon I've got to drive my mom to a Dr.'s appointment in Salem. She doesn't want to find the place by herself. 'A' has the day off!

'A' has Saturday off, as well! I know she's hoping to be able to do SOMETHING. All depends on how much work I've still got pending. Maybe Skip's for lunch.

And so it goes....

UPDATE____________________
The current 'keeper' out on the island called me on Wednesday. One key on the organ is sticking and she thinks she may have broken something in the swell linkage. The Dr. who donated it told her I had been trying to get out there to check on it. She said that they had both decided, if I was available, that room would be made for me on the boat on Wed. 29th. Since it worked in to my schedule, I agreed. She said that she would contact the woman in charge of the scheduling and get back to me.
So I got a phone call from the scheduler. She acted like I'd never been in touch with her about this! (Only three times!) She said she would try for the 29th but wouldn't know until the Tuesday, the day before. She'd call me on that Tuesday and let me know, she said. What are the odds?

Getting Rolling

Today is a bit of a catch up and prepare day. Lots of little stuff before we leave for the 'other' Cape tomorrow. We'll only be gone overnight as I've got a tuning on Saturday morning and keys due to arrive today. So, I must say that business has been picking up. Several new tuning customers within the last couple of weeks and key work is growing, as well. Between trying to aim for nice weather for our Cape trip and working around working, it's been difficult. The weather has been Lousy with a capital L. We have only had three days of sunshine, so far, in the month of June! Very unlike us.

I meant to post this picture for Flag Day, June 14, but I was dealing with the laptop and couldn't.You can count it as my Independence Day photo, too. Just trying to get a little ahead! Hmm, this copy seems a bit dark compared to the original.

As I mentioned several posts ago, Squirt, or son or daughter of, has been coming 'round again.We are no longer providing peanuts, though. Squirt started bringing friends. First with one which wasn't so bad. Then three. Okay, that was getting to be too much. Especially when they started attacking the glass door trying to get in! Bad Squirt (and friends). No more nuts for you.

So there's a start on my updates. Oh yeah, there should be another oil painting appearing in the sidebar slideshow. May take a bit for it to show (don't know why that happens), but it is loaded in to the Cellar Studio at Flickr.

Pretty Here, Too

Well, the Moseley's may have created some fabulous gardens in their day, but 'black thumb Deb' can grow pretty things if she so desires! I'll be spending some time updating a few things around here...maybe. I need a new book for the sidebar. Problem is I haven't read anything worthy recently. I may resort to 'previous to blogging' reads that are worth the mention. I should post my birthday list...but most of you don't need to read it. Make that all of you don't. I still have some more Moseley stuff and there should be a new venture in upcoming weeks concerning "The Countess". I need to do some real writing, too...an article for "The Reed Organ Quarterly" about the Thacher Island organ. I need to get out there, first, to check on it's survival of winter. Given only Wednesdays and Saturdays to catch the boat to the island has proven elusive. Work and weather haven't cooperated.

Concluding Remarks

So many things happen over the course of a few weeks. I write about them and then never catch you all up on what happens in the end. Maybe it doesn't matter. If you don't care to know how some things panned out, quit reading now.

Otherwise...

The BIG check is in the mail. I got an email telling me that the person was sorry for the delay, but it was on it's way. Maybe by weekend it'll arrive.

Evidently, sternness works. A______G______ called from the DTA. I've been approved. I can pick up my card at their office.

I called the midwest tech who called looking for info on the ivory key guy. Thought it might be a quick call. I just wanted to give him a couple phone numbers. 45 minutes later, I know the guy's life history! And...he's sending a pile of info on his piano business.

The weather is temporarily improving. It should be near 50°F tomorrow. I saw two chipmunks this week so Spring can't be far away. However, Sunday it's getting cold again and we are supposed to be having sleet and/or snow.

I never found a larger box for those keys that were shipped so poorly. I got creative in my packing and sent them back in the original box. Fingers crossed.

The book, Testimony, by Anita Shreve was a big disappointment. I didn't finish it. I've been reading through books by LuAnne Rice. Too soppy sweet, but they are easy reads until something better.

I walked along the front of our property today. Thought I'd check things out after our neighbor's brother managed to plow over four rocks from our front wall and not bother to put them back in place (Angrily, I had to do it. And he knew he'd done it as he looked out his truck window at the damage.) Anyway, still fighting dog battles. One in particular and I shoveled five huge piles of you-know-what out of our yard and flung them to the appropriate yard. There will be much more to come on that front once the weather warms and our windows are open.

So, there you have it. That's all for now, folks.

Having All My Santas In a Row

Hand-poured chocolate Santas at Tuck's Candy Factory

While busy working as a piano technician and keeping up with my two days working at Tuck's Candy Factory, I have also made time to keep up with painting necklaces. As you know, I had tried to reserve a table at the PTO (school) Holiday Fair only to be put on a waiting list. Just in case that fell through, I reserved a table at the Rockport United Methodist Church Holiday Bazaar. So, I made sure that I had enough inventory and good displays anticipating (hoping for) a good turnout and good sales at the church fair.

The time has rapidly approached for the PTO Fair (this upcoming Saturday) and I resolved myself to saying that I would call the woman in charge today and inquire about my status. I was particularly peeved when reading the newspaper this past week and had discovered that another vendor had purchased a table at the PTO Fair well after I had requested one and been denied. I stewed about it for a couple hours and decided that I would make the call today, remain pleasant, and accept that living in a small town meant having the correct last name to be included in some things. Preferential treatment goes with name and with degree of native-ness. My ancestors aren't from Rockport. I wasn't even born here. There's no changing that and thus I shall never 'be one' with Rockport.

At 8:40 p.m. last night my phone rang. I went to check the caller i.d. Who on earth would be calling me that late on a Sunday evening?

The women in charge of the PTO Holiday Fair!

I grabbed the phone. She was calling to ask if I would be interested in renting half a table. She was trying to get as many people included as possible. She had heard wonderful things about my work. (Well, she DID say that. Of course she probably is saying that to everyone. I'm choosing to believe that she actually has heard it about my stuff! [grin])

So I'll be at the PTO Fair! A scrunched version of my total display that I'll have to sort out at set-up time on Friday evening. This week I'll be working on a rush order of key bushings and painting more ivories. Just in case the necklaces sell well I'll need more for the church fair.

I'm tired already. I need a chocolate army's worth of help!

The big guys - Tuck's hand-poured chocolate Santas

Deprivation

Sun, sleep, fun....none.

Okay, a teeny bit.

We're soggy here in New England. Today, on the weather, they said that it has rained over half the days so far this summer. That's not a tan, ma'am, it's rust. So here's the rainy view out my kitchen window. Window number four out of six that I am installing...weather permitting. The fungus are thriving for the most part. Actually, a few are getting mold growth on them.

The sun has come out late this afternoon. This is spectacular as now, with the heating of the sun, we should have gigantic thunderstorms again tonight. Last night I got out of work at 10 p.m., came home and had a quick bite to eat and watched the Olympics until 11:30. I was just dosing off for the night when...



BAM!!


Scared me wide awake. Just how I want to be at 1 in the morning! I knew I should have shut the computer down and unplugged it. Lights on and up I get to take care of the computer. What a storm! I do like a good thunderstorm, but not when you see the lightning and hear the crack of thunder simultaneously. That's just too close for me, up on this hill amongst the tall oaks. So...not a heck of a lot of sleep last night.

Today I've been trying to have an 'easy' day. I've been working on more ivory necklaces. This photo doesn't do them justice - really. Sort of bleaches them out. Remember, these are only about .75" X 1.5". Not all have been 'strung' yet and some of the newer ones will have the necklace part threaded directly through the ivory, side to side, so there will be no visible hole at the top.Another design that I have come up with uses both the ivories (naturals) and the ebonies (sharps). These are on a trial basis as they will be more expensive. I've made two ivory and ebony, and one ivory and walnut.

Tomorrow is another triple D day (dreaded dentist day). Can't wait for Thursday!

Things Have a Way of Catching Up

It's been a whirlwind of a few weeks. Far too much going on. In case you haven't been keeping up I'll summarize. Eleven sets of keys, total, within about ten days. Add to that the two days per week at Tuck's, and a craft fair. Then Mom decided it was time to look for a new car. Before she went for her next cataract surgery, that is. Oh yeah, can't forget about mowing the lawn and hauling the trash to the dump. Still waiting are the six replacement windows that I agreed to install.

I'm not doing the next craft fair. I'm waiting until the one scheduled for August 30, Labor Day weekend. Quite frankly, I haven't had enough time to create more stuff to sell. I did start on more necklaces last night.

Just so you know...the last of the sets of keys were shipped today. To the lady from the previous post. Yes, she finally got the 'balance due' check to me.

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

So, why is buying a new car soooooo difficult? My mom had decided that she wanted either a silver Subaru Forrester or her second choice, a silver Toyota Rav4. Silver because neither the dirt, dust, and pollen nor the winter road salt show up too badly. Last Tuesday afternoon we started at the closest Subaru dealer. The salesman was quite nice but they didn't have any 2008 Forresters left other than one in bright blue. 'Twas ugly. The design changes in the 2009's made them very uncomfortable for both Mom and me. Even with the driver's seat in it's highest position, we could barely see above the dashboard. The salesman called his manager over. He was an extremely demeaning individual. He had nothing nice to say to us. Didn't even make an attempt. Among his many comments, "No one else has complained about the seat height in the new Forrester," he said.

Humph. Won't buy a car there.

We continued to the Toyota dealer down the road a bit. Since the Subaru dealer had tied us up for over two hours, we tried to limit our time at Toyota. That was tough. All we wanted to do was sit in a Rav4 to see if the visibility/seat height was good. Two and a half hours later we made our escape! We got home just in time to pick up Amanda from work. This gave me just enough time to look in the workshop to see how much I still had left to do.

The next morning I got up at 6 am and started to work. My midday was taken up with tuning jobs. Back home for dinner and then back to work until 10 pm.

Thursday it was back to car shopping. This time we headed further from home to the Subaru dealer in Wakefield. In the record time of two and a half hours, he managed to find my mother a silver, 2008 Forrester at another dealership over two hours away. That dealership wouldn't trade the car for anything the Wakefield dealership had on his lot. On the plus side, they were the nicest bunch of salesmen and managers we have met in our quest. Since I wasn't about to drive down to the 'other' cape to car shop, we left there and made a one hour drive north to Skip's for a very late lunch (or early dinner). The next dealership was only 15 minutes from there, in Haverhill.

The Haverhill dealer sold Toyotas and we looked at a silver Rav4 that he had on the lot. My mom was very interested and we got in to the price negotiation portion of car buying. This dealer tried everything. Maybe I should say he tried to make it LOOK like he tried everything to meet my mother's requirements. I'm not an idiot. It's not a deal when you just increase the downpayment, lengthen the payment schedule, and then say you've lowered the price. NOPE. We started to leave and the sales manager actually stood in my way, thisclose. This does not make me happy. I finally maneuvered around him and got to the door with my mother following close behind.

Almost three hours there.

It had become obvious that we were not going to be able to find the Forrester, so we headed back to the first Toyota dealership to see what kind of 'deal' we could get there. It was 7 pm when we arrived. We checked out a silver Rav4 that had only been at the dealership for two days. 11 miles on the odometer. We went inside and negotiations began. Mom bought the car. Pretty much within her terms. A better deal than Haverhill, by far. It was after 10:30 pm when we left to head home armed with an appointment to pick up the new Rav4 on Saturday afternoon. The cleaning crew was at work as we left!

Friday I tuned and I worked on keys some more...frantically, and mowed the lawn. Saturday morning was the trip to the dump.

Since Mom didn't want to drive an unfamiliar car home on the highway, I had to make the trip with her on Saturday. I would be the first to drive it! It takes about a half hour - one way. We arrived to pick up her new car at precisely 1 pm, as instructed. We waited. Paperwork. A half hour later we were told that we couldn't pick up the car. They needed to contact the Registry of Motor Vehicles because my dad's name was on the old registration. WE HAD TOLD THEM THIS NUMEROUS TIMES THURSDAY NIGHT! They had said it was no problem. We made another appointment for Tuesday morning. Here's Mom's new car in her driveway. Twenty and a half hours to get it.

Work, work, work. Tuck's and keys, Tuck's and keys. Only one tuning job scheduled for this week and I had to change it because of picking up the car on Tuesday morning. Today was set aside because of Mom's cataract surgery. Since a van picks up at the eye doctor's office and takes the patients to and from the surgery center, Mom thought there would be no problem for me to fit in a tuning job. Last time she didn't get back to the office until after four in the afternoon. I scheduled the tuning for two o'clock and arrived at the customer's a minute or so early. At two-thirty my cell phone rang. The patient van was returning to Gloucester. It would arrive in 40 minutes. !#$%^! I just made it to the parking lot to pick her up with only 4 minutes to spare.

Now, in the meantime!

I had planned to submit my 'Diamonds in the Rough' blog post for publication in the Piano Technician's Journal. I was just having a difficult time actually getting the revisions finished and emailing the editor. Today, he contacted me asking if they could publish the story. He had already read it on the Pianotech List and they had made their own edits. I gave him the go ahead. I like my final version better than their edited version, but what the heck - THEY asked to publish MY work!

Today, I did get a short descriptive paragraph and three photos about the Thacher Island reed organ submitted to the Gloucester Times. Wonder if I'll get published there as well!

Just Plain Tired

A few days back I hinted that there would be biggish news. Well, tonight I'm ready to let all of you hear it. I didn't want to say anything earlier in case I severely blew it and messed up. So...since that didn't happen, leaving me only feeling a bit old and inept, I guess I can tell.

While I still maintain my primary occupation as a piano technician and have a secondary occupation/avocation with the miniature oil paintings (that I hope will pay), I now have a third, albeit very part time, job. I'm working retail sales at Tuck's, here in Rockport. Just one or two days per week. Today was my first training day of four. I should call it re-training as I worked there nearly thirty years ago, even managing one of their stores. A lot has changed in thirty years! They even have electric cash registers now (yes, really and truly, we had the old-fashioned manual type when I was there years ago). Anyway, after six hours of training my brain is scrambled.

So why did this happen? The big R word that our government doesn't acknowledge. I believe the closest Bush has come is to say that our economy is in a slight temporary slowdown.

HAH.

If you are finding it hard to pay your mortgage, put food on the table and gas in your car, are you very worried about getting your piano tuned or fixed? I think not. Add to that MY soaring heating bills, gasoline expenses, and property taxes (and let's not forget the quarterly tax payments that Uncle Sam expects) and I was scraping the bottom of my bank account. What's a poor piano tech to do but look for a way to keep piano tech-ing while supplementing that income. I finally got up the nerve to venture back in to the retail world fueled by tourism. The owner of Tuck's called early last week to offer the job and schedule my first day.

Then (and I mean mere minutes afterwards) my phone started ringing. Five calls for tunings and service. One I had to turn down as I couldn't fit it in at the time the client needed it. That afternoon a tech came by to drop off a set of keys. Two more sets arrived the same day. One in the mail and another by FedEx.

I'm swamped. I'm working 14 hour days to keep up. Yes, I am trying to pace it by taking a tad of time off to eat. I picked Amanda up from work at 5 and we had dinner at Ellen's Harborside tonight (I was too tired to think of cooking). Tomorrow morning I'll get up extra early to finish some key work and then we go to Skip's for lunch. We had intended to go on Friday, but now I'm scheduled for Tuck's that day.

I hope this evens out a little! Off to bed.......................

Last Week/This Week

Thought I'd take a few moments to post some updates.

A few days ago I posted about the prescription insurance plan mess that I have been trying to sort out for my mom. I can't remember at the moment what day I made the 2.5 hours worth of calls, but I was supposed to hear back from THE company (Lucent) within 48 hours.

Nothing the next day.

Second day rolls around. 47th hour rolls around. Same women at the benefits center that had been soooo rude managed to call with 10 minutes to spare before the deadline. And what does she tell me? She has researched the matter and will be in touch with Medco (the plan that should have been canceled 6 weeks ago). We should hear 'something' within 5 business days! I politely verbally assaulted her for the lax attitude on the part of Lucent, the poor manner with which this was being handled, blah, blah, blah. She again implied that I hadn't spoken with the correct Medco. I was furious but kept my cool as she continually repeated the one-liner, "I understand your frustration, ma'am". Oh, she has no idea. As soon as this is resolved the Lucent benefits center will be getting a formal letter of complaint about her. Yes, I have her name.

I called Medicare, once again. They have now filed grievances against Medco and notified Humana of what's going on. They have also submitted the paperwork for retroactive re-enrollment with Humana. They estimate a 15 day response time.

Meanwhile my mom is having to pay out-of-pocket for her prescriptions. The pharmacist told her that they are only allowed up to 14 days for resubmitting.

Heads are going to roll.
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One of the gifts that Amanda got for Christmas from my mom was a subscription to TV Guide. My mom paid in full for a year's worth. She just got a bill claiming that she still owed over $16. I looked in to it and discovered that they were trying to sneak in an additional 28 weeks. Today I copied all the receipts and her canceled check and wrote them a note. Sheesh.
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The weather has been snowy and cold. My arthritis is really acting up with shoulder pain, left wrist pain, right elbow, and now terrible pain in the 'ball' of my left foot. When I get up in the morning I can hardly bend that foot to walk. Doesn't hurt if I curl my toes the opposite direction, though. I let a very hot shower pound my foot and tonight it's a bit better. I hope it lasts through to morning!
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This Wednesday is the day of dread. Amanda has to be at the oral surgeon at 9 a.m. to have two impacted wisdom teeth extracted. I keep telling myself that I WILL survive it.
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Beginning tomorrow and lasting for however long it takes, I'll be looking for a little part-time job. This is a traditionally slow time of year for piano work and combined with the troubled economy, it's even worse. So I'm looking for a way to earn a tad more. Things will be tight until my truck is paid off next November. Thankfully, I got a couple new tuning customers in the last week and I'm going to look at a repair job Monday morning. So far this week there will be two key jobs, one of them extensive. I refuse to have to worry about money and the logical solution is, of course, to supplement my self employment income.

Leaving Optimism

I really haven't a clue about how to describe what has changed my attitude. All I can definitely say is that it culminated today.

I had hoped that the logistic problems with prescription drug coverage for my mom had finally been resolved. Just over two weeks ago I was told that all we had to do was get a termination (of the old coverage with Medco) letter from Alcatel/Lucent (the company to which my dad gave 29 working years) and forward a copy to the new prescription coverage company, Humana. Then they could refile all the paperwork with Medicare and all would be well.

All is not well.

Today, my mom went to pick up a prescription that she HAS to take. The pharmacist said that her coverage had expired. Mom came home in a panic. It was 12:30 pm. Here's what then transpired.

I got all the paperwork out once again, including all the notes that I had made with the previous calls in December and January, and I called Humana, the new drug coverage. After the push button phone routine and a five minute wait, Humana said that the problem was with Medicare. They had rejected the Humana coverage four times. There was nothing that Humana could do until Medicare allowed the coverage through Humana. Call Medicare.

I called Medicare. Yep, push buttons and wait fifteen minutes. Medicare says that they cannot allow Humana until Medco notifies them of termination. Medicare will file a complaint to Medco but I needed to call Medco and insist that they notify Medicare of the termination. Medicare gave me the toll-free Medco phone number.

I called Medco. They have a recorded, voice activated system that got mad at me because none of the questions that were auto-asked applied to this situation. I went in circles because you have to have an active account to answer the questions and the coverage was canceled 12/31/07. Finally, I just refused to answer any questions. The recording cycled three times and then put me on hold for a representative. Twenty minutes later I talked to a human at Medco who told me that Medco is not responsible for notifying Medicare, Alcatel/Lucent is to do it. The lady at Medco confirmed that my mother no longer had coverage through them. I needed to call Alcatel/Lucent to have them notify Medicare.

I called Alcatel/Lucent. I played push button for a short while and then had to wait thirty minutes for a benefits center representative. I gave her the short version of what was going on. And what does she say????
Alcatel/Lucent does not contact Medicare, Medco must do it. I told her that I had just talked to Medco and that they said they couldn't. It had to be done by Alcatel/Lucent. She said that as long as coverage was active, the termination notice had to be from Medco. I told her that the coverage was terminated on 12/31/07. I have a letter from Alcatel/Lucent confirming termination. She said that Medco showed it as active. I told her that I had just checked directly with Medco and that they said it was terminated. She argued and insinuated that I had lied about contacting Medco.

I asked to speak to a supervisor. She said she was the supervisor. Then she said that she would take care of the situation and to expect a call back within 48 hours. I told her that I expected not only the call, I expected the problem to be satisfactorily resolved within 48 hours or the next call that they received would be from my attorney and that I would also take the story to the major Boston news networks.

And she said, "Thank you, m'am". I hung up on her. Two and a half hours on the phone.

My mom went back to the pharmacy and paid full price for her prescription. She's keeping all the receipts because, believe me, someone, other than my mom, is going to pay for this.

And if that weren't bad enough. I've been working on income taxes. I preface this by saying that really and truly, I haven't missed some major (or minor) tax saving item. I read and reread all the instructions, line by line, and triple check. I cannot believe how totally screwed up this country and this state are.

My net income is below the national poverty level. I work very hard, but net very little. It is a monetary sacrifice that I have become comfortable with in order to be able to enjoy what I do. My living expenses are microscopic in comparison to most people. So here I am with a net income below the national poverty level yet I owe tax on that income. Now I don't mind that I have to pay self employment tax. That is paid to cover Social Security income and Medicare once I'm 65+ (assuming the government continues to honor the system by the time I qualify). But I owe ordinary income tax! A very small amount to the feds and twice that to the state. This is the same state that is paying for my mandatory health insurance because I qualify because I'm below poverty level. It's extremely discouraging.

Several weeks ago, a Rockport resident wrote a letter to the editor that was published in the GDT. After a lengthy description of a sequence of events, the writer declared that the multitude of airplane vapor trails that she had seen in a short period of time had left a purplish filmy deposit on her truck. She, upon addition consult with some other friend, believed that what they had seen and the purple film was the government secretly trying to control weather systems.

Wacko, I thought. Now well.........maybe she wasn't so far off. Just not weather. Things are terribly askew.

I'm exhausted, through and through. Now I shall put my head to my pillow and have a good cry before sleep.