Edge of Darkness

Well, a while ago it was in the GDT that yet another movie set was located in Rockport. Seems Mel Gibson had been in town, verrrry early in the morning, to film scenes for an upcoming movie titled "Edge of Darkness". Sounds like a good one, doesn't it? For you Brits out there, it is an adaptation of the 1985 British television mini-series of the same name.

Us locals didn't even know that we should get up before 5:30 a.m. and trek to Cape Hedge Beach (as in my post Surf's Up) to watch the action! Well darn, missed that one.

Sooooooooo, yesterday the gang and I headed out on a few errands and then north on Rte. 95. We got off at the Newburyport exit to head for our final Skip's meal of the season. As we approached the top of the exit ramp, Amanda exclaimed, "Look, they're filming a movie nearby! The signs say EOD". Sure enough, there were the now familiar yellow and black 'arrow' signs with the movie title acronym. Hmmm, same as the title of the movie in Rockport.

The signs were indicating the same direction as we were to turn. Yippeeeeeeeee! Maybe some excitement. As we traveled along Rte. 113 towards West Newbury we saw the ocassional signage for the movie. I knew that very shortly we would be leaving that road to head down and across the Merrimack River at the Rock's Village bridge. We'd most likely miss the action. Bridge Street approached and I got ready to turn. There was another sign! We were still hot on the trail.

Crossing the Merrimack River on the Rock's Village bridge is an adventure in and of itself. It's narrow and old. Although it is made of steel, it has a wooden road. Currently, they are in the process of repairing the road so you travel from new planking to old. Some of the old planking has huge chunks missing and I wonder how much wood is separating me from a plunge into the river. Once the planking is complete, the entire surface will be once more covered with macadam.

Well, I got off track there.

We crossed the Merrimack and I turned on my signal to turn right along the river road. Couldn't do it. They had closed the road for filming! We continued up through Rock's Village to Rte. 110 and made out way the long way around to Skip's. On our return trip we tried to use our customary route along the river. It was well after 5:30 p.m. and we thought, just maybe, they would be finished filming for the day. Not quite, but the white limo was just leaving. We waved at darkened windows (have to have some giggles, you know)!

So watch for the movie, "The Edge of Darkness", and have a good look at some of our well traveled areas!

(The photo that I used here was taken of the Merrimack River, in 1976, from the shores of the Moseley Estate (Maudsleigh), as part of a photo essay that I was completing.)

In Review

You may (or maybe not) have noticed that the 'Recent Reads' has changed. It is now "The Story of Edgar Sawtelle" and I have also provided the link to the website if you click on the book cover.

Why did I pick this book? It's about a boy. It's about breeding and training dogs. It's about life in the rural upper midwest.

Nothing that I was particularly interested in reading.

The author was interviewed on the 'Today' show. During the brief interview, I got the feeling that there was more to this book. And there was.

It is an exquisitely written novel of struggle, joy, family, heart, understanding, grief, and adventure. It's 566 pages that I just couldn't put down. A modern tragedy. Haunting.

Any Hope?

Commentary by Dorothy Donegan, before her performance of the song by the same title, "Things Ain't What They Used to Be.



Sure Ain't"

Surf's Up

I took some time off this morning to go to the beach. Beautiful day. 65°F, foggy, rainy, dripping. Just have to love New England! 'A' and I went first to Front Beach hoping to find some sea glass. We weren't very successful. Tide was still too high, and darn, people just don't use enough glass these days! Prior to heading out, I had tried to check the tide charts. I'm amazed that the Sandy Bay Yacht Club does not post the tides on their web site. Everything else but, it seems. Oh well.

After a disappointing walk along Front Beach, we decided to head over to Back Beach. (creative naming, huh?) I had put money in the meter and I wasn't about to waste all that paid for time. At Back Beach we discovered a seagull tethered out on the rocks with a long length of monofilament fishing line twisted around it's ankle. It was alternately struggling to get free, then resting in a crag of the ledge. We had no knife with us (or in the truck) and no way to distract the gull from nipping at us even if we could have got to the line to cut it. We didn't find anyone to free it, no matter where or who we talked to. Hopefully some of the divers in the area will see it and cut it free.

Our third beach adventure for the day was to Cape Hedge Beach, in the south end of town. Oops, sorry folks in that neighborhood, I guess it should read the South End. It was there that we were entertained with high waves and surfers.After watching for a while and taking some photos, we called my mother and asked if she would like us to come home to pick her up and bring her to the beach to watch. She did. The three of us then crammed in to my little truck and made a second visit to Cape Hedge Beach. By that time there were six wet-suited surfers. We stayed and watched until our growling stomachs told us to get home to have lunch.

So at least it was a somewhat interesting day. No pretty sea glass, but entertainment.

PS - thanks em and mm! and i've got the little thingies printed.

It's Debatable

Yes folks, I watched it. The first presidential debate. I'm a glutton for punishment. I have already decided which lesser of evils that I will be voting for, so why watch? Maybe it's like some people watching auto racing. You know, waiting for the crash and burn? Per the norm, evidenced by online surveys, I was wrong about the outcome. Okay, I still think that I was correct in picking the most confident, competent, eloquent, alert, professional and educated of the candidates. The candidate whose policies made the most sense and importantly, communicated those policies with clarity. However, it seems the computer survey submitters and text messagers radically disagree with me. Sigh.

Idiots, of course.

The most pleasing aspect of the presidential debate is that 'A' actually watched it. In it's entirety. And watched the follow-up commentary. This is totally amazing. And despite my apoliticality (yep, invented that word), I was ecstatic to see her interest.

So what's the next thrilling event that I am looking towards? Why, the vice-presidential debate.

Yes, I think we may have a crash and burn.

These Days

There has been a bit of grumbling. Not many of us in our little sub-group of blogland have been keeping up with posting. Dickiebo has been very busy at it, particularly since 'B' was out of town for a little while. Some folks have been on vacations, others have computer problems, some just seem quiet. Actually, this doesn't seem to be exclusive to our corner of blogland. I am a member of six 'mailing lists' or online 'groups'. Those have been slow, too. For me there seems to be a gloom of a foggy night hanging over.

These days I seem to only work. It doesn't seem that I get much accomplished but I guess I do. It's just more stuff gets added to the list. There's still a regular stream of key work, but it's not as abundant as in June or July. Tunings trickle in. However, I'm getting more and more calls from people wanting to sell their pianos rather than maintain them. Bad economy. I work the two days at Tuck's and those really tire me. My feet ache, my shoulders ache, my wrists and neck, too. My left wrist and index finger are especially nasty lately and I'm once again trying a wrist brace. I'm working on the endless 'to-do' list around the house. Today, I trimmed some stray branches from the linden tree and one of the huge oaks. This weekend we are to have some heavy rain and wind, so I thought I'd better get that trimming off the list. Of course, trimming then meant loading the truck and hauling the debris to the dump. I've started preparing the new cabinet doors for my mom's bathroom sink base for her to paint. I need to call the plumber to fix a slowly dripping solder joint in the hot water line before it becomes a major problem. Fortunately, it just drips to the cellar floor. I'll have him take care of replacing that trap under our bathroom sink while he's here. Remember that problem from maybe a year or so ago? The trap that was 'hard' plumbed that shouldn't be? I was going to fix it myself, but quite frankly, I haven't the ambition to be scrunching myself under the sink cutting away the existing mess. Then there's the street light near our house. It had been cycling on and off for a month, then finally stayed off. Two weeks ago, I called the power company and was quite elated when the truck showed up the next night in the pitch black.(yeah, it doesn't take much to please me) The power company guy, up high in the bucket of the truck, fiddled around with the light. Then he was back in the truck and drove off. Still the light was out. After daybreak the next morning, I took a look. The entire lamp was missing. All we have now is the pathetically skinny arm with two stubs of wires hanging out there up the pole. Going to have to call the power company again. That should be good for at least a half hour of 'on hold'.

On to other things. Clustrmaps let me know that my current map will be archived on or about the 28th of this month and a new map will be started. Just thought I'd let you know.

Dickiebo lifted my spirits today with an award. You can see it in the sidebar, under my dickiebouquet!

I drove us all up to Skip's last week. It was pointed out by a reader (guess who) that I had never posted a photo of Skip's. I did post a pic of the sign a couple years ago. Anyway, it's not much to look at, building-wise, but here it is.Originally, the order and pick-up windows were outside and all dining was either in your car or at picnic tables. He's upgraded over the years and moved indoors. We still eat in our car. Tradition, you understand. The owners live upstairs. At normal mealtimes the parking lot is crammed full. This picture was taken mid afternoon. We don't like waiting in line!

And finally, these days. I'm fed up with our government, the economy, the lack of values, the mess. I'm furious that I must pay for corporate and individual greed. I have no mansion, no big salary, no massive risky investments. I have lived always hoping for the best yet considering the what-if's. I haven't spent and borrowed frivolously. I shouldn't have to bail out those that have. The current economic bailout proposal for the US will cost every adult and child in this country over $2300.00 each. Yes, I understand the consequences of no government assistance, but that still doesn't mean that I have to think it is fair or reasonable to expect the average hard-working individual to accept it.

Sorry about the politics.

Now please excuse me while I run up my credit card debt, travel the world and live in high style, and let someone else worry about it. You'll be happy to pay it all off for me, won't you?

Extremes

The first in extremes is told in the story of Lang Lang, a twenty-something classical pianist from China. I just finished reading the book that I have pictured in the sidebar. I'll quote a couple paragraphs here.

"Fortunately, compared to Chinese schools, the American system felt downright lax. Students were not disciplined, and they would think nothing about not completing their homework, which was unheard of in China........In general, schoolwork was easy in America. It seemed that students got by doing very little. As a fifteen year old boy, I didn't object to this. In fact, I liked it. I welcomed being in a country where kids were more carefree about school and independent - and even defiant - of their parents,........To see kids my age question authority was a revelation."

"The more he (father) saw me acclimating to American culture and American attitudes, the stricter he became and the more resentful I became of his interference. In China, parents are in charge. In America, kids are in charge of themselves, and I was primed to assume control of my own life."

Lang Lang's story puts quite a perspective on cultural differences AND certainly illuminates the pressure that China's one child policy has created within that culture. Not to mention the evident lack of respect shown by a large proportion of American youth.

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

Towards the beginning of September, I began anxiously awaiting the daily mail delivery. I was hoping that September's Piano Technician's Journal would contain my "Diamonds in the Rough" story that was originally posted on this blog. The editor had emailed the draft to me for approval. It was edited and retitled, and although I felt it was a tad sterile, I approved the version. The file indicated the September issue at the top of the page. So I assumed.....

incorrectly evidently, that it be in the September issue. Very disappointing to have no "Tuner's Life" in the September issue especially since it was to be my story. Maybe next month?

However in the meantime, the editor of the Tools, Tips & Techniques section of the Journal emailed and requested that a suggestion I had made on the Pianotech List (online) be used in an upcoming Journal issue. I went ahead and gave her approval for it's usage. (Thank you 'F' for confirming that my idea would work before I actually used it on a job a while back) So, I'm waiting to see that in print, too!

Last week, the newsletter editor of the Boston Chapter of the PTG sent out an email appeal for material. I sent him a text file and pictures of technical I had written some time back and never used. Yay! A few days ago the newsletter arrived and my technical had the bottom half of the front page and half of page two!

Add to that some really super compliments on the Pianotech List, from a fellow technican, about my keywork and I'm feeling darn good!

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

And finally have been our weather extremes. Wet, wet summer, in general, as witnessed by the photograph below.The following photo will give you some idea of the size of this (these) fungus.Now this weekend is supposed to be rainy and miserably humid, and instead the sun is shining brightly. Still, we have Sunday for more rain and hopefully Monday, as I'll be working!

Sundays and Mondays

Those days are spent here at Tuck's Candy Factory, on the waterfront in Dock Square.The following picture is Tuck's main store that is just up the hill a block from the candy factory.Tuck's Candies began in 1929 and has been a family owned and operated business for all of it's nearly 80 years. After work either tomorrow or Monday, I will post a brief history of the business.

Afterthought: Just check out the web site www.tuckscandy.com
Only to add that Walter had a twin brother, George. Walter was the candy maker, George was a pharmacist. The pharmacy was housed in the Main Street building (larger of above) and the candy was and still is sold there. The pharmacy followed in to the second generation but is no longer a part of the business.

Been Awhile...

since I've written much of anything at all. After all, it does get a bit boring writing about work, work, work. So, I'll get that out of the way right now. I have been.

A lot. Tuck's was extraordinarily busy over the holiday weekend and I'm glad to have survived it!
Key work has been steady as have tuning jobs.
All the windows are installed and I'm now working on staining the interiors. I finally finished trimming out the windows in our house. All that's left for finish work is the woodwork in the upstairs hallway.

We've had not-so-big adventures to Skip's and done a bit of winter weather clothes shopping. Biggest disappointment was the $18 pair of Nikes that I couldn't buy. Why, you wonder? Well, actually it wasn't a pair. We couldn't find the left shoe. Nowhere to be found. Who stole ONE jogging shoe? The right one was sooo comfy. Sigh.

This weekend we are to have the remnants of tropical storm or category 1 hurricane Hannah. Maybe I'll have some fun down at the beach! I promise to take my camera, but, you know those waves just don't look as menacing in still pictures.

And finally, each morning we are held prisoner (if only temporarily) in our house. Spike, the spider, insists on building his home/trap across our porch stairs.Amanda forgot about it this morning and I had to yell STOP before she walked right in to it. She did stop a mere couple inches from Spike and his web. The entire town may have heard her shriek! Each morning I take a broom and destroy all Spike's hard work and each night he builds it again.

Longevity

I just love summertime. Sunshine and a nice ocean breeze. Windows open. Relax on the deck for lunch and enjoy THE NEIGHBOR'S DOG BARKING CONTINUOUSLY FROM 8 O'CLOCK IN THE MORNING UNTIL I LEFT THE HOUSE AT 3 P.M.!!!! Now that I'm back home, the neighbor is as well, and the dog has either quit barking or developed laryngitis. You see, now that school is back in, no one is home to keep poor doggy company all day. This WILL get resolved.

On a funnier note...how long should milk stay fresh?
We, meaning Amanda and I, went grocery shopping yesterday. Amanda bought a quart of milk amongst other things. I reminded her that she had an unopened quart still in the refrigerator. This morning while we were walking down to the Whistlestop Mall to get the newspaper, Amanda started spouting off about how nasty the cereal was that she had bought just yesterday. "Smells like dog food," she said. "When we get home YOU smell it and you'll see what I mean!" It really annoyed her that she would be throwing away an entire, expensive box of cereal after only eating one mouthful.

So, we got back home and as I was sitting reading the newspaper, Amanda strolled in with the open box of Special K Cinnamon and Pecan. I grudgingly took a sniff. Ehhh, not too bad, I thought. Smelled a bit weak on the cinnamon. Then I had a thought.
"Which milk did you use?"
"I don't know, I'll go check," said Amanda.
She came back and remarked that she thought it was the milk that was bad, not the cereal. The milk smelled bad and she didn't want to be the one to have to pour it down the drain!
Off I went to investigate.
Sure was the milk.
Sell by date: JUNE 30, 2008!

YUCK.

And in conclusion, here's a picture of our ficus.This beautiful braided tree was sent to us, last summer when my Dad died, by my friends in Florida. But what does one do with such a gorgeous tree when winter approaches? This guy likes a temperate climate. They will survive indoors but they don't like the change from humid summer to dryness in a winter heated house. The 'best bet for survival' solution became to haul it down to the workshop in the cellar. The lowest temperature there through the winter is 52°F and it isn't as dry as upstairs. Not much natural light though, even with placing it just below the tiny windows high in the cellar wall. It wasn't very happy and by March we were dubious about it's survival. Mid-April it was still struggling along but looked very pathetic so I decided to risk the low outdoor temps in favor of moderate days and higher humidity. After two very cold nights, we thought it had succumbed. We waited, fertilized, and watered, and watched. It recovered. So despite poor living conditions, we still have the ficus. It's leaves are smaller than last year, though. I think seeing it through another winter might be a challenge!

Mail Call

YES!FINALLY! Three long weeks.
I think they heard your threat, Mary!

And Once Again

The mail has arrived.

Nada. Again.

Are you surprised?


update: I had a check to deposit so I headed for the bank. Also, I only had one 'starter' check left so needed more. Officer that was supposed to initiate a trace on the missing checks was not at work today.

There is a problem for these people. Beyond the absurdity of the situation, I have a fantastic memory. Situation went as follows:

Deb: The officer was going to request a trace.

Bank: Oh she was? I know that she checked and confirmed that we ordered them on the 2nd and the printing company shipped them on the.....

Deb: They were charged to my account on the 13th.

Bank: Yes. She's not in today so I can't check if there was a trace.

Deb: I'll need more 'starter' checks.

Bank: Would you like five or ten? They're on us.

Deb: At the rate this is going you better give me ten.

Bank goes to back room and prints 'starter' checks.

She returns.

Deb: Would it be possible to get a debit card on this account so I can actually use my money?

Bank: Yes, but that takes two weeks. We have to send out for them. I know that 'V' was going to do a trace on your order.

Deb: Yes, I was the one that just told you that.

Bank: Even one of our employees hasn't gotten her checks and it's been three and a half weeks.

Deb: Your officer told me that no one else was having this problem.

Bank: Well, it does seem to be the Post Office that's the problem.

Deb: No, the bank's handling of the problem is not appropriate and the entire situation is a very poor reflection on the bank. We are considering relocating all six of our accounts elsewhere.

I turned my back and left, ten relatively useless 'starter' checks in hand.
Don't worry. I'll go back tomorrow.......and every day until my checks arrive!

Can't Bank On It

May I take you back to August 1st? Okay, thanks.

I went to my desk to grab a new 'book' of personal checks. The box was empty. Oh yeah, it was a while back that I turned in the 'time to reorder' slip at the bank. Where were the new checks? I hunted all over. No checks. I headed to the bank for answers, but I was still somewhat concerned that I had misplaced the new order. I have been kinda busy, y'know.

So I got to my bank, just down the street about a half mile. As a family, we have had accounts at this bank for over 35 years. When I spoke to one of the bank officers I was informed that they had no record of an order being processed and that they had changed printing companies. It had probably gotten missed in the transition, I was told. Just marvelous. What was I to do? The officer put in a new order and gave me five free 'starter checks'-the limit for freebies.

Now in this case, starter checks are a funny predicament as they are not really starter checks being that the account has been established for over six years. Starter checks are NOT funny because most business establishments will not accept them. Can't use them at the mall, supermarket, Home Depot, Ace, pharmacy, etc.

You get the picture? I can't do diddly unless I pay cash, have either Amanda or my mother write a check to pay, or put it on my credit card (I won't do that). Thankfully, ESP, my shipper will accept them from me and I can use them to pay the bills that get mailed like utilities, etc. (Gee, I hope :-/)

Anyway, back to ordering the new checks...the bank officer assures me that I'll have them in 5 - 10 business days.

Let me now insert the fact that I have just written 'starter check' number twelve. The first five disappeared quickly even though I tried to hold off on stuff until my REAL checks would arrive. I tried to be patient, but when the tenth day rolled by with the checks NOT being in the mail, I headed back to the bank to complain. They assured me that the order had been placed on the 2nd (it evidently took them an entire day to place it?) and that I would have the new checks within a day or two. I insisted on five more 'free' starter checks. They weren't too pleased about that.

Saturday morning rolled around and my mother was heading for the bank. I owed her for half the fuel oil delivery and the water bill. She had been patiently waiting for my checks to arrive. I gave up and wrote out a starter check to her. A couple funny things then happened. I decided to go to the bank as I needed to get some cash to buy some food. My mother was still at the bank when I arrived. Funny number two was when she tried to deposit that starter check and they discovered that they had printed the wrong account number on it (and the other 4)! Good thing that I was there because they went in to panic mode about those other four checks. Thankfully for them, I hadn't used any of the others and gave them back...again asking for more 'starters'.

Sadly, the question "do you think my checks will be in the mail today?" has become a family joke. We are convinced that I am cursed. I went to the bank once again last Friday morning. I had a nicer officer who at least made the effort to look up my account to see if it had been charged for the missing checks. She said that they post the charge to the account the day that the checks are shipped. My account had been charged on Wednesday 13th.

Yay! I should have them shortly. If not that week, certainly by Monday's mail.

Tuesday's mail came and the curse lived on. I was furious and headed back to the bank. I had bills to pay and not enough 'starter' checks. And besides, I really needed to blow my top at someone.

Back to the original officer, drat. I told her that my checks STILL HADN'T ARRIVED. It was now two and a half weeks. It was MORE than inconvenient. And what did she do? She passed the buck, of course. After all the bank HAD ordered them and the printing company had shipped them. It was the United States Postal Service at fault. Well, I was not pleased with that 'not me' attitude and I told her as much. I told her that I should not have to pay for the checks, if and when they ever arrive. She offered to reorder!!!!! Huh????? and wait and wonder once again? Then she offered to order additional checks, leaving the original order in place. The additional order would be at no charge to me. This I agreed to (although I'm somehow sure that the 'no charge to me' part will be conveniently forgotten by the bank and more 'meetings' will ensue over that one). Then she said she thought she might have a trace put on the original shipment.

HUH??? THOUGHT???MIGHT??? I truly believe that this should be at the top of the list of follow-ups! ... followed quickly by the offer to issue me a debit card at no charge so that I, a longtime, loyal customer, will not be so inconvenienced in the meantime. Pfft. Haven't heard a thing.

I asked for five more 'starter' checks and got them with a glare from the teller.

I went home and paid more bills. Then off to ESP to ship some keys. I've got two more sets left to ship this week. One tomorrow and another Friday. Guess what? I'll then be needing more 'starter' checks. As........

I still haven't gotten my new checks in the mail.

The curse idea just might have some merit. What do you think, tomorrow maybe? 20 days and still counting...................

Key Difference

"When you receive the box of keys that I just shipped, please call me if you find ......my car keys inside!"

Yep, there they were.

DDD

Oh my, I did not want to get out of bed this morning. First off, it had been soooooo nice not having storms during the night. I had stayed up watching the Olympics until nearly midnight and slept soundly until 7 a.m. How nice it was to relax and doze until 7:30. But of course that had to come to an end. I needed to get up and have some breakfast, do a few chores around, and mentally prepare myself for Dreaded Dentist Day. Doomsday time was 11:30 a.m. Scheduled was a cleaning and hopefully a repair to that chipped molar.

My adult life has been plagued with dental problems. No matter the treatment, I have a few decent problem-free years and then get hit hard with expensive problems. This doesn't mesh with no dental insurance and limited financial resources. So, this visit promised to be nasty, I figured.

I arrived about ten minutes early and kept myself calm staring blankly at the walls. The dentist was running about 15 minutes late.

This should not be allowed. Fight or flight sways heavily toward the latter during that wait time!

Finally, I am summoned to 'the chamber'. I'll be right with you, he says. Got to go numb someone in the next room. Grrr. More waiting. Until finally....he arrives for my treatment. I'm informed that a seriously thorough and deep cleaning is necessary. Yikes, doesn't sound like fun. I'm told of a wonderful new tool that he has. Designed just for this particular torture.
"It's super effective, but it can be painful," he says.

Flight is sounding even better!

I'll leave out the details as I know a lot of you love the dentist as much as I do. Yep, it did hurt a bit, but not nearly as much as I had anticipated. And my dentist is very committed to 'less pain equals better dentistry'. My gums are sore now, but only really bad in a few spots. Still haven't gotten that chipped molar repaired! Wouldn't you know I've got another appointment for that.

This afternoon I treated myself to some shopping. Mom and Amanda were waiting for me to get home and saw their dreams realized when all was well enough with me to drive us all to the mall and then up to Skip's for burgers. At the mall, I bought a winter shirt and some nice shoes for the colder weather.

Tomorrow night I'm rewarding myself with an outing to a slide lecture presented by Fisk Organ Co. and hosted by the Sandy Bay Historical Society. 7:30 at the Community House. Hope to see y'all there!

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!

Almost Pitiful

Last week there was a teeny, green grasshopper hanging on to the antenna of my truck as I drove around town and even all the way to Gloucester and back. Sometimes he was only gripping with one leg, the others flailing in the wind and his little wings splayed and shimmering in the draft. Eventually, while my truck was parked, probably during the night sometime, he gave up and let go.

Unlike a certain person from my past. Seems my ex (you know, the one with the criminal harassment charge pending against him) tried to submit an application to be a volunteer with WHOA, Working to Halt Online Abuse. That's the organization in which I volunteer. For obvious reasons, his application was denied and he was told not to contact anyone within the organization. You'd think that he'd have better things to occupy his time rather than trying to be a nuisance to me. Pathetic. 6 years and still can't leave it alone.

Picture Puzzle

Got an email today in my blog emailbox. It reminded me of something from a couple years back. Here's a picture.Do you know what it is? Totally correct answer wins.........
my admiration.

Hurry Up August

I'm ready to be rid of July.

July has been a month of extremes and I'm too tired for extremes.

As you may recall, I was swamped with work at the beginning of the month. A good thing but more equal timing would make me much happier. Nevertheless, paying work is always welcome!

I've installed three of the six replacement windows. I've had some words for each of the installations. Most of the poor language has been due to the fact that the guy that measured for the new windows did not leave enough 'wiggle room' in his top to bottom measurement. This has made for major headaches in fitting them.

Then there was the craft fair date change. No more to be said about that.

The same day as I found out about the above date change and had words with the organizer (seems to be a poor noun choice, oh well), I had asked a fellow employee at Tuck's if he would like to work my Sunday hours this week. (Today to be exact) He agreed. I was ecstatic. I was invited to attend a cookout and sing-a-long on Thacher Island. I was actually going to have a day of fun! Yippeeeeeeeeeeee!

You just know that can't last, right?

So, this morning I got everything together in a carry bag for my trip to the island. This WAS going to be a good time. The sing-a-long was to be accompanied by THE reed organ. I might have the chance to ride out to the island on the Ocean Reporter, a real workhorse of a boat for marine salvage, diving, and other heavy duty water work. Every girl's dream, right? (Told you I'm a bit different). Just after 11 a.m., my mom drove me down to T-Wharf. I knew better than to expect a parking space in town on a Sunday. There was a space! Mom parked and we got out, looking around for a familiar face. No one was around except BL and BS loading a mushroom mooring down to a work boat. Why wasn't BL on the Ocean Reporter? Maybe he wasn't going to help ferry the attendees after all. We wandered over to the yacht club to see if anyone was waiting around there. We got some glares as we walked through the club to the front porch. (We're no longer members, you see) One of the guys that had told me about the cookout and had sort of invited me was sitting on the porch. I asked when they would be starting out to the island.

Canceled. Nobody had let me know. Three different folks had known that I was planning on the trip. Not a word from any. Pfft.

Day off, half wasted. I went home and did chores.

Only four more days to survive this month.

Incompetence

or......the end of paying with frustration for a bit of fun.

The Old Firehouse Craft Fairs are expensive for table rental. Higher than most other fairs around. The reasons I haven't minded are because it's right here in town and it's indoors. No worries about inclement weather.

On the very negative side. Not only is it expensive to rent a table, it is one of the most poorly publicized events that I have ever seen/participated in/whatever. Most of the townies don't even know it exists, never mind any tourists. Any customers exist purely by accidental wandering in as they 'tour' all the shops in town.

As I said in the title of this post - incompetence.

And now....

I was reading the little 'agenda' section of the paper when I noticed the usual tiny mention of the crafts fair. The next is scheduled for August 2. I won't be there as I have been frantically working on more necklaces, some with autumn themes and some for Christmas/winter. They won't be dry in time. I was astonished when the newspaper said that the following fair would be on August 31. That's a Sunday rather than a Saturday. The problem is that we were all given a schedule of the fair dates and that schedule lists August 30, the Saturday. Must be a typo in the newspaper, I thought. So I called the woman (above blog title applicable) who is in charge.

And I was told...

I changed the date because I decided to rent out the place to someone else for the 30th.

Yes, I'm furious and I told her so. She had a prior commitment for usage IN PRINT. No notification of the change. NOTHING. I can't just switch to Sunday. I work that day. I will not give up a day's pay and pay for an exorbitantly overpriced table rental. I'll never make THAT much at an UNADVERTISED NON-PROMOTED craft fair.

Suppose I had personally rented that facility for a function, would she then 'go with a better offer' and merely say sorry to me and offer to refund my deposit? I can think of many, many words that I cannot put in print to describe what I think of the situation.

So, the next definite opportunity that I have to sell at that fair in Rockport will be Oct 11. Assuming she doesn't change that at her whim.

I may just say "to !##! with it and her", save my rental fees of $50 per fair and use the money for the big three day, indoor event in Essex next spring.

Yes, I am fuming - big time.

Being Different

Just like this Hydrangea I am usually juggling multiples. I have to have many different types of things going on at once. And frankly, I enjoy being a bit different and having a variety of interests. As a point of fact, this plant is supposed to have deep, rusty rose blooms. Until this year, it did. Now it's pink, purple, blue, and a very pale rose.

Anyway, my point...Dickiebo did a 'what your taste in music says about you' questionaire and posted his results. Annette then did the same and got the same results as Dickiebo. So....I gave it a go.

And of course, came up with a different result:

Your musical tastes are reflective and complex. You are intellectual to the point of being cerebral. You are very open to new experiences, and even more open to new ideas and theories. Wisdom and personal accomplishment are important to you. You are naturally sophisticated. You are drawn to art, especially art by independent artists. You are likely to be financially well off... and not because you were born that way.

It was doing okay until the finances comment. Oh well maybe there's hope!

On a Roll

As seen in the Gloucester Times, July 19, 2008.Yippeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

The Pod Promise

Technically it is known as the fruit from a Bunya-Bunya, or Monkey Puzzle tree. Dickiebo mentioned these on his blog. The fruit is a very, heavy, solid cone. They make quite a thud when hitting the ground or roof.

Anyway, in a comment on dickiebo's blog, I promised to post this picture. (I may have posted it a year ago or so. Haven't checked)
There you have it.

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!

Do You Have All Your Oars in the Water?

I'm dubious about this woman....................

I got two more sets of keys today. One expected, the other a surprise. The surprise was from a non-tech. I don't normally take in key work from non-techs. It's too much of a hassle for the price of the job. The one time I agreed to it was near disaster. Unfortunately, the classified ads in the PTG Journal (professional journal) are available online. Convenient for tech happy piano techs and usually not a problem, for me, with the general public as they haven't a clue how to get keys out of their piano.

Anyway, this box arrives. It's nearly falling apart. I didn't recognize the name on the return address. I opened the box to find a set of grand piano keys jammed inside in every direction. Marvelous, I thought, can't reship finished keys like that, I'll have to find a better, bigger box. That irks me right from the start.

Then I found this note inside in an envelope. I'll intersperse my thoughts as I read it, in color (like this).

Hello Deborah (Couldn't spell my name correctly but managed to get the address right),

I thought it would take forever to figure out how to dismantle my piano to remove these keys. I hope I can remember where all those screws go when it's time to put it all back together. (Oh no, not a piano tech.....Oops, you should have kept them in order and labeled them - good luck)

Enclosed is a personal check for $135 for the resurfacing of these keys. (Wonderful, it's an old price. Hasn't been that for over a year. Hope you included contact info and now I'm going to start wasting work time calling you to straighten it out) If questions arise that require my attention, my home phone number is (SNIP). If I'm not there, use my answering service and I will get back to you promptly. (Please be out when I call. I don't want to chat. Let me just leave a message about the price discrepancy. Then you can call me and leave a message. Really, I don't want to talk to you.)

We have eight-year-old twins who are studying music, and each kid has his own piano. They will have to take turns practicing this week, poor kids. (You send keys, unannounced, with the wrong payment, from halfway across the states, and you expect them to be back in your piano in a week? Don't think so. There are five other customers ahead of you.) Maybe this is a good time to learn some duets. (And find out how all those less privileged one piano households manage to survive)

I really appreciate your effort in making our old piano more enjoyable to play. (Gee, thanks) What will you do with the old ivory you remove? Black market? (You didn't really ask that, did you? Yeah, it's from your piano, if I sell it on the black market and should be caught, I may implicate you as an accomplice. Seriously, if you thought that I were dealing in the black market, why would you do business with me? Huh.) Ebay? (not worth the trouble) Just wondering. (And now I'm wondering about YOU) Hope all goes well with your work, and you'll be able to get the keys back to us soon.

(Did you ever think that I may be dead? on vacation? have sold the business? your keys could have been sitting on a doorstep in the rain for weeks? Don't you think calling ahead just might have been a good idea? Yeesh, lady.)

And an update............

I called. I got her (drat). I kept it simple. Told her the price had changed over a year ago. She said to "trust her", she's putting the balance in the mail tomorrow. I told her that her keys were in the work line up, thanks, bye.

I still can't believe she said black market!

February 5, 1922 - July 8, 2007

I miss you, Dad.

Oh My

Just a very quick post as I may not be here for a couple days. The way I feel now, could be years! (Just kidding).

The crafts fair was extremely busy today. Lots of lookers, not many buyers. I sold one easel mini and five ivory necklaces.

When I left the house early this morning, I reminded my mother to be on the lookout for a box of keys. I was expecting one more set to be arriving. Literally number eight of the latest bunch of the past week. When I got home she said that no boxes had arrived. Thank goodness, I've still got four sets in the workshop to finish up. At just before eight o'clock I headed out the door to pick up Amanda from work.

Guess what?

A box.

And not the one I was expecting. The box was from another tech customer for whom I routinely do key work.

I dragged it in the house and went to get Amanda.

Before I headed up to 'retire' (hah) for the night, I decided to open the envelope taped to the top of the box to see what work he needed done.

Oh my, there are TWO sets of keys in the box.

Numbers nine and ten in ten days.

So, add all that to two days at Tuck's, a piano moving job, three tunings, car shopping with mom, and mowing the lawn! I'll surface eventually!

Blog is Begging

I've been putting off and putting off writing a post. Mostly because I've been very busy and by the time I get enough blogging time....I've fallen asleep. Yep, I'm worn out.

So, I'll try to catch up with a few things tonight. Can't sleep as it's Independence Day celebrations. No private fireworks are legal in Massachusetts. This must explain the multitude of explosions shaking the house. Nothing quite like the smell of explosives on a cool summer night. Can't arrest half the town, I suppose.

Well, I guess I'll start with today and work backwards. I took a drive to Lanesville this afternoon as there was a rumor about an unusual topper for their annual bonfire. You might notice a grand piano sitting up there. It used to belong to a customer of mine. After I condemned it and he bought a replacement, he needed to find a convenient way to dispose of the original. This evening, Mom and I went downtown for the Rockport Fireman's Parade. Amanda doesn't like parades so she stayed home. I don't know, but the parade seemed to lack something this year. We had chowder at Ellen's after the parade and then came home, skipping Rockport's bonfire. Like I said, I'm tired.

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

Awhile back we took three days to have a mini-vacation up in North Conway. We didn't know that it was also 'biker' week! I've never seen THAT MANY motorcycles in one locale. All in all a very polite group. I didn't have my camera with me when we saw approximately fifty Harleys parked in a neat, shiny row in front of a children's store named "The Toy Shop". It just begged for a photo! The big touristy thing we wanted to do is take the Conway Scenic Railroad up through Crawford Notch. We've never done it and it looked like a super ride. We've seen the route from the roadway, trestles hanging on to the edge of mountains. Should have been a thriller - we were four days too early. We were there for Thursday, Friday and Saturday. The 'Notch Train' began running for the season on the following Tuesday. Drat. We had to be satisfied with a rather mundane valley train to Bartlett and back. Took a few nifty pictures, though, including this one of an abandoned passenger car. Some of the people that work for the scenic railway live in a Caboose Park near the station. Some of the old cabooses have been sidetracked and converted to seasonal 'homes'. A lady that was tending the gardens around the station gave us a tour of her caboose. One evening Amanda and I decided to walk to the Saco River along a well-tended path from our motel. We got this far before Amanda chickened out. Lions and tigers and bears, oh my!

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

I must mention the latest Recent Read. "War Journal" by Richard Engel is a must read! Middle East politics and an inside view of the war in Iraq from NBC's Middle East News Correspondent. Richard Engel has live in the Middle East for 12 years, the past 5 in Iraq, is fluent in Arabic and writes a striking commentary on the political, religious, and military dilemmas of the region. Until reading this book, I never truly understood.

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

Tomorrow is the second crafts fair and I'll find out if there is any interest in the painted on ivory necklaces that I'll be adding to my inventory. Per the norm, advertising for the fair is lacking.
Sunday and Monday will be working at Tuck's. Next week I have several tuning jobs and, of course, key work to finish up. Eight sets came in this week! Mom wants to start looking for a new car and that requires my presence, and the lawn needs mowing again.

Did I mention that I'm tired?

Birthday Blast

Well, here it is, the long awaited post, and I'm having to write it quickly in the midst of other happenings.

So, twas the night before my birthday when the phone rang. It was the local doctor and head of the Thacher Island gang. I got my invitation to accompany the reed organ on it's trip out to the island. YIPPEEEEEEEE! This was going to be a fun birthday.

I arrived, as instructed, at the end of T-Wharf, around 9:30 in the morning, camera in hand and documented the loading of the Smith-American organ in to the Thacher Island boat. It takes about a half hour to power out to the island. Once there the organ would be unloaded and put in place in the parlor of the Principal Keeper's house. Some of the gang would spend until 3 in the afternoon working on the island while a few of us 'newbies' went exploring. There was a lot to see as long as the nasty seagulls allowed us passage. It was hatching season and the 'black-back' gulls were particularly aggressive. Our instructions were to carry a big stick to swing at them if they tried to attack us! And they did try. There are many trails that are kept maintained by the group of volunteers and much of the day to day maintenance is provided by the 'guest' keepers who sign up for living on the island for 3-4 week stints. Even when 'inland' on the island the gulls are still very present. The north lighthouse tower is open to visitors. We fought our way through the gulls and reached the tower. The two other guests climbed to the top. I really would have liked to but being as it is an open circular stair my vertigo wouldn't let me. I had to satisfy myself with taking photos from the lower windows and in the entry. We ate our picnic lunches outside the keeper's and guest houses and then set off for more exploring and pictures. At 3 p.m. we met back at the boathouse to set off back to Rockport.
This week I'll be going through the 50 or so photographs that I took of moving the reed organ to the island and I'll submit a couple with explanatory captions to the GDTimes. If you want to read and see more about Thacher Island, visit the web site linked in the sidebar of this blog.

Previews

This post is being written on my verrrry slow laptop as my 'good' computer is being updated. So nothing fancy with this post. First off...an enormous HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!! to dickiebo, my blog twin. I hope you have a fantastic day. My B'day should be quite exciting but I'm going to make you wait for the details and the pictures of the unexpected adventure that I will be having on my birthday. Then, on Thursday the gang should be heading to the White Mountains for a mini-vacation. I'll be back to work on Sunday and Monday. Sometime on Monday I'm hoping my big computer will be ready to come home and it's then that I'll post about my adventures.

This old laptop barely cranks along and is riddled with little problems and quirks. I never know if it will actually start up. It never does it with grace, always demanding some sort of tweaking before Windows will run. And of course I'm quite inept at computer tweaking. I'm hoping it will hang in there for email retrieval until I'm set once again with the main machine.

90° and Counting

I am jumping for joy. Summer has made another appearance in the form of a little heat wave. Those of us along the coast have stayed a tad cooler than the folks inland or those getting extra heat from the cement and asphalt of the cities of the northeast.

We seized the opportunity of good weather on Saturday to have a yard sale. The forecast was for mid-eighties and no rain. Somewhat too hot for a yard sale but at least clear skies. I had piles of heavy boxes to carry up from the cellar so I started the night before. I set up the folding picnic table at the edge of the drive and placed all the boxes of tools and hardware underneath. The lot was covered with a tarp and weighted down with granite for the night. In the morning the books, household items and furniture would be carried out.

I set my alarm for 5 a.m. We had advertised in the GDT that we would be 'open' at 9. When we checked the ad we discovered that there was another sale listed on our street. They were starting at 8 a.m. So.....we decided we'd have to begin earlier than we wanted. The alarm woke me. It seemed to be darker outside than it should have been. It was foggy. I dragged on some old clothes and headed downstairs to make coffee. As I was filling the coffeemaker I glanced up at the kitchen clock.

4:16 a.m.

Huh?????

I walked to the parlor to check the mantel clock.

Yep, 4:16.

Back upstairs to the bedroom. That clock read 5:17. How did the time get changed?

I reset the clock and then set the alarm once again. Back to bed, fully clothed, for a half hour nap.

The first 'customer' arrived at 6:30 and I sent them away. We still had more than half the stuff to unpack! Shortly after 7, we had everything in place and more people began arriving. It was about that time that the sky let loose with a downpouring of rain. Heavy rain. We scrambled to get all our stuff covered with blue plastic tarps. It rain for about fifteen minutes and people stood with arms stretched upwards, supporting the tarps high above their heads. They continued to look and buy. We got soaked. As the rain ended and blue skies finally appeared, we 'untarped' our goods. Now it was time for the mosquitoes. This really annoyed me and I finally managed to find a spot in the sun without the pesky bugs.

People bought some strange things. Yes, I realize that this means that we had strange things for sale. One man bought three large boxes of scraps of wire, mostly single strand insulated stuff. Another man bought four big wooden boxes of very large (and very dull) drill bits and bores. He said that he makes sculptures from them. I thought it might be interesting if he added some dull, burned, circular saw blades to his work. He didn't think so and passed up that box. Thankfully, we sold some of the bigger items like two beds and two rugs, and a very old iron 'witches brew' pot. Most of the hand tools were sold. Some of the tools that didn't sell have now found new homes. A table saw is going to friends, a hand held boat searchlight (12 volt) and the 'Big Daddy' riveter are going to a local guy that has an ocean salvage, mooring gear, and underwater video business. We were worn out by the end of the day but I did take the time to shoot some pictures of my irises! I have three enormous clumps of them. Right now there are somewhere around thirty blossoms and twice that many buds.

No Doubt About It

The post below was written to the Pianotech List by a piano technician that I admire. It was written in response to a question from another tech about how to respond to his ability being questioned by a customer ( a call-back complaint after over 6 months time). The very first time I met David Andersen, I was impressed with his spirit, honesty, and desire to embrace the world whole-heartedly. And although David may disagree with this, I find him to be a very humble man. With his permission I have reprinted his post here.

"I'll tell ya what's up: doubt kills strength, confidence, power, and pleasure; habitual doubt is a toxic, dangerous mental program or habit. When you are insecure
---people can feel it
---it dulls your ability to be clear and focused
---it kills the pleasure of the task in the moment
---it focuses your attention on the self-generated internal dialogue rather than the interesting and challenging task at hand
---it allows you to make stupid decisions, like giving away time and effort for free when you need to be supporting yourself and your family, and consistently undervaluing your worth, the value you bring in people's lives.
Doubt kills the warrior spirit inside of you. It infects everything in your life.
1. Do you see yourself as an artisan, a professional, a craftsperson?
2. Do you generally do the best job you can do?
If yes, then STOP with the doubt and insecurity. You're doing a better job on this planet than a vast majority of humans that live here or have lived here. If your clients don't respect you, fire them. Or suffer. Your choice.
It's that clear and stark. It really is."
David Andersen

The Saga of Junior

or....A Rat's Tale

Junior is big and ugly. He first appeared in my mother's garden last weekend. Well, that's when she first noticed him, at least. Junior is an illegal alien. He is a Norway rat. Yep.

So, mom got the poison down into the burrow that we thought Junior had made and we waited. Early the next evening, we watched from the livingroom window. And he appeared. Drat. At the same time that my mom had poisoned the hole, I had nailed some wire mesh along the edge of the deck, along where Junior had been entering the garden. I had weighted the mesh down along the bottom with some large pieces of granite. Not to be hindered, Junior had burrowed underneath. On to plan B.

We decided that we needed to actually SEE Junior eat the poison. Once we could see him eat it, we knew it would be just a matter of time before "bye-bye, Junior". We also knew that we didn't want to just leave the poison briquette out where our other cute rodents would get to it.

A plan took shape. We went fishing for Junior. Mom tied the briquette to the end of a looooonnnnnggggg string. The string had a loop at the non-poison end that could be draped over the handrail post of the deck. That way Junior could munch a bit, leave, and my mom could haul the left over in for the night. Just before dusk, she set the bait. We waited.

Junior appeared. He completely ignored the bait! He wandered the garden, sticking his little nose in the soil looking for any last remaining bits of bird seed. Around and around he went before he finally came upon the bait and sniffed it. He turned around and moved on to more seed searching. We couldn't believe our eyes. Why wasn't he interested? We began to get very bored with Junior's behavior and decided to take turns at 'watch'. It was mom's watch when the action started. Amanda and I had left for tv viewing when we heard my mom yell that Junior had grabbed the string and hauled the briquette bait to the opening he'd dug to the garden.

Big problem...the bait was too large to fit through the hole and he abandoned it. Junior made his exit under the stairs to the deck. Sigh. This was getting very annoying. This being outwitted by a rat! Amanda took her turn at watch.

I was getting too tired to care. My mom and Amanda seemed quite excited and decided to keep a running dialog about all rat actions. I could hear the details while I watched the television.

It was nearing dark when Junior made his next move. He made a furtive dash from under the deck and grabbed the poison briquette. Then he made a quick U-turn and a dash back to under-deck safety. The string was now attached to the post and then draped across the stairs, disappearing in the void beneath the bottom step. Now what? Then Amanda called to my mom to see if she could see what was happening from her vantage point at the kitchen window. The string was taut, then slack, then taut again. There was a 'tug-a-war' going on under the deck between Junior and the post!

Now, you have to understand that this all took about two hours and it was becoming quite dark outside. My mom tried to see what had happened with the string but she could tell if it was still taut. She didn't know what to do. Should she venture out to Junior's territory and try to haul in the line? I recommended that she wait until morning. If Junior had succeeded in removing the bait from the line there was nothing that could be done. If he'd eaten it all - great!

We all relaxed for the remaining bit of evening and then said our quiet "good-nights" to Junior and headed for a good night's sleep, hoping that Junior's last supper had been successful. When morning came around, I took my cup of coffee to Mom's. She asked if she should check the line. I told her I'd keep an eye out for danger! She hauled in an empty line. Junior had gnawed it through and taken the bait. While we were pleased that success was at hand, we did feel a bit sad at having to kill Junior.

Day turned to dusk and we started randomly checking out the window to see if Junior was in the garden. Hour after hour and he never appeared. Things were looking up even as we felt sort of bad. I told my mom that she should wait a few days before putting the bird feeder back out.

Just to be sure.

Just to be sure, the next morning my mom placed a small stone near Junior's hole to the garden. It would be easy for him to move it out of his way and would be an indicator to us that he was still around. That was this morning. At dusk I walked to the window to check the garden. The stone was still in place and there was no sign of Junior. Just before dark my mom checked.

"Oh no! I saw something move over by the stones, " yelled my mom.
I went to the window to look. Sure enough, there was Junior.

On to Plan C.