Its starting out as a nice week.

I've had a problem with one of my old player installations since last May. The house that this piano is in had a power surge that blew the power supply and so the piano stopped playing. I picked up the power supply and sent it to pianodisc. They are great with their service and sent me a new one. What I didn't know at the time was that the CPU was also compromised with the power surge. So I put the power supply back into the piano and it quit after a few minutes. That was just after I heard a click come out of the CPU. So I took both CPU and power supply with me when I went to Sacramento and did that coarse last week. The coarse was in the Piano Disc factory so there was no problem getting it looked at. I went to the customers place yesterday and reinstalled the parts. It works like a charm. 

I don't know where this screw came from so it is going into my spare parts box. It seems like the older I get , the bigger this box gets.

They have a beautiful 8000 sq. foot  home . They built it last year and the piano was part of their decorating. No one plays but it looks good sitting in the living room.

It is the most interesting place to work.  They yell at each other all the time and the kids all talk back . I have never seen a family like this. They are really nice to me but its like they hate each other. I see a lot of frustration here. I would like to send them this you tube video to watch but I don't have the nerve. I thought it was cool when I first saw it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RwEYYI-AGWs&feature=player_embedded

My neighbors have their kids visiting from Edmonton and so I invited the little ones up to the house last night for a swim. These kids are so sweet and they loved Sweetpea . She swam with them for over an hour. It was a nice evening.

Another Great Sunday

We started out the day with our Sunday morning hiking group. There is a wonderful wilderness park up in the Crawford area that Gord and Maureen know like the back of their hand. We followed their instruction and spent the early hours of the day tromping thru the bush. It was wonderful. Near the end of the hike we all got separated . Ruth and Kim ended up on the wrong side of a boundary fence somehow and got back to the cars after the rest of us. No sense calling to them cuz they were deep into conversation and wouldn't listen anyways.

At one point during our hike Kim entered a race and placed in the top 10. We were all so proud of her .

Our reward for finishing the hike was breakfast at the Harvest Golf Club. I love their grounds. The ponds and ducks are beautiful. I'd like Ruth to consider building something like this on our property.

So our friend Anita has been living in the apartment that is over our piano store for the last 18 months and gave us her notice that she was planning to move out last May. She moved out this week but needed to have some place to go. She is going to be on the road quite a bit until November so we told her she could stay in our suite that we have over our garage. It is quite comfortable with a deck off the bedroom and a nice kitchen on the main floor.

Anita is very fussy with any type of presentation. She has always been like this. Even for a relaxed BBQ she will dress up.

 Ruth and I were walking thru the garage this afternoon and we both laughed when we saw her stopper that she was using on a bottle of wine. What made this so funny was that she is a manufactures rep for a company that sells items like wine stoppers and she has given us some terrific wine stoppers made of glass globes. I guess we should have left a couple of them out in the  spare kitchen for our guests..

It's been a busy week

I got back from Sacramento on Wednesday and had quite a few calls to take care of. One of these calls was to move a 9 foot concert grand for a gal whose parents were no longer needing the piano as they had moved on to the harp. I didn't believe that they had a concert grand in their home so I wanted to see it before we came to move it. It was  1920 Hallot  Davis concert grand that weighed about 1200 lbs. No Problem. Straight out of the old house and straight into the new house. What a joke. Moving out was easy but in was a nightmare. I had trouble getting backed up to the house because of the entrance to the driveway but I finally got it. Then we couldn't go in the front door but we could go thru the garage. (after we emptied all the junk out of it and made a pathway.) It always amazes me how people know we are coming but don't do anything to accomodate us until we are right there.

The driveway was so steep I didn't think we would have been able to push the piano up the slope of the trailer to get it out but luckily Dale had brought a jack that we used to lift the rear of the truck up about one foot to lessen our angle out of the trailer.

It was a terrible move considering the size of the piano but the customers thought this was a fun adventure. Notice the 2 stairs that Dale is standing on. She had told me there were no stairs. I pointed to them and asked her what those were. She just shrugged. I think that I should start to tell people that if there are stairs they will have to pay an extra $100. per step that they don't tell us about. They were so happy that we got the piano into the house. I didn't charge enough.

The piano sounded great once set up. Dale was showing me how unusual the stringing was on this piano. The piano used agraphs on the bridges as well as at the pressure bar. I've never seen that before.

The best part about this move was seeing the wildlife that hangs around my customers yard. I had to laugh when I walked out of her house on Thursday . There was a nice buck standing in the yard about 15 feet away eating the apricots off her apricot tree. She was with me and when I saw the buck I must have said something like "this is great" and ran to my car. She started to scream NO NO NO . I grabbed my camera and asked he what was wrong as I started to take a few pictures. She said she thought I was going for a gun. I laughed all the way home thinking about this. I also wonder what kind of impression I give to people when I meet them for the first time.

I wish I did have my gun with me. This buck would look good in the freezer.

So Ruth went for a walk to the beach this morning at dawn with Shelly and so I had time to take the touring pack off my bike and put on my bar hopper seat. By the time she was back home I had washed both bikes and was ready to go for a ride.

We headed down to Peachland and had breakfast on the lakeside patio of a little restaurant called the Blind Angler. It was a nice ride and a great way to start the weekend.

It has been a lazy day since we got back from breakfast. We have just hung out at the compound all afternoon. I get such a kick out of little Daisy. She reminds me "Sam" the sheep dog looking out over the flock in the loony tunes cartoons.

So while I was away Ruth has the new walkway poured and she also had the guys do a new patio down on the lower level. Now when our friends from Winnipeg come to visit they will have their own private suite complete with sitting area to hang out in. It turned out nice. Ruth has been busy starting to landscape the lower level.

It is 33 degrees and everyone is taking it easy . The dogs have spent most of the day in the pool.

I'm doing some bergers up on the Q and we are planning on a nice quiet evening. I love the Okanagan.

Old Steinways Make Good Kindling

The dryness seems to throw a lot of heat. We really enjoyed the evening by the fire pit.

Fishing The Columbia

So last night I overheard David  on the phone say "we'll meet you at the dock at 6:00".  I asked him what that was about and he said we are meeting the Columbia Walleye God in the morning.  I think I may have indicated to him that I thought it might be a little early for me. He didn't seem to care.So Monday morning I am up in my hotel at 5:00 and ready to go at 5:15. At 5:35 he calls to say he will be there at 5:55. I yelled a few profanities at him for making me get up so early and hung up. I didn't care that I was up early and thought I was being funny. Turns out he thought I was serious and was a little nervous to come and get me. He thought I was really mad. That was funny. I was fine but he looked tired. This is at sunrise. These young guys just can't take it.

It was a beautiful morning on the river. People pay lots of money to have days like this.

So Dave caught the first walleye. It made him a happy boy.

There was quite a long stretch before the next catch but I was the lucky fisherman. This has never happened to me before. It was funny . To check it out Just click here.  0:35Add to

Over the next 4 hours I had lots of luck. It was because Roger took us to some great holes that he likes to fish. I was soo cold this morning that I was putting on any clothes I could find on the boat. Its a good thing the fish don't check to make sure you are a fashionable dresser before they bite.

The Walleye here are a lot bigger than where I usually fish in Ontario. Roger said these were average sizes. They must be getting more food coming in from the ocean.

Roger did a great job making sure we got some fish. He was saying that he tries to get out fishing about 120 days a year and has been doing this for 7 years. He made it fun. Except where he threw my fish back by mistake.

This was our haul. I am planning on a nice Walleye dinner with Ruth tomorrow night when I get back to Kelowna.

Last pit stop was Portland

My last stop on this trip is to see my buddy Dave in Portland and get in some fishing. The snow capped mountain is Mount Hooded. Beautiful country here.  I was glad that I could stop and visit. This is the mountain from the highway.

                                This is the view of Mt. Hood from the river.

This is what a true fisherman looks like on his way to the killing fields. He treated me really good. It was a nice afternoon but we got skunked. I have never understood fishing with lures . I like baited hooks.

I always look so serious. I wish people would take me more serious.

So after our afternoon on the Colorado we went back to Dave's place for a wonderful Salmon dinner with his wife Megan. She's a great hostess and Dave did a great job on the BBQ. This dinner alone was worth the trip. There is something about knowing where your food came from that makes it nicer to eat.

 I really enjoyed myself. It was fun. Hopefully they come up to Kelowna this fall for wine festival. They have two cool cats. I don't usually care for cats AT ALL but these cats were gentle (didn't bite) and fun to watch. This one had the most unique way of drinking water. She dipped her paw into the bowl and then licked her paw. Dave was saying because of this way of drinking she always kept her two front paws out of the litter box.

Education Week

Its been a great week. There is a new composite piano action that the Bergette brothers have developed and I think it is going to revolutionize pianos in how they perform and are built over the next few years. This is such a cool action. I am putting one into my own Steinway because it is so good. Mason and Hamlin pianos use only this new action. I truly believe they are the finest pianos on the planet.

I met lots of nice guys and I learnt alot on piano building and what makes a quality piano during this 4 day introduction to the WNG piano action. The other piano men in this class have all been interesting in different ways. I think the piano tech from Long Beach is quite special. He does more pianodisc installs in three weeks than I do in a year and he seemed to pick up on to the new composite piano action faster than the rest of the class. I was a little envious. There was a lot of geometry involved with this class and it is not my Forte. I found Thursday a hard day. Hopefully I will be able to figure out my problem of the day when I can study my notes at home.  Everyone in the class was glad to be here and we all worked well together. We all seemed to enjoy each others company. I was glad to have met all these guys.

 Our professor (the engineer who has designed this new action) is the guy in the blue shirt. I was told that in the 70's he had a big beard and long hair past his shoulders and was playing in a band. I bet he never saw himself doing this back then. Funny how we all change. He's a nice guy who worked really hard to help us understand the geometry of how a piano has to be built. He is an excellent teacher who made this class fun.

So today was the last day and it seemed like everyone just wanted to crash early so that we could all get on the road first thing tomorrow. I went hunting for dinner about 8:00 and got a burger at In and Out . They have an outlet that is 5 minutes from the hotel. I have been wanting one of these all week. It made my trip to California worth while.

On the Road Again

                                                      I'm off on another adventure.

My first stop was to visit my little cousin in Mt Vernon. She took me out to the ocean for a hike along a beautiful bay.

I loved her new car. I think her husband Mike should get a new car now or at least finish restoring his Porsche.

I had a great sleep that first night on the road. The bed was a little small for me but it was comfortable.

I had a good laugh while going to bed. Dale has freaked me out a little about sleeping on hotel pillows so I took my own. Ruth had packed it into a bag for me and when I put my head down on it I felt a big lump. When I looked inside the pillowcase I saw punkinhead. This was my teddy bear from when I was 3 years old. She thought I might get lonely being away from home so she packed him  for me.
I gave him a hair cut when I was 3 because I thought his white hair was growing too fast. I can still remember how disappointed I was when it never grew back. I couldn't understand why it didn't. This little teddy bear is about 60 years old. I wish I knew who gave it to me.

                          He was perfectly happy sleeping on this bed . It was his size.

My next stop was to visit my cousin in Corvalis , About 2 hours south of portland. We had a nice evening together . Barb just retired and her husband Lynn can retire next summer. They are at a very exciting time of their lives. Barb has an extremely good eye for arranging flowers. These are out of her garden. They looked exquisite.

They have renovated this old house and it is beautiful. I would like to do our basement bedroom like the way they have done theirs. This would address the code problem we have with no windows in the bedroom down there.

They say that they are coming for a visit this Sept. I hope they come the same time as Susan and Mike. We are due for a family reunion.
Just as I crossed into California my odometer hit another milestone.

I had a few issues with my turbine in the car but it must have been dirty. It is running great once again. That made me a little nervous yesterday. I got to the hotel about 8:00 and made myself a nice dinner. The hotel is a suite.

I stepped out to bring up my bags and by the time  I returned Punkinhead was sprawled out on the bed watching TV. Reminds me of Daisy.