A Beautiful Autumn Sunday Morning

We were on the greenway by 8:00 enjoying the autumn scenery. It was absolutely beautiful. The changing colors are nice to see and the cool air is so refreshing to breath.

                          Here I got a nice picture of Ruth with Peter and Sandy.

                             Its only fair that I get a picture with our friends as well.

I took this picture of Mission Creek off of the lakeshore bridge. This is a beautiful walk. We're so lucky to have such a nice green space in our city.

After our walk we headed over to the Harvest Country Club for breakfast. This is one of the most scenic clubs in Kelowna. I was already sitting in the dining room when Rob came to get me. He told me to bring my camera and get this picture. Rob  took photo journalism in university and has a fantastic eye for getting great pictures. I meant to thank him for getting me. The reflections in the pond are beautiful. I was wishing that I had a better camera.

Here is the gang on our way out of the clubhouse. I like when Kim makes the Sunday morning walk . She is always happy and she has the greatest laugh.

Pete sat beside Rob during breakfast and was saying that he would like to get some apples to take back to Winnipeg. Rob invited Peter to come back to his place for a stroll thru his orchard and pick some tree ripened apples. Rob's orchard is a mere 20 acres of apple trees. It is beautiful in here. I could never do a job like this. Too labour intensive.

I don't think Peter found this apple picking business very labour intensive. All you have to do is stand there and hold a bag open. He said it was sort of like when he was a kid out on halloween. The only difference is that when his bag was full today he didn't go back later to throw eggs on the cars and house windows of the place that just gave him the apples.

Rob and Shelly have the greatest dog. Charlie is so well behaved . She is happy and very sweet. Everyone likes going on walks when she is coming along.

After we left Rob and Shelly's place we went for a stroll thru the arts district. I took a nice picture at the base of Randy's bear. I was wishing we were there at night so they could see how great the bear looks when it is lit up.

At the other end of the marsh I got a nice picture of this beautiful bird. Our downtown is wonderful. There has been a lot of thought putting green space into areas that everyone can enjoy.

Another Terrible Move

I had another terrible move this week. Dale and I had this piano booked for Wednesday afternoon . The customer didn't speak english very well and had indicated to me that there were only a couple of stairs in the house. She also said that she had a steep driveway. I'm thinking that this is no problem. WRONG. I should have been more worried about this move when she was hand talking to me during the moving explanation. My old friend Peter from Winnipeg is out here for a visit with his wife this week and so he offered to come along with us. The more hands on a move usually make it easier. So we get out to the house and see that the driveway is really steep. Check out the skid marks from my back tires.

At first I was going to unload this piano at the bottom and push it up the driveway but the guys didn't want to work that hard. In hindsight I should have done that. What happened was that as we were pushing the piano towards the back of the trailer on the dolly we put more weight on the back of the trailer and that took weight off the trailer tong. As a result it took weight off the rear of the truck making the emergency breaks ineffective and the truck and trailer started sliding down the driveway with us inside. It scared the heck out of me. The guys didn't know what was happening it was so smooth and so I started yelling for them to roll the piano to the nose of the trailer right now. They did and the increased weight on the hitch passed onto the rear tires and the truck stopped sliding. Just in time because in about another 5 feet the truck and trailer would have jackknifed. We slid about 10 feet. We blocked the tires with rocks they had in their retaining wall.

When I got into the house I was greeted by 18 stairs with two 90 degree turns on the two landings. No way a grand piano was going up these stairs. I made an appointment with Carlo's Crane to come out on Saturday to do a lift for me. It was so difficult dealing with the language barrier during the sale that I decided to pay for the crane out of my own pocket rather than try to get her to pay. You can see the skid marks on the driveway where my tires broke loose.

So Carlo showed up when he said he would and we were hooked up within minutes.

                                 His son ran the crane while Carlo and I strapped the piano.

                      The kid had it on the deck within a minute. He works the boom just as good as his dad .

Once it was on the deck Dale and I had it in the house and set up within 10 minutes. This is the white Yamaha grand that I have had for about two years. It looks great in their house and I am thrilled to have it sold. It is hard to sell white. Everyone seems to want black these days.

Things That Make Me Happy Inside

So I am driving back to Kelowna from a day of working down south in Oliver when I spotted this beautiful rainbow. I pulled over on the highway to look at it and noticed that there was a lineup of people in other cars doing the same thing. There were lots of folks standing in front of their cars other than myself taking pictures of this rainbow. I thought that this was really cool to see people stopping to smell the roses.This made me smile. We live in a beautiful world and it is nice to see people take advantage of what is offered to us at no charge. This did turn into a double rainbow after I got back into the car and headed down the highway. It was beautiful.

I love my dogs. This also makes me happy to see them both eat so well. Ruth and I have had dogs for over 35 years and I don't think I would feel so complete without a mutt in the house. Our youngest daughter brought over some scraps from a stew she made yesterday for us to throw into the dog food.
I have always augmented their food with our dinner scraps so I appreciate when the kids bring us their leftovers.The dogs love the scraps and are well fed because of it.

Ruth and I went for a walk on the beach today with the dogs after I got home. I wish I had been closer to this young man when I took this picture but didn't think of doing it soon enough. I saw him walking down the hill towards the beach when we first got there and when we were walking back 30 minutes later he was sitting under this tree with his guitar playing songs and singing. Now when I think about it I wish I had gone back to him and asked if we could sit down and listen to him. He sounded good from where we were.This also made me smile inside when I saw and heard him.

                              I love the colors of fall. We live in such a nice place.

 I was talking with an acquaintance this morning who told me that his young daughter was taking piano lessons. He said that if she liked it they would likely buy a piano from me someday. I  said that I would like that and we went on to other subjects.
This afternoon I was thinking about what he said and started to wonder what she was practicing on. I called him on the phone with an offer. First I asked what they had at home in the way of an instrument. It turns out to be a deluxe keyboard on a scissor stand. So I thought "Yuck." She'll never learn properly on that so I told him about an expensive Baldwin upright that I just got in trade. I offered it to him for free until her lessons are over  for the year next May. At that time I want it back and this piano will not be for sale to him. If he wants to continue her lessons next year I can sell him a better piano for less.I would like to sell him a piano some day but I am not making this offer for a sale. What makes me smile here is that I feel that this little girl is getting a chance to have music in her life and not be discouraged by having to play on something electric that we all know does not enhance the musical learning experience. I'm glad that Ruth and I are in the position to be able to do things like this.

My Sunday

I  hit the ground running this morning. Ruth is still on her yoga retreat and I didn't want to be late for my Sunday morning hike with my friends. So I'm sitting in the parking lot at the H2O centre waiting for them since 7:45 when Gord phones me at 8:01 asking where I am. I went to the wrong meeting place. & minutes  later I'm at the eco center with my friends. Glad we have cel phones. We had a nice walk down the greenway beside Mission creek before going for breakfast at the Harvest.

So at breakfast Shelly asked if I had bought the apple peeler that I had been talking about getting.  That was on todays list of to do. She said that she had the very one I was going to buy and she never used it. I could have it if I wanted. Free is good so after breakfast I headed over to their place to get the peeler. They have a beautiful home.

When Rob saw how cool it was he showed some interest in how it worked and thought it should be a loan and not a gift. I knew this wasn't going to go my way so I told them that I was going to buy my own. What was really cool at their place today was the ladybugs. This is the house that Rob was born in and he and Shelly have redone everything imaginable to the place over the last 15 years. One thing that has never changed since he was a kid is that the lady bugs come into the back entrance every year just before winter and stay till the spring. They come in thru the crack under the door. I have never seen anything like this in my life. They gather in the corners for the room. Lots more will still come.

                                     They even gather in the corners of the windows.

So I went to the kitchen store on my way home and got my own peeler. It is so slick . I had a bunch of apples we picked the other day at our friends farm that I used for my test bunch. First you stick the apple on the end of this shaft.

                                      As you turn the crank it does a nice job peeling the apple.

                                                   Next it slices and cores the apple .

       All I had to do next was put them into the dehydrater and wait for them to come out nice and tasty.

Saturday On My Own

Ruth is off for a weekend Yoga retreat with some of her girl friends. I'm having a weekend to myself.
So I let the dogs out around 7:00 this morning and then drank too much coffee while reading the globe. I loved this morning. The only thing that I really had to do today was look at a music teachers 3 pianos that she wanted to trade in to me for a new Grand Piano. I didn't know where this was going to go for me but being the eternal optimist I rang her doorbell and put on a smile. She is one of the music teachers that I have always liked in this town. I saw the pianos in her house and then we both headed out to my store. I only have one particular piano in stock that I felt was the right one for her. She even went to try a different piano at one point and I stopped her. I suggested that it wasn't the right one for her and so she didn't even try to play it. I find it SO NICE to be working with someone who actually listens to what you are saying. I am a professional piano man and this is what I have done for 42 years but to some people that doesn't mean anything.  I enjoyed working with her and helping her find her new instrument. She is now the proud owner of a beautiful Ritmuller Grand Piano.
Here is what one of America's better piano techs has to say about the Ritmuller piano. Shawn Hoar

After a nice lunch with one of my old friends I  came home and hung out with the dogs. They found it to be a lazy night and didn't even come into the kitchen when I made dinner.

I felt like Chinese food so I got some chicken and pork on the way home. There were lots of vegies in the fridge to cook up. I love to cook. I did manage to keep it to a minimal mess as I made dinner.

 Unfortunately I am home alone and I made way too much food so it looks like Ruth is eating my leftovers for Sunday night dinner when she comes home . It was a slow process making dinner because I kept getting sidetracked but it was worth it. I love this wok.

My son in law Brad has made it that I can hook up my ipod into the home system so I cranked up some great music and sat down to a very enjoyable meal. I like being by myself sometimes.

Where Has This Week Gone

Its been a quiet week. I went to my regulate Tuesday morning Yoga session at the Italian club and after ht the Art Centre with my friend Mike for coffee. Tuesday mornings are always a highlight. After that I had to tune a Yamaha piano for a new customer.

They are easy to tune but they sure don't seem to have much musical tone. It always surprises me that people buy them. Marketing is a wonderful thing. Its like how they don't sell Mcdonald's  burgers on taste. If that was how they promoted them I am sure their sales would slump.
Wednesday morning I had a fun tuning. It was on a 7 foot Mason and Hamlin that  sold to this young fellow. This is the nicest piano in Kelowna without a doubt. It is easy to tune and also has a wonderful tone. I loved this particular piano. The Mason and Hamlin piano company is rated as one of the top 10 piano builders in the world. They are my favorite. This is an interesting video on piano construction.

How it's made-Mason &Hamlin pianos

He has a cool apartment. It is a penthouse looking over Kelowna and Lake Okanagan.

I am not a real fan of heights but after I left his place I felt that being up high was no big deal. I needed to change the filters in my rooftop unit in my building so feeling brave I headed over there to do it. I hate climbing up this ladder and because of that I don't change the filters as often as I should. The hard part is carrying the filters in one hand ,  getting to the top , hanging on and opening the trap door.

Once up here I am fine. The down side is that I took the roof top unit apart and realized that I had the wrong size filter. Looks like I am going to be up here again tomorrow.

I just saw a show on TV that highlighted the sport of catching catfish without a rod. It is called Noodling and it is all by hand. My friends Ron and Dave are my fishing buddies and if they ever suggest we try this I will gladly drive the boat and watch them. I laughed out loud while watching these guys down in the Southern States fish.

Catfish Noodling

Something I Found Profound

My friend Randy sent me this and I really thought is was worth sharing. 

Why I Love Sunday's In The Okanagan

We have this terrific bunch of friends that we see on sunday mornings for a walk and then breakfast at a number of great spots. We try to go somewhere different every week.  The hikes are always around one hour to one and a half hours long. The last few weeks we have been hiking in more populated areas.  We are a little concerned that we might run into bears because they are coming into the valley to fatten up on fruit before hibernation. I like to be more safe than sorry. Today we started our hike from Rob and Shelly's place in South East Kelowna. Their home is part of Rob's family farm that they kept when they sold off their orchard. Rob and Shelly are both fantastic gardeners and their place is beautiful.  It is like a park. We all love coming out here for our hikes.

Rob has recently put a couple of blue men up at the back of their property by the sheds. They look cool.

After the walk we went to the Harvest Golf Club for breakfast. This is one of our favorite hang outs. Here Shelly and Ruth are walking past the pond behind the clubhouse. These two usually walk together because they are both speed demons when they walk. I was with Shelly this morning on our walk and really enjoyed myself with her but found that I was puffing while talking /  walking. She doesn't realize how fast she goes. I think we should spend more time sitting on the couch having a glass of wine and good conversation . This walking fast , talking and puffing sucks.

The Harvest has the most beautiful grounds. They have done an amazing job on these waterfalls.

So I have a wonderful friend that I spent most of the day with. Here is a guy who has worked as a professor in  many countries around the world , overseen the construction of a 70 million dollar facility in Kelowna that he brought it in under budget  and is an architect who had designed some beautiful buildings in our north. I love hanging out with him because of all the great things he can do and that he is still just one of the guys. Today I helped him move a fridge to his sons place and he helped me move a piano. Here is a picture of him getting the door hinges disconnected because we needed some extra space to move the fridge out. You can't see this but he was using a chisel and hammer to pop the hinge pin out instead of a screwdriver. I thought that was funny. This is something that I would do. I did tease him about the fact he was using a chisel.

After all the moves were done we rewarded ourselves with a nice lunch that was complimented with a little Merlot on the sunny deck of the Green Room . A lovely restaurant that is in the Kelowna Arts District .
It was a great day.

My Thoughts for the Week

I had to tune a piano for one of the smaller churches this week and was impressed with how they have handled their shrinking congregation. Instead of having a lot of empty pews to look at every Sunday they have taken them out and put in Round tables that hold 8 people each. This way the sanctuary looks full with less people and everyone enjoys the service in an informal setting that lets them get to know one another better. I thought this was great.

The first car that I ever owned was an Austin Healey. I was 16 years old and I paid $280. for it. One of my customers owns this particular car and it had an off the frame restoration a few years ago in Chicago. He has it for sale and when I finished tuning his piano I told him I might be interested in buying it. After sleeping on it overnight I decided that I would rather have a modern car that handles like a modern car instead of a car that drives like a tractor  if I did decide to buy a convertible to help celebrate my next birthday. It really is a pretty car.

One of the two things in life I don't like or have time for is a thief. I had to deliver a piano to Penticton this morning and when I drove behind my store to connect my trailer to the truck I had to rub my eyes to make sure of what I was looking at.  NOTHING. No trailer. This is the 3rd trailer in 6 years that has been stolen. It seems like it is how things are in this day and age. It is too bad that there are people like this around. I guess I am going to have to keep the next trailer in my yard if I don't want it stolen again. Luckily the trailer place was open till noon and was willing to rent me this trailer to do my delivery.

The highlight of my weekend was going out for dinner at Mike and Ronnie's place.  Great Friends,Great conversation , Great food and a Great Time. Ruth made up a bouquet of flowers out of her garden to take with us.