Busy Wednesday

This started out as an absolutely beautiful day. At 8:00 the sky was blue and the temp was already 5 above Celsius. A great day to be in the Okanagan.

This was also a very busy day. I have to make sure that my new player piano is working for tomorrow morning when I put it into our regional mall until December 19. The piano is going to be controlled by an iPad and I really don't want it stolen so I have sunk the iPad into the music desk. It looks good but I needed to have a cover backing the ipad so that it can't be removed from the back side of the music desk. I went to my shop and took a piece of steel from Carries metal studio she has in the back of the store. Than I went to see Gus to ask his help. Gus seems to have every tool know to man and I knew he had just picked up a new plasma cutter. What a cool machine. We both took turns cutting out this 14 gauge sheet of steel. It cuts like a dream.

After we had our material cut we decided that it had to be hit with a grinder. Gus did this . It turned out great. Looks like it was done by a pro.

He also dragged out a small table grinder to do a little more fine grinding. It turned out beautiful. This could be a new career for him.

I got the music desk finished with the iPad safely recessed inside of it now the piano looks and plays great.
We packed the piano into the trailer tonight so that we can save some time in the morning and I'll get some shots of the piano tomorrow once we have it set up in the mall. This piano is one of the nicest players I have done so far. Its funny how the more you do something the better you get and the better they sound.

It was a Tracy Day

We did our Sunday Morning walk with our friends and then Ruth and I headed over to Tracy's place to hang out. The early Christmas Party was cancelled because it was just too much so we just enjoyed a small get together. Carrie and Brad had bought a new computer for Tracy yesterday and they got it loaded with most of what she wanted overnight. Today Brad spent about 3 hours making sure that it was set up with everything else she needed. It was nice of them to spend most of the afternoon helping out at Tracy's . After the computer was set up he hooked up a TV so she could watch the Grey Cup and then did some electrical work with some of the light switches in her living room.  I took a picture of a photo Tracy has hanging on her wall yesterday when Ruth and I had gone over to do a small job before she came home from the hospital. This is Tracy when she was 3 years old on her bike.  It was a hand down bike from her sister but those are brand new streamers. I think she must have been very proud of them to remember this after 42 years.

Ruth took the picture from my computer and had it transferred into an eatable photo that she transferred to a cake she baked Saturday night and then brought it over to Tracy's house for our little get together.

I think she still looks the same. I can hear her saying like "Look at me. I'm only 3 and I can ride this bike faster and farther than anyone else." It makes me laugh when I think of that. The cake was very good. It didn't last long once her family knew it was for eating and not just looking at.

Life Is Full Of Surprises

I'm having a hard time writing this blog. I find it hard to express how I feel other than to just say   *#%#*&^@^*#^%.   We have a good friend who was diagnosed this week with cancer . She is part of our Sunday morning hiking group and we all love her very much. It came to all of us including her as a huge surprise as she is one of the youngest in our bunch of friends. Luckily I know she can beat this thing because she is one of the strongest and most determined women I know. Ruth and I have been involved with her for the last 7 years due to our interest in the Kelowna arts scene and she has been a driving force in the growth of our Arts Centre. She is having a christmas party this Sunday which is SO HER.  She is such a planner. Always thinking of her friends. We are all sending  positive thoughts and love to her for next week when she starts her journey to recovery. I'm looking thru my pictures of us doing stuff together and have to laugh at her riding on back of my Harley dressed in purple and pink(which didn't thrill me) to her fixing a pinball machine when it stopped working just before a news conference that was going to highlight it as one of the main auction pieces at an Art Centre gala.

Weeks End

I have a new helper . Dale is now living in Winnipeg and I sure miss him. I didn't know how I could ever find someone to help me like Dale did and now I know that I never will but I have found  a good guy who will be able to fill a bit of Dales shoes. He is a nice young man who is big and strong and does listen to what I say. Unlike helpers that I had  before Dale he doesn't smoke , drink , or do drugs. He is a big strong 30 ish guy who is signed up for university next year after spending 5 years in Calgary as a finishing carpenter. Luckily for me there is no work in Kelowna in his trade right now. I hope he will stick with me for a while. This was our first day working together and he was easy to work with. He was polite with the customers and ready to do whatever I asked. We did two pianos and everything went fine.

My last job of the day was to tune one of the pianos Dale and I craned into a house last month. When I deliver a grand piano there is usually a gift of white flowers that comes along with me that I give to the new owners. This was about 5 weeks ago that we did this delivery and the flowers are still in the original box I brought them in. Only thing different was the colour of the white flowers. They are now a beautiful white and brown. I have never seen anything like this before. I guess I should have told them to put them into a vase and add water. At my age I should know that a person can never assume.

All I Can Do Is Laugh

I'm I my shop trying to finish this player piano that I need for the mall and I have been listening to a small motor running for over 1.5 hours outside somewhere. The snow had turned to rain overnight and most of the  snow is now gone. Looking over the edge of our property I see Art blowing the remaining snow and leaves off his yard. It did make me laugh cuz he could have likely raked this small area in about 10 minutes but he is an old car guy who loves the sound of a motor. He finally quit doing this cleanup. I'm sure he got tired of the slow progress.

So the piano is coming along really nicely. Rails are hung , driver boards mounted and everything is now wired and ready to go.

All that is left  to do is build new trap work for the pedals. (Redesigned pedal system)  So when I do one of these conversions I throw all of the pedal mechanics into my bin of spare parts except for the shift pedal.(Left Pedal) With the shift pedal I take the metal shift lever out of the key bed while making all the modifications and reinstall it when finished back to its original spot. This is where it fits.

I've been converting pianos onto player's since 1984 and have 3 large bins of old pedal parts that have been removed from all the pianos I have converted. It's Murphy's law that made me decide to throw away 3/4 of these old parts last week and somehow the box of everything I had taken off my present project went with the bins to my store BFI. I keep these parts for 27 years thinking I might find a use for them someday .Why couldn't I have waited for just one more week before getting that urge to clean up. Geez.

Our friend Gus is going to help Carrie out and buy most of the metal off of her that she had left in her welding studio that is in the back of our store. She wants to keep a few pieces for herself so that after she has her next baby she will have something to work with. Carrie and I went to the store yesterday afternoon to set aside what she wants to keep. This is likely the last time that it will be only the three of us going in the truck .The new little miracle should be arriving anytime. I'm getting really excited.

OUCH.......

This was my Saturday. Somehow I walked into a piano bench in my Piano store Friday afternoon before I turned the lights on and it caught me just under my Knee Cap. It didn't hurt at the time and I remember thinking I should be more careful. Well ,  Saturday morning I woke up and couldn't stand on my left leg. It was swollen and felt like someone was trying to pry my Knee cap off with a crowbar. I spent the day with my leg up. I don't mind being lazy sometimes but I did have a ton of things I had planned for today. At least I didn't need a cane to get around. That would suck.

It is now Sunday and my leg is a lot better. It still hurts to touch and doesn't bend very well but I did get out today and do some work. I don't think I will be going to Yoga this Tuesday morning unless I have some type of miracle happen tomorrow.

Its Very Busy Again....

Thursday morning I went out to give the first tuning to a music teacher after she had let her new Ritmuller Grand Piano settle in for about one month. It was an easy tune ,  made for a nice morning. 

She had to leave half way thru and had me lock up the house when I finished. She has this little dog called Toffee that she was worried about. She thought toffee would be barking the whole time once she left but the dog was great. I almost brought her home to play with Daisy. I'm starting to like little dogs.

When I got home my two Mac junkies were hard at it in the office. Jack had my computer and iPad both doing something . For just being three years old he sure knows how to do a lot of things.

Jack slept over last night and when we got up this morning we went outside to clean up the driveway. There was a huge dump of snow last night.

Jack loves anything that burns gas and makes lots of noise. I'm glad the kids live here cuz by the time I won't want to shovel or work the snow blower I think Jack will be able to take over.

I found today a little frantic....

My first tuning this morning was for Summerhill Winery. I always get into a bit of a bad mood when I do this piano.The owner had me move it into his pyramid 18 months ago and has only tuned it once after the move.It is a cool building because of how he had it built. There is no metal in the building
(ie. screws and nails.) Only wood and cement. This way he believes his pyramid has magical powers that do wonderful things.

Last time I tuned in this pyramid I broke my $250. Ray ban sunglasses and this time I almost froze to death. Its hard to tune when your hands are cold.

He also has a mouse problem in the pyramid and they are starting to destroy the piano. First thing I did when I left was wash my hands. Yuck.

My second tuning was great. Nice people and a nice piano. When I finished that piano I went to B.C. Trailer and picked up my new delivery trailer. By the time I was finished getting it registered and  home it was dark out. It's the nicest trailer I have ever owned. I can just turn it around in our parking lot . I was a little worried about that.

After dinner I went out to the shop to work on that player piano I started last night. Tonight I managed get two of the three solenoid rails built as well as the power pack and the speakers mounted. If I can continue at this pace I hope to have it playing by Sunday.

I Did Lots Of Things Today

We are starting to cool down. The snow is coming down the mountains and our winter cloud cover is moving in. This is how it looked just as the sun was coming up.

I like being bust this time of year otherwise it can become depressing. We met Carol and Randy down at Knox Mountain for our Sunday morning hike. All of our other friends that hike with us Sundays  are out of town this weekend. Carol has been working in Yellow Knife for the last 5 months on a 2 year contract to design and build a hospital. I think she misses Randy and I know she is enjoying her trip visit .

Two years is a long time to be away. This could be a Tim Horton Commercial.

After the walk we headed back to their place for a fantastic breakfast. Randy has spent the last five months renovating their kitchen. He did it all by himself and is quite proud of the results with good reason. It turned out great. This renovation gives their house a total different ambiance than what it had before. It use to be quite dark in the house and now it is very open and bright. He was doing some sort of little dance here. I think it would have been better if he had turned on some music first.

We laughed lots during breakfast . It was more like lunch by the time we were finished.

I was anxious to get moving and start my day. After a quick stop at my store I dropped in to see my friend Gus. He has one of those minds that if you run a problem past him he will somehow come up with a solution. He also has more stuff in his garage than anyone I know. I was telling Gus last week that I need to make some sort of machine to push/pull pianos up my ramp . The older I get , the heavier the pianos seem to get. Well , it seems that Gus bought one of those early motorized scooters a few years back at an auction. It didn't work when he got it but he fixed it  up and figured we could do something with it.It has two 12 volt motors inside this cowling that drive the wheel.

Gus had to replace these electronics when he first got the cart but now it works perfect. We are trying to figure out how to utilize this and make a motorized piano dolly.

I got home in time for dinner and then headed into the shop for the evening. I have two weeks to convert another Grand Piano into a Piano Disc Player Piano. I got a good start on it tonight. Measuring and cutting the slot for the solenoid rail is very time consuming.

It has to be perfect and I finished this procedure before quitting for the night. The install will go quick now. I have too many projects on the go. I am sharing my kayak building table with my piano project.

Don't ask me how I did this. Those Japanese saws are sharp.

Another Long Day

Dale was at my house this morning just after 8:00 A.M. to deliver another Grand Piano out of town with me. We got the piano into the rental trailer and headed out to Grand fork after a few stops. Coffee , Diesel fuel and a set of coasters for the customer that we got at Rona. Deep in serious conversation I wasn't looking at the speedometer and  unfortunately got pulled over for speeding. Luckily  the RCMP officer was in a good mood and let me off with a warning. This is the second time that this has happened in the last two month. I felt very lucky. I wish I had taken a picture of the lights flashing in my mirror as he pulled me over. He was a little mad when he came up to the window because he had been following me for a couple of miles with the lights flashing before I did pull over.  I was hoping that he was just trying to pass me for something more important. OOPS.
We found our customers house after lunch and unloaded the piano with no problem. She is a very interesting woman. She owns an antique store and ice cream parlor that is attached to her house .
The house is beside the river. Hence the name of her ice cream store.

The antique shop is under renovation but she hopes to be up and running before Christmas.

She is also a city councilor for the town of Grand Forks. The house she has is a heritage home with lots of character. This piano is a perfect fit for her house.

We sat around for about an hour  talking and drinking coffee after we had the piano set up . It was a nice delivery. I wish they were all like this.
Dale and his wife are moving to Winnipeg this next Tuesday to finish fixing up a couple of houses that they own there . He says they need to be there to prep them for selling and it is almost impossible to do it at this distance. Today is likely the last time we will be working together and this made me a little sad this afternoon when I realized it. We have made a good team in this piano business. The customers all liked him and he was always one step ahead of what had to be done next. I looked forward to going to work when he was going to be there to help. I hope that he likes cold weather and mosquitos. I know that I like being here in Kelowna more than being there in Winnipeg.

This turned into a 10 hour move. It was good to get home .

Our last Trip Over The Mountains Before Winter

So we decided a couple of days ago to see Sharon and her family before the snow comes. We were up at 6:00 on Thursday morning and ready to leave but somehow I put my head down for 5 more minutes and didn't move till 8:00. We said goodbye to the dogs and were gone by 8:15. These are great dogs.

                          Sweet pea is only 10 but she has aged rapidly this last year.

It is winter up here already. I don't like winter driving but at least there was no snow happening.

                                                                  It is cold outside.

As we got down in the elevation the fall colors started to show up again. Hope is a beautiful little town but too wet for me to want to spend time in.

We got into Sharon's place on the island just in time to have a little visit and crash for the night. It was another 11 hour drive. I wish she lived closer to us. She suites this house . It is a great place.

So I got up in the morning and was cold. Sharon started a fire and we had breakfast. It was a nice way to start the day. Once I warmed up I tuned her piano and then offered to tune her mother-in-law's piano as well. It was a 45 minute drive to her house but I was happy to do it. As I left her house I noticed the elk skull that she had told me about. Chris found it in the bush last month and dragged it out.It is a lot heavier than it looks.

We were driving back to her home at  Mesache lake  when I noticed all these pumpkins along the side of the road. She said this area was called Sleepy Hollow and the people from surrounding towns brought their pumpkins out here for display during halloween . It was cool to see. I'm glad we stopped to take pictures. I liked seeing these pumpkins in the bush.

Before dinner the kids had a piano practice. Here Elliot was hard at work.It was so cute to see them playing the piano making music. I wish I had gotten a picture of Isaac as well. He is turning into a good little musician.

The kids are in French Immersion and so they practice reading a story every evening to their Mom. Sharon is such a good Mom. I wish I had this kind of patience when the girls were this young.

It's almost bed time and Chris is spending time with Isaac. This kid is really sharp.

                                           
                                                   He loves this touque

I really want to go to bed but these two seem to be having a nice talk and I hate to disturb them. I can sleep on the ferry tomorrow morning. Thats a good thing.