Dying music

Sad news about the roadside piano. Hopes of possibly getting it home and restoring are dashed to pieces, because the piano itself was dashed to pieces. The day after I stopped to take photos and admire this piece of beauty, I went to retake some shots (I foolishly neglected to remove a big plastic cup from a few shots).

Driving up I noticed the piano wasn't there, and thought someone had beat me to the punch and taken it already. As I got closer I saw pieces of the old upright spread about. The hamer assembly over here, the keyboard there, and the soundboard (string-loom as I call it) was just laying there face up to the elements. Pieces of darkly stained wood that used to be the body lay broken and strewn about the area.

I took my pictures and went home, a little sad.

After showing Darbi the photos I had taken, she urged to go grab the pieces stamped with the maker and date. I found a friend with a trailer and brought the whole soundboard, keyboard, and what was left of the hammer assembly. All sitting in my driveway.

Hmmm...now to find what to do with it all......

Bikes and running with dogs

Well, one dog really. He's a smallish sort; kind of a lab/terrier mix. Drove down to the end of the road, parked the car/truck/van thing (an Element), and proceeded to attemp to run through the woods with Dozer. Through the entire length of the cearing of grass before the wood, Dozer stopped every 15 feet to do his thing and mark this spot, and mark that spot, and smell this, and mark another spot. Not a lot of running accomplished.

Once we got across the creek and into the woods however, apparently he didn't want to claim any of that rubbish and was much more agreeable to just whizzing through the woods, ears and tail flapping in the wind. He'd sniff about and take some time when I stopped or changed direction, and when we reached the abandoned house foundation with 5 new bags of Quickrete next to the cinderblock skate ramp, Dozer and I took a small respite from the running. Shortly thereafter I let the little guy take the lead back towards the car.

Dozer was definitely more eager to get home than to get to the woods. Running full tilt and not stopping for directions he sped along the rugged path. At one point the trail split and I heard a "YIPE !,"stopped and turned to see our poor little dog's front end spun around as he took the left fork and I, the right. Short leash. Damn. Next time I'll take the long one again. He was more along the right path than I was, so we took off and got back to the car in no time flat.

As I took the long route home along the back roads looking for scrap wood, I was surprised to see an old upright piano discarded. 1903 it was dated. Very sad to see a piano in that state of affairs, even more so as it's on a raodside exposed to the elements.

"Part 2"

A couple of hours after the run, after both Dozer and I had recovered our breathe and refilled with water, I decided to take a bike ride to a meeting sceduled that night. After all, it's only about 7 miles. "Only" *sheesh*

Usually I deal pretty well with the heat and the humidity. Also, usually I deal well with distances. I used to ride 6-15 miles regularly in high school (especially in summer), At least 10-20 miles a weekend (one way) in Japan, and met my current girlfriend while resting in the middle of a 40 mile ride across Houston (up on Wed, back again on Mon for about 4 weeks).

Yesterday, however, I must have forgotten it had been a while since my last bike ride, and that the heat was insane combined with ludicrous humidity. Although it took me about the same amount of time to ride the distance, I was beat when I got to the restaurant, and absolutely done after the ride home.

Seriously need to work a few more bike rides into my schedule and work back up to being comfortable after what I consider a short ride....

"Part3"

Job Interview at Sears today! See ya~!

and with a thunderous roll of applause ..... ! !

Ok ok...so it's not really that exciting.

I've had the summer off from school, which typically means lots of free time for me, but much less income. However, this summer I've been working renovating Ike damaged properties and getting by with a decent amount of monies in our pocket. I've enven had most evenings off because of my reprieve from working at Greek Tony's as a delivery driver. As a home propertiy repair and renovation technition type fella' I've taken all the skills I picked up growing up with my dad and actually applied them somewhere besides just puttering around the house. My landlord/neighbor/boss has also taught me a few tips a tricks of doing (and not doing) things the right/wrong way.

However, we just finished up the last repairs of the last house. Although I'm still working for him I'm not sure what I'm going to be doing for him other than minor repairs on his properties and some organization/moving of his supplies and tools. So I have been out seeking steady employment elsewhere. However, I work well once I have the job, but am not fond of the actual looking. A bit of a problem due to cause and effect....pretty much equals no job without looking.

Furthermore, contrary to expectations, I will not be going to school this fall. I misread the statement on payment deadlines and have been disenrolled from the classes I signed up for. I'd try to reenroll and rush in at the last minute, but wouldn't be able to pay at the moment anyway. So another semester off. Damn.

Well I'm off to be productive elsewhere than the computer. Hope everyone's days are fantastic!

Christopher

And !

.....and one of these days I'll actually update it properly with information to astound and tales of wonderment to fill you with knowledge. Life, death, skilling feats of dare, and adventure-raising hairs await you.

(( It's probably not all that exciting, but maybe if I drag the story jsut right, and just the fact that I'm actually updating....))

**grins and giggles**

Chris