It's funny how life can sometimes coast along for long periods of time without very much out of the ordinary.  Then one little event comes along, then another, and then a whole flurry of events both little and large, often interrelated and amplified by each other.

This week is a little busier than most.  This is my [Michael's] week for shoveling the walks at Michael's preschool.  The National Weather Service has accomodated me by offering snow in the forcast for the next couple of days (after a record snowfall for the date yesterday).  This means clearing snow in two locations, here and there.  Make that three: my neighbor is going in for foot surgery today and I told him I'd look after his driveway for him too.

Tomorrow will be further complicated by the moving of pianos, although I have hired a crew to do the heavy work.  We bought the grand yesterday, and they liked our piano too.  This is a good trade.  They get a Kimball that looks bad but plays well, a piano they can let anybody use without worrying about it getting damaged.  I get an antique Sohmer that looks great and has great potential, and is marginally playable (the one unglued hammer will have to be secured first) but will require extensive work to restore its playability. 

I bought the first piano as a non-playing hobby, so that I would have a musical/mechanical instrument to tinker with (my Industrial Mechanics degree is one manifestation of my love of tinkering).  I only learned to play piano because I couldn't play the guitar for a couple of years (blog history) and we just happened to have a piano.  Now we're buying a piano that will require a great deal of tinkering, especially if I intend to continue playing!

I broke the Metro yesterday so we're down to two cars.  We never sold Sheryl's Trooper after buying the Mariner last summer, and it wasn't even running during our last cold snap (moisture in the fuel line probably), but it has come in handy a couple of times when the Metro has been unavailable.  And the Metro is currently unavailable.

It doesn't make me feel better that the only initial problem was loose lug nuts on the right front wheel.  I started my investigation with the right front axle, which has joints on either side that typically make the kind of noise Sheryl and I heard on Saturday night, and in order to gain access to the axle I needed to drop the front exhaust pipe. Ordinarily, taking the four bolts off and one rubber hanger that attach pipe to car isn't a big deal and I didn't treat it as such...   until one of the bolts snapped off, preventing me from putting the pipe back on.  Not only did it snap off, but it remains off more than a day later as the tools I had available were unable to extract it, even after removing the entire exhaust manifold.  I did buy tools to extract the bolt today and will eventually make it all right.

The irony, of course, is that I needn't have removed the exhaust in the first place.  It wasn't until after I was unable to find fault with the axle (without removing it, thankfully) that I determined the actual problem.  It still seems implausible that the lug nuts got loose but that is exactly what happened, and on the bright side there appears to be no damage to the threads.  It's possible I didn't tighten them – or tighten them enough – when I changed tires over (I change the tires myself twice a year between summer tread and winter studs, which gives me the chance to look at the brakes and suspension, and I always try to ensure the lugs aren't so tight that I can't get them off in case I ever have a flat).  I once had a boss in Reno who had a posessed car with lug nuts that were continually loosening themselves, though I doubt my car has become likewise posessed.  We bought new studded tires this year and they've always felt rather odd on the road, so it's also possible that the vibrations of the new studs could be loosening things.  I'll check all the studs before the Metro goes back on the road.

And Sheryl's dad is in town for a visit and meetings too!  He stayed with us over the weekend, and volunteered to watch the kids while Sheryl and I went out to dinner on Saturday night (when we had the car trouble and cut short our drive) and Sunday afternoon to hear the symphony (and later to drive home through snow that fell so hard it covered over our headlights, which then cast a uniform glow out in all directions that lit up the snow-filled sky much better than the snow-covered road).

Do I know how to show a date a good time or what?

Posted at 2:29 PM YST

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Once upon a time, not too many months ago, I [Michael] mentioned a passing interest in finding a baby grand (piano) to Sheryl.  Sheryl said it was worth looking into, and that was pretty much the end of the conversation; how often do baby grands change hands in Juneau?

So, while Sheryl was in Anchorage last weekend I took the kids to a garage sale hosted by the Church of All Nations.  They placed an ad in Friday's paper about the sale, in which they also noted a baby grand piano.  The kids were extraordinarily well behaved while I played a song on it and gave it a cursory inspection, standing close beside me and gazing at the strangers and strange surroundings.  The church was asking $3400 for the piano, way out of my price range, but they said they'd consider any serious offer.  I left my name and phone number and offered my hope that somebody would offer close to their asking price, but to call me if it didn't sell (I didn't offer a price).  I let the kids pick any toy they wanted from the toy racks as a reward for their behavior, and they both brought home airplanes for a dollar apiece.

I emailed Sheryl about it.  She said to buy it if I wanted it.

Not too surprisingly, I saw an ad in Monday's paper offering the piano and listing the price.  I called and said I might be willing to go $1500 but wanted to look it over again before commiting, and if they wanted more cash than that I needn't waste their time.  I inspected it last night, then came home and showed the pictures to Sheryl.

According to my Interent research, Sohmer was a good name in pianos for many years.  This one was made between 1915 and 1919 according to the serial number. The piano has obviously seen a lot of use.  The action feels loose in places.  There are problems with at least four keys: a sticking dampener, a poorly installed hammer, and two keys (the exteme high and low) that have apparently been cannibalized for parts.  There is only one major mar in the finish, about four square inches of abrasion on one side, and the finish is also worn along the strip where sheet music and fingers would frequently be expected to rub during normal use.  The finish on many of the black keys is heavily worn.  Overall, the piano appears to have been reasonably well taken care of despite its heavy use.

So I made my $1500 offer and they said they'd get back with me, that there were a couple of other people who expressed interest.  I suspect I may be one of the "other people" because of the note I left on Saturday.  This morning I also offered to donate my current piano to them (I was planning on giving it away if I got a replacement) in addition to the cash offer, plus I'd pay to have both pianos moved.

Is there an old piano in our future?   Stay tuned...

Posted at 10:56 AM YST

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Juneau is still waiting for our hydroelectric power to be reconnected.  There was a stretch of very pleasant weather here for a couple of weeks after last month's avalanche that allowed the power company to complete most of a temporary repair – bypassing the one fallen tower – and they were only a couple of days from completion when then weather returned to "normal".  The remaining work should only take a day or two; the trick is keeping the avalanche chutes clear long enough to get workers on the wires.

I [Michael] have been making use of facebook lately (here's my current "face").  It was Sheryl's idea that I join, and I was somewhat reluctant...

Yes, reluctant.  Despite my techological savvy, I must confess to a certain disdain for all the accoutrements  that come with a technology driven society.  I don't even have a cell phone!

...at first, but now that I have a presence there I've been able to reconnect with some old friends, and even better than that, I've become reacquainted with several of my high school classmates from Texas.

I have been quite pleased with this reintroduction: these are people whom I hardly knew back then, people who hardly knew me.  In that day I was a shy kid, and my timid nature did not lend itself to what could have been happier teenage years.  As a result, my classmates then were not much more than acquaintances and certainly didn't fit the definition of "friends". Now that I'm older, more confident, and more comfortable with myself (or maybe because I just don't give a darn), getting back in touch with these folks is just like old home week, except better: it's like reuniting with old friends.

I have also been taking advantage of facebook's photo album pages.  When the snow fell hard I was posting snow pictures.  I posted some pictures from the beach a week later when we had some good weather.  When the rains came I took some pictures of some flooding in our creek.  Then when we got some serious rain I took more pictures of the resultant lake.  After posting all the flood pictures I thought a brief history of the West Creek project was in order, so I put that up too.

And all this despite a disdain for technology.  I don't know.  Maybe I just don't like cell phones.

Posted at 10:29 AM YST

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I [Michael] was trying to change the format of our blog this morning.  The links on the left needed some changes, adding new things and taking out old.  According to the blog manager the changes have already been made, although the visual reality so far this morning tells me that the blog manager LIES!

Sometime, probably by the time anybody but me reads this, the links will finally update.  In the meanwhile, the links I wanted to put on the side were twofold:

Michael's newspaper column, where all of the articles from my Juneau Empire column are posted, including the most recent which appeared in yesterday's paper.

Michael's Music Recordings will let you listen to the songs I've recorded.  They're nothing fancy, just me and the guitar.  I used to be really picky about getting just the "right" sound, with the result that I never liked anything I recorded.  Now that my technical skills on the guitar haved waned somewhat I just feel lucky to still be able to play the damn thing, and if I can remember all the words, so much the better!

We've had some good news on the avalanche situation.  The utility company is planning to bypass the destroyed tower and say they may be able to make repairs within a month, assuming the weather cooperates.

I spent a good deal of time yesterday on the phone trying to verify just when the 300% (because the utility is now running diesel generators instead of our regular hydro power) rate increase would take effect.  When the answer was not forthcoming I called their Director of Consumer Affairs, whom I've met on a couple of occasions and have a good rapport with, and she got me an answer:  our rates will go up in the NEXT billing cycle.

I needed to know about the rate because we have about one month worth of wood for our wood stove.  Last year we started burning our emergency wood supply (scrap lumber I had saved over several years) the day of the avalanche, and had used most of that supply BEFORE the 500% rate increase (because diesel was more expensive last year) went into effect.  I was determined not to let that happen again this year. 

Posted at 11:18 AM YST

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Nice socks, aren't they?  They are a Christmas present from my [Michael's] mom. Knitted them herself, she did. Comfortable, warm, everything socks should be.

They're going to come in handy too.  The power line that supplies Juneau's hydroelectric power is down again.  Avalanche, just like last year.  Last year we were told this was a once in a century event. They haven't told us how often to expect back-to-back events like this.

Last year our avalanche came on April 16, at the end of winter.  Spring set in a week later.  Even so, it was early July before the repairs were complete.

The avalanche came earlier this winter, January 12.  Nobody has set foot on the ground to assess the damage yet.  If I were to guess, it will be a long time before anybody can.

Last year nobody could get on the ground for several weeks after the slide because of the danger of further avalanches.  Why should this year be any different?  Well it will be.  I can only speculate, but assuming they can only set people on the ground when it is "safe", it will be months, not weeks, before repairs can be initiated.  It's raining hard down here, but it's snowing hard up where the power line runs, and above it.  When will it be safe to start a repair?  My guess is May.  I truly hope I am wrong.

Last year our power rates went up 500% when the utility company fell back on its diesel generators.  This year the price of diesel is supposed to be lower (although the homeowners I've spoken to say their oil deliveries are still well above $3 a gallon), but it wouldn't be unreasonable to expect a 300% surge in power rates.  It isn't a question of "if" they will raise rates, it is only a matter of time.

Last year we started burning wood to heat the house the day of the avalanche.  This was possible because of a stash of scrap lumber I used to keep, otherwise we would have been without wood to burn: one great irony of last year is that I was burning the very last of our firewood the day of the avalanche.  The other great irony is that the utility company waited until I had burned my wood stash before raising the rates!

I am not burning wood now.  This year we will wait until the day the new rates take effect before we revert to wood again.  We are well short of having a sufficient supply to last the winter.  I do have some of my scrap lumber remaining and will burn most of that.  There are also a couple of dead trees still standing on the property that may be dry enough to cut up and get burning.  And then there are pallets, lots of wood pallets brought in by most of the city businesses, many of which are dry enough to burn straight away.

Last summer I built a second storage area beside the garage.  I had planned to use a portion of it for firewood storage.  Given the circumstances I wish I had carried through with that plan last summer.  So much for planning.

Looks like the utility company will have to hire that security guard back. 

Posted at 9:50 PM YST

Updated: Wednesday, January 14, 2009 12:42 AM YST

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