Thread Stealers With Too Much On Their Minds

[Noonan]

One of the local colleges had a pep band at our bball game last night. 2 trombones, trumpet, clarinet, flute, drum set & bass. They were bad! All I could hear was bass and bone. Off tempo quite a bit.
Then I hear everybody talk about how nice it is to hear a band and how good they are…
We lost our band program several years ago. Barely have a choir. No shop classes. No money being funneled to th small rural schools.

The best sig is no sig.

[sandlanders]

Lacknothing wrote:

Ours is a Steinway also.

Ours is… not.

Our piano is a Lagonda upright that we bought for $75 in 1975, and we had to haul it down three flights of stairs to get it out of the apartment building where it was, which we did with plenty of help.  It sat in our living room for about a month or so until we moved, at which time it traveled about 25 miles in the open back of a 1950 International truck.  We were in that rental house for two years, and then we bought our place that we are in now, and it traveled seven miles in the open back of a newer truck, and we got it into the house by backing the truck up to the front door and pushing it straight in on a couple of sturdy planks to where it sits now.  Unfortunately, we redid the front entrance in 1995, so there is no way that it will go back out the same way whenever we decide to move.  We could maneuver it out the back door or else leave it with the house.  That’s what happened when my parents bought their place when I was almost eight.  A huge piano came with the house, so piano lessons for my sister and me were a no brainer.  We left it with that house when my parents sold the residence and moved in 2003.

With all of the moving, we have never had our piano tuned, and it has beautiful tone.  I don’t know if it’s worth anything, but a photo I found online shows that it was made around 1920.  Guess it’s an antique.  Maybe I should dust it once in a while.

[sandlanders]

Noonan wrote:

We lost our band program several years ago. Barely have a choir. No shop classes. No money being funneled to th small rural schools.

🙁  There is so much more to education than the three Rs.

[Trekkin and Birdin]

Our piano is an upright, model Kingsbury, made by the Cable Company.  We bought it when we bought this house.  It cost us a bit more than sandlanders’, but still was cheap.  It has been tuned a couple times and could probably use that again.  Turn of the 20th century vintage.  I play sometimes, not as much as I once did.  Our older son played for about eight years and he has a lot of musical talent.  Trekkin’ wants to get rid of it.  I told him “fine,” but I would miss it if we did.

Even though it is a little out of tune, it has a much richer sound than new ones (other than a new true grand piano).

[Lacknothing]

I won’t say what we paid for our piano….but I think we could have bought a small house.  However, Steinways are investments and you easily get your money back if you take good care of it.  We did buy it used….because there was no way we could afford to buy the same new.

The views expressed here are that of myself only and do not necessarily represent that of the WGA board.

[BeccaDay]

My Steinway was FREEEEEEE!!!!!!  The only way we could afford one.  My uncle is blind and music is his passion.  When he was younger there weren’t the best services for people with disabilities and this was one of the few things he could actively take part in.  So a wealthy relative bought it for him.  He eventually moved into an apartment and our family ended up with it.  It has real ivory keys but many of them are chipped.  🙁  I love that piano and hope we get it back in the near future.

Not all who wander are lost. -J.R.R. Tolkien

[Chatauqua560]

If CJ is lurking … have you heard anything about the new Italian restaurant in Berlin?

[BeccaDay]

How do people with teenage children find time to go geocaching?!  I feel like when I’m home from work I’m always running my kids around to sports or shopping for some formal occasion or just running them somewhere.  Ugh!  Plus, their basketball coaches keep changing practice times so that I never really know when we’ll have free time.  It’s so irritating!

Not all who wander are lost. -J.R.R. Tolkien

[Trekkin and Birdin]

Becca, When our boys were that age, we didn’t do that stuff.  Our lives mostly revolved around their activities.  I will say that one time, my younger son (then around 15-16) had called for a ride for him and friends from somewhere.  I was not happy with him for some reason and things were pretty icy in the car on the way home.  One of the girls finally broke the ice and said…”So….did anyone do anything fun today?”  I launched into a story about a FTF we’d made.  The other kids were really intrigued by the whole notion of geocaching and for awhile after that, that group would grab one of the Garmins and go out and about.  They even found an original that had supposedly gone missing up on Granddad’s Bluff.  Naturally, they wanted nothing to do with us when they went out, but that’s expected at that age.

Life is full of different phases.  Enjoy this one.  As I write that story, it seems like it just happened last week.  Since that time, that son became a father and that friend sometimes babysits our grandkids!  Now that grandson is enjoying geocaching with Grandma and Grandpa.  None of those events were what we expected to happen during this time frame, but we’ve learned that rolling with whatever comes our way keeps us sane. And happy.

[BeccaDay]

I do enjoy this phase, even though I know it’s crazy.  I know that it won’t be long before they’ll prefer time with their friends to family time.  We’re already getting there somewhat.  It is nice, our teenage daughter keeps begging me to go geocaching because we’ve had less time for it lately and her new best friend has been a good sport as we haul her through the woods and across half-frozen creeks.  I think it’s the ever-changing BB practice that gets me.  How can we plan any family time?!  One of her coaches is my father-in-law, I may need to point these things out to him this weekend….

Not all who wander are lost. -J.R.R. Tolkien

[Braid Beards Gang]

I do not cache much for the same reasons.  I work Saturdays too, making things a bit more difficult.  Lately, I am happy to spend anytime with the children.  I am starting to realize they are not going to be around here much longer.

Tonight: Pizza and Hugo for us.

 

[labrat_wr]

The only piano we could afford is some French manufactured one

Fisher Price (say it with your best accent – fissaire prissea)

Disclaimer : Always answering to a higher power.

[Walkingadventure]

Caching with the kids ended for me yrs ago. This was the first yr that we were kid free for the WBCB.

 

I remember being crazy busy during soccer seasons. Almost no caching happened.

Following the signals from space.

[Trekkin and Birdin]

Well, one of those former teenagers just called.  He, his girlfriend and our grand daughter just left the ice castle in Minneapolis. (our treat)  Even better….he contacted one of my nephews, who then contacted my niece and they’re all staying at her place tonight.  Aizy will get to play with a cousin she’s never met, too. They plan to stop and visit my parents tomorrow, who have never met our grand daughter, and haven’t seen our son in years.

Taking all that time when he was a teenager has paid off a bit.  He knows what’s important and will act upon it when given the chance.

So….go to those soccer games, the concerts, the music lessons, the karate studio, 4H, you name it.  There will be caches out there later on and your time will pay off in the long run.  (This, by the way, is our problem son.  He’s getting there!)

[cheezehead]

:ftp: ?

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