The Piano Man

We purchased this cool old Cunningham upright piano at the Habitat for Humanity Restore in New Jersey for $200. Of course we had to pay extra to have them deliver it to the house, and then extra again to add it to the moving van coming up to New York.

Tim has been playing it in its untuned, semi-working condition for the past 20 years or so. We finally decided that maybe it was time to get it repaired, since we were already invested in it, and because it would be nearly impossible to find somebody else to love it and move it out of our house.

So along comes Brian the Piano Man from Otsego Piano Works. Who knew someone so competent would be so close to us out here in the sticks?

Now I think this piano is even cooler since I saw it all taken apart. And Brian played it beautifully before he left just to prove what a good job he did.

White and black

I went for a quick birthday visit with Little Sister last weekend. While I was away, Jim the Tree Guy came out and cleaned up the fallen apple tree and a lot of dead and hanging branches on several other trees.

Back in NY, April has been the usual combination of sunny warm/windy cold weather. And then this—14" of heavy wet snow Monday night/Tuesday morning.

The tall tree in the background, a shagbark hickory, lost 2 huge branches while I was taking this photo. Three days after the tree guy cleaned up everything, now we have whole trees down, branches everywhere, AND…no power! Which also means no water.

Three days with no power and no water. 

We got by with bottled water for drinking, gas cooktop for cooking, and the woodstove for heat and for melting snow. Thanks to The Barnwell Inn for the shower! I emptied the refrigerator (which Husband insisted on opening too many times) into 2 big coolers packed with snow and left outside. We even got some dry ice and more bottled water from the Fire Department, but not until last night.

Power came back late last night, but then the internet was down. That's back now. 

In the 60°s this weekend, and then back to cold again. Are there really people who still don't believe in climate change?

2 redheads and bye bye Bella and Little Betty

The Husband loves having pigs. We still have plenty of pork in the freezer, but I couldn't delay the inevitable any longer.

We picked up these 2 little red girls on Saturday from our friend Dan the Amish Farmer. They are still pretty shy, but I am sure they will enjoy the freedom of their own shed and a big weedy backyard to explore.

Yesterday we sold Bella the goat, and 1 of the bottle babies to Lisa from Laurens. She promises to give them both a good home, and they get to share the love with Kid Spott, the boy goat.

Bella was a sweet girl, but the sweet ones are easier to sell, and we need fewer goats!

The baby forest is a swamp, and the big X picture

Our tame little Herkimer Creek sometimes produces offspring—just behind the baby trees is Son of Creek. We see Son fairly frequently. The portion in the front is the dreaded misbehaving child who has only visited their parent twice since we moved here in 2010. In 2011 this was the evil child that flooded our basement through the perimeter drain that empties, theoretically, down there. They ruined all of our precious album covers, and several other not so precious things.

The second picture amuses me. Willie the cat is perfectly posed in the center of the X. Woody is making the same almost-barking face that he has in his portrait by the woodstove. The woodstove is going full blast in April, you can see the fan blades turning. Opposite the woodstove is the air conditioner we had installed last year, 2 whole days after the hottest  summer days had passed. I ran it just to see if it was working, even though it was cooler outside than inside. I hope it works again when it finally does warm up here.

Not talking about the weather

There is nothing more to say about the weather that I haven't already said. So I won't.

Let the pictures tell the story. These from today.

1) Woody slept peacefully on his bed for most of the day. Then he and Cyrus went a bit crazy, so they beat up each other and my sofa. Then Woody fell asleep on the beat-up sofa.

2) Willie was sleeping in his new(ish) wooly cat cave back behind the woodstove. Sleeping until I got close enough to take his picture. 

3) Cyrus was in front of the woodstove soaking up the warmth. Then Woody got up from the good bed, and Cyrus stole his spot. 

The woodstove got a little crazy itself. It is currently 81° in the living room. Maybe that explains all the sleepy children. I might have to open a window. (Don't look at that white stuff on the ground. It's not about the weather.)