Hi Joe -- You sound REALLY laid back! I work one notch south of you, but otherwise we have a lot in common. The beautiful but twisty road, the clear cut now and then <grrrrr> -- I used to call one of those "Misery Mountain" but after 10 years it's starting to fill with monoculture Doug Fir again -- nature has had mercy on us one more time, and let the trees grow back. We only have a part-time Smokey on Highway 20, and no one at all (hardly ever) on Highway 34. But in the tiny town of Amity, there is the grandfather of all Smokeys. I think he provides all the local revenue to keep the town government going. Dubious pianos, and a few good ones. Most of the time, too long a day because one waits for two or three jobs, but sometimes an uneconomical one-job trip. The food is good in the little Quizmos across from the Newport Arts Center. Or I go to the Fred Meyer store at the north of town, and buy a croissant with chicken salad in it, and a bottle of orange juice. I see that you've also discovered that clocks run differently on the coast. One day I was replacing verdigrised parts on a Steinway A at the Arts Center, and I was way way later than I had said I would be -- like 4:30 instead of 2 p.m., or something like that. One of the employees there showed up and started sweeping the stage, and said hello. I groaned and talked about how late I was. "Oh, no," she said. "You're right on time." But but but -- 2 and 4:30, etc. "Oh, no," she said, "we keep Oregon Coast Time here." "You mean I'm on time??" --- "YUP, you're on time ..." Have you seen those clocks they sell over there? Each one is mounted on a plaque, which says "Oregon Coast Time" at the top. The clock face is very plain, white with black figures, and all the numbers and the two hands are all mixed up, pasted at random in the bottom half of the face. Underneath it says, "Who cares?" They're repaving part of Highway 20 just east of Newport all summer long. Most of it is done at night, with big lights. I've got to hand it to those guys! Working all night ... but it's cooler then. One gets to know the road really well. I make up names for the various places. The passing lanes I called Grades, like in Elementary School, and there are seven. Grade 4 is only in retrograde (Eastbound, that is), while Grade 1 used to be only in proper motion, but now goes both ways. Then there's the Two Creek Corner, the Garage Sale corner, the Notch (a place of Great Natural Beauty)(which you'd better take no faster than 25 mph ...) Heavy Heavy Hangs over Your Head (road with a drop off to the right, house right at the bottom of it. Twisty twisty turny turny -- self-explanatory. And Location, Location, Location. This is a little cabin, which the owners are always fixing up, BETWEEN the creek and the highway. The trouble being, the creek is almost right next to the highway even without the cabin. Blackberries are in full swing in the valley, just coming on up in the hills. Have you ever driven to Summit? <grin> That's where a violin-maker lives, mostly earning a living by making Celtic Harps and fixing doublebasses. The first time I tuned his old upright, we took a minute off, went out on the porch (his place had been the old General Store) and waved to the train as it went by. I felt like I'd been transported back to the '40's. One of the best things about pianos is all the weird places where they end up ... Susan At 09:08 PM 8/14/2003 -0700, you wrote: >I thought I'd share my day with Y'all!<G>: ><snip> > I hope you all have the opportunity to "play hooky" occasionally, it's >good for the Soul! >Best Regards, >Joe Garrett, RPT, (Oregon) >Captain, Tool Police >Squares Are I > > >_______________________________________________ >pianotech list info: https://www.moypiano.com/resources/#archives
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