Day started early

A couple posts back I noted that I like to get a good start on the day, even on days when I don't haul myself out of bed at 4:30 to work out. This was one of those mornings.

Woke up at 5:30. During the course of preparing for the day, I discovered a problem with the commode - the handle thingie in the flush mechanism (I'm sure there's a proper name for it; it's the thing you attach the flapper chain to) had snapped. (It was plastic. At that point in time, the only replacements I could get were plastic. Cue Skips the Yeti: "Nothing good can come of this."). So I planned a run to Lowe's as soon as they opened. (Which turned out to be 7 am. I thought it was 6:30 but fortunately I thought to call first).

So, as soon as it was light, I mowed the lawn. One of the beauties of using a reel type lawnmower is that you can mow at 6:15 am and no one else even knows, let alone complains about the noise. So then I ran to Lowes. Luckily, I was smart - I thought, "When I looked into the tank, the flapper looked a little manky too, so I'll pick up a spare while I'm here." Because, guess what failed right after I installed the new flush arm?

And I did my weekly grocery run. I figured 7 am was still early enough to avoid the people who are out on the last day of the month and make shopping more of a challenge. (I was right. And they also had a new box of blindbag ponies out, more about that later)

Then I graded.

Then I waited (unloaded the dishwasher, cleared up a few things, checked the weather for the coming days). The piano tuner was due at 9 am so I wound up waiting a little while.

He did come right on time. Very nice man. I admit I think I dragged my feet on calling him because some of my previous interactions (back in the days when I was learning the clarinet) with musical-type people weren't always the happiest: dealt with a few who seemed to live to tell people UR DOIN IT WRONG! and others who acted like I was wasting my time and theirs unless I wanted to throw everything else in my life aside and become a Concert! Clarinetist!

He asked who I took lessons from and when I told him, he said, "Oh, I just love her." And not with any funny emphasis on the "love;" he meant it sincerely.

But I suppose since this person makes his living tuning pianos not just for the serious pianists in town (and there are more than a few, considering our music department here), but for churches and people like me who have a piano and like to play it, but who aren't virtuosi or who don't plan on ever performing. He pronounced the renovation of the piano "wonderful" and commented that "It'll be a real pleasure to get this one in my rotation."

Yeah, about that. I didn't realize but in this climate it's best to have pianos tuned every six months to a year. Oopsies. (It had been about 3 years). So he had to work quite a bit; he remarked it had gone very flat. It took him over two hours to put it back into tune. I kept imagining the cost adding up - I figured he worked "on the clock."

Nope. $130, which was a standard tuning fee plus the fee for raising the pitch the necessary amount. (He said a standard tuning, which I will probably only need next time, is about $90. Which seems very reasonable to me, considering the level of skill and the amount of time it takes).

And yeah, I can definitely hear that the piano sounds brighter now. I am going to remind myself to call him in December or January for a re-tune.

And now, I need to enter grades and start searching through last week's soil samples...