What did you do WITH your Ranger today?

[fob63]

DUMP RUN!

What a glorious way to start Valentine's Day and show your spouse how much you love her!

A 100-year old baby grand piano taken apart (3 hours Sunday with about 50 giant lag screws). You'd think an ivory-keyed, mahogany-cased Madison piano, once owned by my mother-in-law (who sang at the Met and recorded a dozen 78-rpm albums) would be worth something. But nope. It was left in unconditioned spaces for years and was rarely tuned in the last 30 years, so it's kaput.

You can find 100-year old Madison's, in tune and perfect condition, for $3,000 online.

So off to the dump the 500+ pounds went, including the 160-pound cast-iron string frame. That was a beast! Loaded that bit with my daughter but unloaded on my own. Rolled it right off the tailgate into the metal thrash container.

Still, sad to see it go and sad that no one even wanted free it for parts (ivory keys are tricky and must be kept with the original piano until a piano restorer can salvage them). Even so, you're supposed to get a letter from a Federal Agency stating that your piano is kept intact.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Aren't the keys made of iVORY and EBONY?

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[Grumpaw]

That's the nice thing about this forum, We keep no secrets (even though we should, like me wearing a Speedo) and we let it all hang out! *D'oh!*

We should have filters, but what fun would that be?

Okay, back to our regularly scheduled discussions of our love and respect for Greta (*eye roll*), the obvious benefits of dampers (FTW!), and how the Ranger has too much rake, and all our other hard hitting and generally making-the-world-a-better-place threads!

Translation of her sign: Engine cover mice need love too

You totally lost me at you wearing a speedo.......

 

[P. A. Schilke]

Yesterday the Ranger made a trip to Costco on Valentine Day so I could pick up new hearing aids. I gave up on my GN hearing aids as they never worked worth a damn. So with $2500 down the drain for the GN (Danish company and Costco branded Resound). So I tossed another $1600 at new Philips top of the line hearing aids with AI. Thought AI was a gimmick but it works well and I am quite pleased... Anyway Ranger sat in the lot minding itself except for the wind. Gusting to 65mph!

Then a Hazmat alert on the phone...Truck on I10 freeway overturned and was casting a red plume due to ruptured Nitric Acid drums. We had to vacate the area...Nasty stuff, that nitric acid...

Then a somewhat white knuckle drive home down I19 with cross wind gusting to more than 70mph which really shook the Ranger but it held its ground...

Anyway...Happy Valentine Day belated...

best,
Phil

 

[TVRangerSTX]

Yesterday the Ranger made a trip to Costco on Valentine Day so I could pick up new hearing aids. I gave up on my GN hearing aids as they never worked worth a damn. So with $2500 down the drain for the GN (Danish company and Costco branded Resound). So I tossed another $1600 at new Philips top of the line hearing aids with AI. Thought AI was a gimmick but it works well and I am quite pleased... Anyway Ranger sat in the lot minding itself except for the wind. Gusting to 65mph!

Then a Hazmat alert on the phone...Truck on I10 freeway overturned and was casting a red plume due to ruptured Nitric Acid drums. We had to vacate the area...Nasty stuff, that nitric acid...

Then a somewhat white knuckle drive home down I19 with cross wind gusting to more than 70mph which really shook the Ranger but it held its ground...

Anyway...Happy Valentine Day belated...

best,
Phil

Though I bet you're happy to be in AZ and not E. Palestine, OH! I didn't get hearing aids for V Day though my wife says I need them, too many years working in the steel plant. My hearing is fine, just selective? Ranger sounds great to me?

 

[IdahoRanger]

Yesterday the Ranger made a trip to Costco on Valentine Day so I could pick up new hearing aids. I gave up on my GN hearing aids as they never worked worth a damn. So with $2500 down the drain for the GN (Danish company and Costco branded Resound). So I tossed another $1600 at new Philips top of the line hearing aids with AI. Thought AI was a gimmick but it works well and I am quite pleased... Anyway Ranger sat in the lot minding itself except for the wind. Gusting to 65mph!

Then a Hazmat alert on the phone...Truck on I10 freeway overturned and was casting a red plume due to ruptured Nitric Acid drums. We had to vacate the area...Nasty stuff, that nitric acid...

Then a somewhat white knuckle drive home down I19 with cross wind gusting to more than 70mph which really shook the Ranger but it held its ground...

Anyway...Happy Valentine Day belated...

best,
Phil

I was wondering if any of our AZ peeps got stuck in that acid spill.

 

[TVRangerSTX]

Nasty stuff...

 

[subquark]

Aren't the keys made of iVORY and EBONY?

Yes they are but ... it's illegal, anywhere in the world, to sell or trade ivory piano keys. They must be kept with the piano or destroyed.

It's sad but I understand the law. It's something all countries do.

In the US, if you have an old piano and can prove it's old (they have serial numbers, so it's not difficult), then you can sell the piano as an entire unit to someone else in the states but you may need a CITES permit to do so (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species).

This piano was beyond restoration with a warped sound board and mahogany venners that had shrunk and fallen off in places. It was sad taking it apart thinking of the craftsman that put it together a hundred years ago.

We called several local piano techs and even called some out of state and they all had the same response - not worth it to do it. It would cost $20-30K to restore and you can buy the same model and vintage for $3,000.

 

[P. A. Schilke]

Though I bet you're happy to be in AZ and not E. Palestine, OH! I didn't get hearing aids for V Day though my wife says I need them, too many years working in the steel plant. My hearing is fine, just selective? Ranger sounds great to me?

Hi Trevor,

Sort of funny tidbit of the selective hearing. Audiologist was measuring my ear drum resonance and noticed my right ear had a resonance in the 3.5K - 4K hertz range...just right to hurt hearing the female voice... The solution was to fit a bigger dome (ear plug sort of). So the accusations of Margie that I just dial her out do have a scientific explanation! Right ear resonance!

Best,
Phil

 

[Shoran12]

Hi Trevor,

Sort of funny tidbit of the selective hearing. Audiologist was measuring my ear drum resonance and noticed my right ear had a resonance in the 3.5K - 4K hertz range...just right to hurt hearing the female voice... The solution was to fit a bigger dome (ear plug sort of). So the accusations of Margie that I just dial her out do have a scientific explanation! Right ear resonance!

Best,
Phil

I need to find me an explanation for this very thing. My wife was saying something about me not listening to her for some reason…not sure what it really was as I wasn’t really paying attention.

 

[MXGOLF]

Hi Trevor,

Sort of funny tidbit of the selective hearing. Audiologist was measuring my ear drum resonance and noticed my right ear had a resonance in the 3.5K - 4K hertz range...just right to hurt hearing the female voice... The solution was to fit a bigger dome (ear plug sort of). So the accusations of Margie that I just dial her out do have a scientific explanation! Right ear resonance!

Best,
Phil

Phil my Dad did not think he needed hearing aids until we had him get them from Costco also. He absolutely loved them after he got them. He was a different person. I now have them saved for when I need them as Dad passed in 2019 due to Covid at age 94. I know with my rock and roll ears I will need them probably sooner than later.

 

[Shoran12]

Hi Trevor,

Sort of funny tidbit of the selective hearing. Audiologist was measuring my ear drum resonance and noticed my right ear had a resonance in the 3.5K - 4K hertz range...just right to hurt hearing the female voice... The solution was to fit a bigger dome (ear plug sort of). So the accusations of Margie that I just dial her out do have a scientific explanation! Right ear resonance!

Best,
Phil

This also reminds me of a story.
I was volunteering at a hearing impaired (all over the spectrum of hearing problems, most were deaf however) kids baseball camp and after a few days of some more simple drills, I got the bright idea to throw fly balls to some of the kids. Well I noticed that younger kids who may have hearing issues also have a shorter attention span on the baseball field (for obvious reasons). I should have known this wasn’t the best idea because I had seen a few kids already almost hit because well once a ball is coming there’s nothing you can yell to get their attention. Anyway, I started throwing really high fly balls (I pitched up until I was in my early twenties, so they were launched pretty well) and the first few went well. Well, this poor kid had raised his hand as I had asked to let me know he was paying attention and as I released the ball I saw his attention drift somewhere else. A definite “oh shit” moment. None of the other kids were paying attention because well, it wasn’t their turn. No amount of yelling and screaming helped and I had to watch in sheer agony while I waited for that ball to make contact with this poor kids face. I felt like an idiot. The kid lay on the ground crying, covering his face. I thought “oh God, I just killed a kid at deaf camp”. In the end he was fine but I look back in that time now and realize launching fly balls at these younger kids probably wasn’t my best decision. The whole time on the way home my then girlfriend (wife now) kept poking fun at me telling me “you almost killed a deaf kid today”. In the end, I told him how tough he was and he felt pretty good after the fact because he realized everything was ok and he can take a bit of physical discomfort and still live. Needless to say that was the day I almost killed a deaf kid.

 

[9zero1790]

i wish my folks would get them. my hearing is getting damaged from the lack of hearing they have...

 

[Shoran12]

Phil my Dad did not think he needed hearing aids until we had him get them from Costco also. He absolutely loved them after he got them. He was a different person. I now have them saved for when I need them as Dad passed in 2019 due to Covid at age 94. I know with my rock and roll ears I will need them probably sooner than later.

Very sorry to hear about your dad. I think the technology nowadays is very good. At the kids baseball camp I referenced a few posts ago, there were a few kids who at birth couldn’t hear anything. Well with the use of these specialized hearing aids they could actually hear most stuff. This was probably 15 years ago so I imagine it’s even better now. Really amazing what they can do, especially for young kids who should have every right to be able to hear.

 

[fob63]

Yes they are but ... it's illegal, anywhere in the world, to sell or trade ivory piano keys. They must be kept with the piano or destroyed.

It's sad but I understand the law. It's something all countries do.

In the US, if you have an old piano and can prove it's old (they have serial numbers, so it's not difficult), then you can sell the piano as an entire unit to someone else in the states but you may need a CITES permit to do so (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species).

This piano was beyond restoration with a warped sound board and mahogany venners that had shrunk and fallen off in places. It was sad taking it apart thinking of the craftsman that put it together a hundred years ago.

We called several local piano techs and even called some out of state and they all had the same response - not worth it to do it. It would cost $20-30K to restore and you can buy the same model and vintage for $3,000.

I know the problems.
When I was building guitars, I bought some Ivory from a Museum in Indiana about 14 years ago.
I had all the documentation from them stating that they were pre-ban, etc. I also bought fossilized walrus Ivory about a decade ago. Using both of them for nuts, bridge pins and bridge saddles for a few customer. Sent documentation along with the guitars. Sanding bone, Ivory is very dangerous and masks must be worn at all times.
The ebony if not to dried out would make nice bridge pins and tuner knobs.

 

[NTXTremor]

I took some boxes to the Post Office in my Ranger today and saw this. It made me wonder why I hadn't thought to drive my Ferrari to the Post Office.

Oh. Perhaps it because I don't HAVE a Ferrari.

My wife then asked me why I didn't also back in for a quick getaway, so I told her that I don't need to back in since I can just drive over things.

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