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Yesterday, we met Sunny, picked some cherries with Grandma and saw some trains with some family significance with Grandma and Grandpa.

As usual, I took a lot of pictures.

We finally met Sunny. He is a hoot. Very fast and he seems really good.

N practiced her climbing in the cherry tree. I used to do that a lot too. There may be a pie later

We went for a little trolley ride. It was about 6 miles and we learned anout the importance of having more frequent stops and how it opened up the world to many people who had never traveled futher tan 7 miles from home (because that was how far you could go and back before needing to return home for evening chores)

Most of the pictures below are of an engine of a model that Pete Sr.’s Grandfather Peter drove. (This is the girls great-great Grandfather…) There is a picture of him in front of an engine just like this in a magazine that Pete Sr. has.

The dark pic is in front of an 1926 electric passenger train identical to the one that the great great Peter drove for its inaugural run.

Grandma suggested this pic to prepare S for campaigning for President in the future. I love the peace sign and the robot track meet t-shirt.

Watch this Joss Whedon series. It is great. After midnight, apparently it disappears. Yes- it is a musical and that is Nathan Fillion, Neil Patrick Harris and Felicia Day.

http://www.drhorrible.com/

Happy Birthday Art.

The girls and Pete saw this guy yesterday. Pete and I saw him later

while we were installing the screen door.

Here is the hole (partially patched) that I put in our new screen door. I am still really mad at myself.

There are only about 20 or so places to make a mistake on the installation, and I think people miscut or misdrill often. Why would I think that? There is this part of the manual.

It excludes misdrilling, but NOT putting a hole in the screen. New screen material and seal is on its way here already. I like our door a lot. It looks really good, and Pete did a great job installing it. I was just another set of hands and it went pretty well. I wanted the door for a long time, and it is here!

I joined the girls climbing this afternoon. It was really fun.

They are really good and I am, well, not. I’ll definitely go again. It was hard.

I have attached a video of N bouldering one of the courses.

Other things on the agenda today included my finishing a round of some cool experiments (that are part of the next big project- I am really excited about it) and working with Pete to install our screen door. I was an idiot and put a hole in the screen before we even started. Moronic really, but, other than that, all is well. We have a few tasks to finish on it tomorrow. Maybe another hour or two. The door is in use right now and, as expected, there is a nice cross breeze.

Oh yea- tornado warning in York county today. When we left the Maine rock gym (and visited Portland percussion) we saw a horrible thunderstorm. All of the traffic lights were out, but despite that, people drove pretty carefully.

Pete saw an ad in the “local” classified magazine that had a drum set for $75. He called, and determined that the cymbals (and cowbell) would make it worth the ride (up near Bangor), so I took the afternoon and went with Pete and we picked up the set. The set is a “Truetone” that used to be sold in Western Auto stores. Some of the gear, especially the cowbell, is in okay shape, and some is in awful shape.

Here is a visual tour:

The set (the snare is on the other side of the garage as it MIGHT be salvagable):

Now, a closer look. The guy said he played some Gigs with this set. I think maybe when he was 12. Bad Speel and 100 proof BO (that’s only 50%, so I suspect that drinking was not a big thing when this was painted…but who would drink BO* anyway?).

Note, that only one set of heads was on each drum (except the snare- and we got a bonus pillow and case! Cool!)

Pete was most hopeful about the cymbals, Two are Zildjans, an 18″ crash/ride and 19″ ride and the other is a hi-hat cobbled together with the top of a Paiste 404 and some piece of complete crap….. Cymbals are crazy expensive, so these easily are worth what he paid for the kit. One of the Zildjans appears to have been obtained in a cool way, unless that was the name of the band…..

The Crash/ride and ride cymbals sound pretty good. The hi-hat needs a new bottom eventually.

Finally, the cowbell.

*Okay, it says BTO, but that isn’t nearly as funny is it? (Bachman Turner Overdrive? You ain’t seen nothing yet? Taking Care of Business? Hey maybe this is the original drum set from the band?)

Pete and his amazing assistants made this today.

But what is it you ask? A stage for playing bongos outside? A deck for leprechauns? The upper part of a cabin for a boat?

Matty liked it.

But it is a platform for her big sister.

It has sides to keep someone from wrapping herself around the posts. It is really hefty.