Free! -- Music to my Ears

One result of the feature story in the Press was several phone calls from people wanting to pass along to me some things they no longer want. One call was from Judy, the director of a local senior center. They had a player piano that hasn't worked for years, was too costly to repair, and was basically in the way, and did I want it. I said that I did but that I didn't have a vehicle for transporting it or helpers. She said I was welcome to dismantle it right there, so that's what I did.

At first I was concerned that the seniors would be upset, but they all thanked me for what I was doing and said for years they wanted it gone. So I got to work.

I did everything with handtools, not even the cordless. There were many, many screws. Older pieces sometimes need an extra elbow grease to get things loose, but I had no trouble with this one.

And I got a little extra help from my new friend Jack. He just picked up a screwdriver and dug in. I think he enjoyed himself.

I spent about 3 hours there and when I left I was down to the shell -- just the heavy back piece with the attached cast iron and the 2 side pieces so it wouldn't topple over. I didn't want to tackle the rest on my own.

At this point, I had taken off everything still intact. But that was no longer true when I came back in the evening with my husband, Chris, and my son, Ben. It took about an hour, but we left with the last of it in pieces in the back of the minivan.

When it was all said and done, these were some of the pieces I got to make new projects with:

I haven't decided on all the projects yet, but I'm forming a few ideas. I'd like to make a little something, too, for the senior center as a thank-you (maybe a bulletin board with player roll paper?) . Anyway, I've got work to do. I'll post my projects as I complete them.