Tell me some good news

[Three Valves]

Maybe it’s an ancient Chinese secret??

https://youtu.be/mzixL7Ef-bI" target="_blank" target="_blank

[bort]

BREAKING (good) NEWS: Bort likes his new tuba and thinks that he has found the one.

I used to take Brett's routine announcements of holy-grail tuba acquisitions about as seriously as a sneeze...

...but (well...) sneezes are now taken seriously, so...

An imperfect analogy, but I always come back to it -- very few people marry one of the first people they date. Dating 10 people in 10 years is not unusual, and it's also not unusual to jump into the relationship all-in and have wild expectations and thoughts of the future. But eventually, there is a turning point, and you just know it's different. You've been through and seen enough to know that it's time to stop looking around, and keep what you've got.

Nobody thinks that's weird or unusual with people and marriage.

But it's weird with tubas... ?

[Three Valves]

What about the whack chick all your friends warned you about but you went for it anyway??

Anything like a gigantic tuba/mini tuba or valve trombone??

[bort]

I’ve gone through more tubas than you, but not as high profile.

Yessir... Maybe when you get to 50k posts you can be "high profile."

[bort]

I just run my mouth (fingers?) a lot, that's all. And then things look more interesting or important than they are. But really... If I don't ask questions, I'll never know the answers.

I have a number of Alexander questions ready to ask, but feel bad about selfishly asking things too often. Plus I need to take more photos first. So... I'll post it soon enough.

[kingrob76]

Breaking News:

By the end of the year there will be a Alex 163 CC in silver with a funky leadpipe for sale here. Rumor has it that it's a great horn!

[ggdadams]

This commercial was on a major network last night.
https://www.interstatebatteries.com/gods-love" target="_blank

[bort]

Breaking News:

By the end of the year there will be a Alex 163 CC in silver with a funky leadpipe for sale here. Rumor has it that it's a great horn!

If this tuba and I split up, the tuba is going to have to leave ME!

[Rick Denney]

that looks really good... we're talking about doing that to our outside boundary but in vinyl. i'm not much good at maintenance. there's an art to building a curved fence... i did it once.

Thanks for the nice remarks.
I actually hand-selected a certain percentage of CURVED boards (which others might reject), which helped (at the junctures, as well as overall appearance) in building a curved fence.
my problems:
>too much attention to detail
> too picky to contract stuff out (or hire helpers for stuff) done on my own property (Only Mrs. bloke's pickiness equals/exceeds my own, so...)

I'm familiar with that disease. I'm not good enough to be good, mind you, but I'm picky enough to keep at it until I've worked through my badness. (I think I got that right.)

I just finished a staircase to our attic, and from the top it looks great. Now, I'm doing drywall in the bedroom I had to modify to make room for the staircase. Drywall...takes practice. I've been fine with simple butt joints, and 90-degree inside corners, but this is much more complicated with angles and small details. We'll see how it goes. I had to rearrange quite a bit of wiring that went through the opening I wanted to make, but that's the easiest part of any project. Thank goodness I didn't go through a wet wall.

The exterior of our house is Redwood, and we have it sanded and stained every ten years or so. It's expensive, but a man has to know his limitations, and high ladder work is not for me. Expect to have to do that again with your fence about that often, if you want to maintain the color. Eventually, even treated lumber will rot below ground level, though. I have a pallet of railroad ties waiting for warmer weather to use to replace the existing ties that line a part of our gravel driveway. The old ones are nearly no more, but they were installed in 1980 and have lasted a long time. The new ones are creosoted under pressure and heat, and will last longer than more modern pressure treatment. Swinging a pick and wielding a shovel is just work--not that much skill required.

Rick "may get to things that have been on the list for years" Denney

[Donn]

Eventually, even treated lumber will rot below ground level, though. I have a pallet of railroad ties waiting for warmer weather to use to replace the existing ties that line a part of our gravel driveway. The old ones are nearly no more, but they were installed in 1980 and have lasted a long time. The new ones are creosoted under pressure and heat, and will last longer than more modern pressure treatment.

As you may be aware, railroad ties are falling out of fashion in some places for that very reason - the creosote, a brew of a variety of toxic chemicals. EPA, etc.

[bort]

I’m hoping that – in 2020 - a person will eventually emerge who is sensible. One thing that I would like to see done – as it is horribly cancerous – is to mine all of the world’s asbestos (while we are busily printing quadrillions of dollars anyway), and send it all away from the earth in rocket ships.

What happens if the rocket ship explodes shortly after takeoff and all of the asbestos is released into the atmosphere?

[windshieldbug]

What happens if the rocket ship explodes shortly after takeoff and all of the asbestos is released into the atmosphere?

Then it's a wash. The net asbestos on the planet still remains the same!

[tadawson]

I’m hoping that – in 2020 - a person will eventually emerge who is sensible. One thing that I would like to see done – as it is horribly cancerous – is to mine all of the world’s asbestos (while we are busily printing quadrillions of dollars anyway), and send it all away from the earth in rocket ships.

What happens if the rocket ship explodes shortly after takeoff and all of the asbestos is released into the atmosphere?

At least nothing will burn where it lands!

[Rick Denney]

Eventually, even treated lumber will rot below ground level, though. I have a pallet of railroad ties waiting for warmer weather to use to replace the existing ties that line a part of our gravel driveway. The old ones are nearly no more, but they were installed in 1980 and have lasted a long time. The new ones are creosoted under pressure and heat, and will last longer than more modern pressure treatment.

As you may be aware, railroad ties are falling out of fashion in some places for that very reason - the creosote, a brew of a variety of toxic chemicals. EPA, etc.

Yes, they are falling out of fashion, but the chemicals used to replace them aren't always much better. And the main problem with the coal tar used to make creosote is when the materials sits in an aquatic environment.

The aromatics produced when creosote is fresh are carcinogenic, but that's a concern for the workers at the creosoting plants (where precautions are taken) more than in use, particularly for fully cured products such as the railroad ties that I bought.

Rick "who had to replace copper azole-treated landscaping timbers around a planter after five years" Denney

[Three Valves]

I like the old tractor tire flower beds myself...

[ggdadams]

Nobody has posted any good news lately. So, a shout out for Mike Morse at Morse Instrument repair in Durham, NC. Mike is a superb craftsman, his prices are fair, he is accommodating and easy to work with. I just had my Marzan slant rotor tuba there. Mike fixed the main tuning slide that had gotten "tweaked" slightly so now it is perfect. Even looks like new with his invisible lacquer blending job. And he thoroughly cleaned, adjusted and restrung the rotors so they are smooth and silent. Yes, I probably could have done the rotors myself, but not as well as he did for sure.

And someone (I won't identify him since that doesn't seem right) has given me a valuable gift of a significant amount of his time and advice. That is true generosity and harder to give away than money. Thank you!

[bort]

Ok, you're going to need to post a photo of that...

[Ace]

This is not current good news, but dates back to 1967 when I got a sensational deal on like-new railroad ties. In nearby Richmond CA, demolition and ground-clearing for a new mass transit station resulted in old railroad tracks being uprooted. Some of the ties were extra large "switch" ties with lots of length and girth. I went to the Oakland head office and purchased 22 of the large ties. Cost was $0.50 each provided I hauled them off. Total bill was $11.00 These ties were extremely heavy and I could haul only two at a time to my home in the Berkeley hills. I made 11 round trips in my trusty Rambler station wagon to get them home. They made some excellent retaining walls on part of my hillside lot and are still in place today with no signs of decay.

Ace

[ggdadams]

Ok, you're going to need to post a photo of that...

As requested!