The Piano

“That's it, from now on I'm not looking forward to anything! Oh my god! Tomorrow there's a two for one sale on piano benches. I can't wait, ooh, ooh, ooh!” ~ Homer Simpson

So, a few days ago I made a reference to how the piano gummed up my carefully planned weekend. Let me tell you the whole story. I had started Columbus Day weekend off with a long list of things I wanted to get done... re-seed the lawn, finish work in the powder room, clean out the garage and basement, finish the baseboards in our bedroom etc. So Leah and I set off Saturday morning for Homestead Gardens to check out their fall festival and make use of the generous gift card our realtor gave us when we closed on the house last year (Thanks Marcy!). On the way home, we stopped for lunch (see Leah's Saigon Palace entry on her food blog) and then got a frantic call from her parents.

First we'll start with yard sales. Since becoming a homeowner I have come to appreciate the value of picking things up second hand. Half of my tool collection comes from things I've found at various places on Saturday mornings (craigslist and e-bay are also favorites). When it comes to yard sales, Leah's parents are definitely the ultimate deal finders. In this case they had come across a miniature upright piano with full size keyboard. The exterior was in fair condition and it was badly in need of a tuning, but it was definitely playable. The owner was moving to Texas and couldn't find anyone to take it. He had actually already moved it into a 10 yard dumpster in his front yard - but he was so happy about not having to throw it away he offered it to us for - wait for it - 10 bucks. Leah has played the piano her whole life, and one of the things on her "really want to get but we can't afford it right now" list has been getting one for the house.

Of course, finding the piano turned out to be the easiest part of the day. This thing was easily 300 lbs, and as most big, bulky things generally are, not very easy to handle. Then came the part of transporting it back to our house. Leah and I both drive small cars, which is definitely not helpful when we do as much yard/lumber/drywall work as we do. When it comes to moving large objects, I generally end up borrowing her parent's mini-van - but in this case the it was already full from their own morning deal of the day (a nice wooden filing cabinet). In any case, I seriously doubt that we could have lifted it up into the back without some additional muscle. And here the owner made another generous offer - he offered us the use of his boat trailer to haul the piano back to his house. He even offered to hook it to his own SUV and follow us back.

Now, his boat trailer was, well, designed for his boat (imagine that), a small pleasure craft with a fairly sizable keel. You may see where I'm going with this - the trailer basically was v-shaped to accommodate the boat, and the piano was flat. It wasn't easy, but we managed to get the piano loaded into place and relatively stable (I say relatively). We then took the only rope he had available - synthetic towing line for water skiing - and we wrapped that thing so securely I think even Mike A. (the Combat Cargo Officer on my last ship) would have been proud.

Next came the transit. With Leah and me in the lead, the piano on trailer in the middle, and Leah's parents taking up the rear, we kicked off what had to be the strangest looking convoy Annapolis has ever seen (Seriously, how often do you see a piano tied to a boat trailer with a water skiing tow rope?). We were limited to about 30 mph to avoid shaking the piano loose. I remember one time I was driving on RT 50 and I saw a mattress sitting in the middle of the highway, and then about 1/4 mile further down there was a van pulled off to the side of the road, pieces of broken rope still tied to the roof, and a bunch of distressed looking people looking back at the mattress shaking their heads. I had that image in my head the entire time we were driving. To make matters more complicated, this was the weekend of the Boat Show AND the Renaissance Festival, so we faced some stiff traffic going home (in addition to the small jam we caused on Defense Highway).

Once we got back to our neighborhood it was relatively easy. We were actually able to man-handle the trailer all the way to our front door, and then it was a simple matter of getting the piano onto furniture coasters and sliding it into the living room. Like I said before, we need to do some work on the exterior and it needs a tuning, but it makes a lovely addition to our slowly growing furniture collection.



Unfortunately, I did hurt my back getting the piano out of the dumpster - not quite at the Karl or Laura wimpy "oh I hurt my back" level (just kidding, wanted to see if you guys are REALLY reading this blog like you said you would, and right about now Karl's saying "Them's fighting words"). After a very short but painful run on Monday I am having doubts on the Marine Corps Marathon next weekend. We'll see how it goes. Major props to Leah's folks for finding this great deal - I just hope their next find isn't so heavy.