Ted and I spent the day over at F's apartment dismantling the piano she had ill-advisedly rescued from the side of the road. We ill advisedly did not do this dismantling when she was around. We foolishly trusted her to get the same group of strong young men who had pushed the piano up the stairs to her second floor apt and bribe them into pushing it back down the stairs. But then what would happen to it? Leave it by the dumpster to become someone else's problem? Push it back out to the side of the road where she found it?
We watched several videos on you tube as to how to dismantle a piano, but this turned out to be harder than it looked, at least in some ways. Pieces that looked like they came apart easily in the video took a crowbar to loosen up.
In the video the guy just lifts up the harp and walks off with it. Don't be fooled, the harp weighs a ton, I'm hoping I didn't do any damage to my back, but even after two ibuprofen it still feels tight. Uh oh. It will take some strong young men to move the harp down the stairs.
The back of the piano without the harp is also very heavy. We need to come back with a sawsall and cut that into manageable pieces. We salvaged a good deal of the wood, the big pieces are all plywood. They can at least be used for shelves in the garage or shed. The sides were glued on and the plywood splintered w
hen the sides were pried off, so that was all trashed. It took about 5 hours of work.
Normally after such a crazy day we would head out for a rejuvenating bike ride but we are both tired and it's still 93 at seven pm, so forget that!
Update 7/18/2010
Finished the piano dismantling.
Took the sawsall and Ted cut apart the back. That solid piece at the bottom is where most of the weight is.
Then he put on the metal blade and cut the harp in two. Now we could carry all the pieces down the stairs ourselves. Swept up the dust and headed back home. This the process went very quickly and we were done in about 1.5 hours.
one/coffeeberry/poison oak (sometimes lots of poison oak). Occasionally California bay and toyon. Often we see madrone as one of the trees in mixed oak hardwood forest, but usually it is a small component. This veg type of only madrone and coast live oak, in almost equal numbers, is new to us and so noteworthy.
The back of the piano without the harp is also very heavy. We need to come back with a sawsall and cut that into manageable pieces. We salvaged a good deal of the wood, the big pieces are all plywood. They can at least be used for shelves in the garage or shed. The sides were glued on and the plywood splintered w
hen the sides were pried off, so that was all trashed. It took about 5 hours of work.
Since my "Hopefully rehabed" post I have been biking every other day. But now I find that on the off day it's hard to feel like I get enough exercise just doing yard work. Especially now that it has gotten so hot it's hard to muster up the guts to work in the yard. 
Soooo.... I've switched over to biking every day. Started last Friday, June 11. We'll see how my knees hold up. Currently the left one is intermittently a little bit sore. Here is the view from the top of the hill yesterday. It was pretty hazy. I start down on the flats in town, which is all the trees and buildings on the right side of this image, bike past the lake and then up the road that winds along the side of the hill to the top. It's about a 10 mile round trip. Great views and a great workout!
We have a strong north wind and temperatures have finally hit 90 plus, so I think I can say that summer has arrived. I took the photo May 26, and today, June 12, the sweet peas are just about past. Very few blooms are left. These are growing up over some of my blackberries. Blackberry harvest is in full swing. Strawberries are for all practical purposes done. The last of the cherries were picked today, and now we just have mop up after the spotted wing drosophila and the birds
. Apricots are just starting. We don't have many this year due to all the late rains, and heavy crop last year, but the ones we have are quite large.
the record, this is what the tomatillos look like. The fruit haven't yet expanded in the papery husks, but it looks like we are going to have a bumper crop.
We took this hike on Sunday of Memorial Day Weekend. There were other hikers, but I wouldn't call the trail crowded by any means. The hike was spectacular! The wildflowers were at peak, thanks to our cool, rainy spring. 
rimarily canyon live oak and doug fir, but foothill pine, California bay, and ponderosa pine were also present. Then we crossed into an area that had burned. This area was full of wildflowers of all types.
I love th
ese bicolored lupins. And I saw banana slugs! What are they doing in the Sierra Nevada?
