Pacific Coast Cruise-May3-13, 2011

My Dad took me, Larry and my sister on a 10 day cruise. It was very exciting. This was Larry's first cruise and my third. I knew Larry would love it and couldn't wait for him to see the Pacific Northwest for the first time. I lived in the Seattle area as a child and also the San Diego area for many years. Larry and I lived near Monterey while he was in the Army.

We used 3 camera's. I used my Canon point and shoot which is a fine camera and a Pentax DSLR which is the best of the bunch but kind of big but worth it for some extra beautiful pictures. Larry used our old Canon Power Shot camera. He was able to photograph several sunrises that I missed due to the fact I was sound asleep.

Ports of call after leaving San Diego were as follows:

We had 3 sea days.

Catalina Island-Beautiful day there around 80 degrees
San Francisco-Beautiful day but quite windy and chilly walking around. Meet up with some cousins there so that was very nice to have lunch with them at Fisherman's Wharf.
Astoria, Or-Also a bit chilly and windy. Small town on the Colombia River.
Seattle, WA.-Disappointed it was a very rainy day and could not see Mt. Rainier at all. We did go up the Space Needle and managed to make the most of the day. Many childhood memories there.
Victoria, BC- Great day and we could finally see some of the mountain ranges.
Vancouver, BC- Nice weather and beautiful sites and views of the mountains. Spent most of the day getting to the airport for the flight back to San Diego. We took the Sky Train which was fun once we figured out which train to take, etc. Larry figured it all out for us. Once at the airport we had a long wait before taking a small plane to Seattle. During the flight we did see Mt. Rainier and Larry was very impressed. I really wanted him to see it and he was glad he did.
San Diego, CA-Arrived from Seattle around 11pm. Took a shuttle back to my dad's house and arrived around Midnight. So a very long travel day.

Larry and I drove back to Sun City, AZ the next day which was Saturday the 14th. My sister stayed on an extra day and returned to Arizona on Sunday.

Oldest Grandson's 8th grade promotion

Andrew is 14 already. Lots of ups and downs getting to this point but we are proud of him. He is a sweet young man and wish him the best in High School.

2011-05-19 Drewpromotion

Blogging again

You would think I would have plenty of time to write a blog being sorta retired. I think it was more of a writers block or just couldn't get in the mood so to speak. .

On the work front. Larry is completely retired from the Army, Medtronic and his last job as a school bus driver. He seems perfectly content doing the shopping, helping neighbors and helping with 2 of our grand kids that live nearby.

It is a completely different story for me. After a few months of no work coming in to my violin repair shop I was thinking for finding another line of work. Semi retired seems to agree with me. I couldn't think of anything else I wanted to do really. Working at home seemed the only thing I could still do and be comfortable with. I made a total of 5 dulcimers during the slow times in the shop over the last year or so. I didn't make any money but sure learned a lot about making fretted instruments. I made 2 for my son and one for my sister. Plus one for myself and a mini one to display on the wall.

Now I am happily busy again in my shop with violins coming in every week. Also I decided it was time to learn how to rehair bows. Something I never had the chance to learn while training as an apprentice many years ago. Did a lot of research on the Internet and ordered a few things. Told the music store I do some work for what I was planning to do. They were all for it and gave me some tools, horse hair and bows to practice on. Wow. I made my own jig, and gathered other things I needed to start the project. I was going to give it my best shot. Finished my first bow on my dad's 92 birthday and also the day of the Japanese earthquake. So there is know way I will forget that day.

So far I have rehaired about 10 bows since that first one and it has only been about 6 weeks. I still have a ways to go to improve on this skill. I had a lot of early frustration but I didn't let that stop me. Being able to teach myself is what is amazing to me at my advancing age. But in a way I am not too surprised. My last rehair was a Bass bow that I delivered today and I will be the first one I was get paid for.

Dulcimer Project-Overview of the process.

Dulcimer Project

The sides and end blocks are glued and ready for the top and back once they are ready.

My Dulcimer Kit arrived yesterday morning. I started gluing the sides to the top and end blocks. Pretty easy so far. Hardest part is waiting for the glue to dry to move on to the next step. Hopefully I won't break anything to hold up the project.

No more work?

Larry is offically retired and I haven't worked in over 2 months. Not by choice on my part. I didn't think I would miss working in my Violin repair shop but I do. So I have a new project in the works. I will call it the Dulcimer Project. I am expecting any day in the mail a kit to make my first Dulcimer. It is a stringed instrument and has a lot of possibilities for creativity. Although I fixed violins, cellos and basses for many years I never built one from scratch. It would be very difficult to make a nice one without further training so I did some research and picked the dulcimer to make from a kit first then give it a try to make one from scratch.

The one pictured is a 6 string but I will make a 4 string.

Will post updates as I go through the process.

Back to work

Working on a violin peg box.

Taking a closer look. I had to reset it which I did the day

before. Now adding some finishing touches.

Checking over a Cello after reseting the neck.

After a slow couple of months I am starting to get some work again. I did need a break but can now concentrate a bit better on the task at hand.

In Loving Memory of a wonderful Mother

Ruth Marie Ferm Kiehl

July 25, 1920-November 25, 2009
Ruth was born in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan in Marquette. She was very active
in the Church. She was a gifted musician through out her life. She played the Viola and Flute in her early years. Also the piano and later the Organ she was also gifted with a beautiful singing voice.

Her working years involved banking, PBX operator at both Boeing and Rohr Aircraft. Her favorite job was as an Organ teacher for a music store in San Diego, Ca.

After many years in Michigan where she meet her 1st husband John T. Seaman of Houghton, Mi. they later moved to Muskegon , Mi then to Elkart, Indiana with their two daughters, Katherine and Jean. From there they moved to Seattle, Washington and they both worked at Boeing for 4 years. John was offered a job in Southern California at Rohr Aircraft in Chula Vista. Ruth worked as a PBX operator there also.

John and Ruth parted ways in 1967. In 1969 Ruth married Joseph Keihl. Joseph also worked at Rohr. They enjoyed traveling in their RV for many years. After years in the San Diego area both Ruth and Joe moved to Sun City, Arizona to be close to Ruth's daughter's and grandchildren in Jan. 2006.

Joseph passed away in June of 2006.
Ruth continued to enjoy various activities in the Sun City area.
Concert's and her favorite just being with family. She had her own unique personality that we all loved and enjoyed.
Ruth's parents were Willard and Edith Ferm.
Her older brother Bill Ferm of Spring Lake, Mi passed in 1979, younger brother Martin Ferm of
Rock Island, Ill passed Sept.2008. Sister Shirley Bruining of Muskegon, Mi also passed in March, 2010 only 4 months after Ruth.

Ruth is survived by her daughter's Kathrine Ruth Perez of El Mirage, AZ, Jean Ann Anderson of Sun City, AZ . Also 7 grandchildren, Craig, David, Lisa, Tony Jr, Sandra, Jason and Luke. There are 5 Great Grandchildren - Andrew, Samuel, Bennett, Elinor and Aiden. Nieces and nephews that she dearly loved.
Ruth had one step daughter-Elizabeth Anderise Thomas and 4 step grandchildren.

Grandma's Day

In Honor of Mom

Thank you dad for being with us.

My sons are a blessing

and the whole family made a difficult day a lot easier.

Family Cat Lost for 103 Days – Found!

Our cat Daisy got out on September 3rd.  The kids were crushed and after a 20 day search, hundreds of flyers and even a blog (lostcat.info) we gave up.  Yesterday, 103 days later, a guy calls us and says he found our cat.

He was driving not far from our house and picked this frail white cat up while she was trying to get down a hole.  She was skin and bones and very weak.

A week later he saw a tattered piece of paper taped to a street sign, flipped it over and it was one of our flyers.  He called us up and we picked her up last night.  Wow…