Congraduations!

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Say Goodbye to the School Year

It's the end of the school year, and K has spent his last day as a student at Lawton. The fifth-grade graduation ceremony was a lot of fun (and slightly teary, for some people, I mean, not me, I wouldn't tear up for something like this, OK, maybe I would a little).

But first, we attended the annual ice cream social fundraiser. Fifth graders have the opportunity to be the target of the bucket-dumping game, and even though it was a little cool that night, K took his turn to get drenched.


The water's in the air, and K's about to get splashed.


His shift over, K contemplates the rest of his evening.


The graduation ceremony - the students sang "We Go Together" from Grease for the parents and siblings.


K and his teacher for the past two years, Mrs. Wesley.

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The Cats
Meanwhile, in non-graduation news, the cats are just relaxing around the house, as cats are wont to do.


Mesko likes to hang out on top of the bookcase


Rigby parks herself on top of the desk chair

Instrument Repair: The Results

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New Strings and Tone Bars


Four autoharps that need cleaned and a few new strings, plus four glockenspiels (German for "glockenspiel").

Regular readers (all 2 of you) know that I offered to fix up a few instruments for the elementary school teacher. She dropped off the supplies, and I provided the elbow grease. Here are a few before and after pictures.


The rubber tubing that the tone bars ride on is pretty much gone - a few pieces remain. The tone bars are tarnished.


On one of the glockenspiels, I replaced the pegs that the bars go around (and over). I had one brand new set to work with, so I chose the glockenspiel that seemed in the best shape and put the set on that one. I could have fixed up the worst one, but I thought the teacher would like to have one really good one to use.


A little rubbing and polishing of the tone bars brought out a shine. I used a metal polish I happened to have laying around. It's not a great picture - the two bars on the right have been polished.


One tone bar is missing (the teacher has it) but the rest looks great, and you can see the new rubber tubing at the ends.


Another view of the glockenspiel I spent the most time on.

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Stay tuned for the beginning of summer for the J and the kids - coming soon to a blog near you.

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