Wednesday August 24, 2005
Looky What We Got!
Our mail was quite exciting yesterday! Yvonne & Bob sent us a guitar! Not just any guitar, mind you, but a beautiful acoustic Fender guitar and everything we need to hook it into our computer and record music! She also sent us Grandpa Doc’s prized microphone. He wouldn’t let ANYBODY touch this thing because it was so precious to him. What an amazing gift! She said she was going to send Zach a guitar in exchange for doing a webpage for her, but this was really something!
Bob wrapped it to mean business too. Evidently, he ran out of tape halfway through the project and had to run back into town to get more. Then they ran out of tape again before they could close up the accompanying box. That sucker was secure!
An example Bob’s handiwork
Zach doing a “Sound of Music” impression. (Check out the ingenuity…the box perfectly covered the guitar case, but left the handle so people could carry it properly.
In the box was also a nice tuner, the microphone I mentioned, a teddy bear for Zane, some M&Ms with little train engines on top (Zane loves trains), some animal crackers, a make-up kit for me, and these cool propeller stick things (you rub the stick and the propeller spins…an old fashioned toy). Zane thought the propeller things were about the coolest thing in the world and actually was able to keep it going (although it worked better when I held the stick and he rubbed it).
Bob had worked on the guitar to make it easier to play (so the strings weren’t too far away from the neck) and put some very high quality strings on it. They also packed a few extra strings for future use too.
That evening, Zach finally got to play for a while. It was so wonderful. His Alverez got ruined when a pipe burst in our apartment a few years ago and caused the neck to twist. He still played it, but it was hard on his hands, some of the strings dragged on the neck, and was generally frustrating to play. This was a dream to play. We pulled out the Alvarez for Zane to fool with because he would NOT be denied any play time. Through the course of the evening he played with the Alvarez, a kazoo, a recorder, and a few rhythm instruments with Zach. It was so much fun.
I look forward to many more concerts in the future. What a blessing!
What a special gift. My brother plays guitar and Zep loves to strum along ie. make lots of dissonant (sp?) noise.
Incidentally, dh plays drums. Maybe your dh could hang with my dh and play some music. Does Zach, by any chance, like Steeley Dan?
That’s really cool about the guitar and everything. And I especially like the packing job. I couldn’t do it, but I really like it
DH plays the guitar occasionally, but he hasn’t been doing it much lately, I don’t think he feels very good. Have a great day!
God bless you and yours,
Beth
Thank you so much for calling me while Zach opened our gifts to you. I love the pictures of him getting the guitar too. I can’t wait to show Bob—he’ll be tickled. By the way, Bob made those “whirlly-birds.” Right before I closed the gift-box, he said, “Hey, let’s send Zane one of those toys I made.”
Pa Barton, my mother’s father, used to make the whirlly birds and mother played with them as a child. We took them to a flea market once, and people bought a lot of them, but the best thing was everybody wanted to try them. We were selling other things and the whirlly-birds were just an after thought. People were standing all around our booth, putting stick to bird. It was funny. There is a trick to them. To say you are an expert on the whirlly-bird, you have to be able to twirl the blade in once direction, have it stop and twirl the other direction. Can you do it? Everyone has a different name to call these toys.
Love, Yvonne
Okay, let’s hear some music Zach. I want to collaborate on a song, so get busy.
I can’t even TELL you how excited I am for you. Zach is such a talented musician and for him to have such a treasure is amazing! And the microphone that has such terrific sentimental value is wonderful!! I’m really looking forward to hearing Zach play (and sing)
It’s so exciting that Zane is joining in.
Thanks, Yvonne and Bob. What a legacy you have passed on!!