I've heard that smell is supposed to be the most powerful memory trigger out there.

For me, it's weather. Most weather (except snow) reminds me of Fest, but that warming-up of Spring? That reminds me of garage sales.

Had my first major outing of the season. I knew it would be a good one when my first stop scored me three lava lamps and a HUGE oriental rug, all for $20, from a really cool long-haired guy with a Celtic knot necklace.

The other more practical scores (new humidifier, a couple work shirts, etc.) are boring to anyone except my household, I'm certain, but I must say that I made the best haul since my beloved garage sale partner departed for the west coast.

Not one but TWO musical instruments followed me home.

#1, for $15, a mandolin - but not. It looks for all the world like my bow-back mandolin... except that it has twelve tuning pegs. The nut only shows eight grooves, the plate at the bottom only has eight prongs for string loops (or would if a couple hadn't broken off), and the neck isn't any wider than my current mandolin's. But the head, aside from being longer to accommodate more pegs, doesn't look as if someone put the head from a 12-string guitar on it or anything. Perhaps it had a repair job at some point from someone who only had mandolin parts available? I'm truly stumped. It does need a decent bit of repair work (new nut, new plate on the bottom, small crack on the back probably due to drying out, about half the inlaid rectangles on the edge have fallen off) but to my untrained eye it doesn't look like a lost cause. The woman said it was a family heirloom, but that no one had the time or inclination to do anything with it. I couldn't bear the thought of someone picking it up to put on display as an antique curiosity, so I promised I'd get it repaired as soon as I have the cash. At least with me it'll have other instrument friends.

This brings the tally in our house up to: 3 fiddles (2 full size; 1 3/4-size), 2 mandolins (if you count this one), 2 acoustic guitars, 1 electric guitar, 1 cello, 2 bodhrans, a set of pennywhistles, a set of recorders, 1 lap harp, 1 bazouki, and countless random percussion-type things (shakers, blocks, bells, tambourines, zills, etc.)

One might notice a particular gap in this array - which was filled by my other score:

#2, for $50, a Casio CTK-551 electronic keyboard, with stand, stool, AC adapter, and a handful of books (including the manual). From a random google, the keyboard itself cost about $200-$300 new back in 2000, the stool still sells for $20-$40, the stand goes for another $20, as does the adapter. No idea about the books. So I'm feeling pretty swanky about this. I was trying to teach myself piano in junior high and enjoyed it a lot, but moved on to more portable instruments once I started Fest. The piano still lives with my parents, of course, so I've entirely lost what skill I had. This looks like it's designed for the idiot beginner, though, so I have hopes of surpassing my previous abilities in short order.

It was a good day.

Things I learned this weekend:

- I can fix my furnace when it refuses to start
- Having a furnace that won't start freaks me out considerably less than going downstairs to find a pipe gushing water at the rate of five gallons a minute
- A bathroom-sized trash basket fills up very fast
- Bailing water is easier if you take your bathrobe off and do it nude
- Hot water + cement floor + bare feet = ouch
- There are far too many knobs and levers in the basement
- Two of them shut off the water to the house. (They were the last two I tried)
- Having the dirty laundry on the floor will occasionally save your ass
- How to replace a valve in a hot water heater
- How to weld a copper pipe
- How to re-light the pilot light in my water heater (safely)
- How to drain the crud out of the bottom of my water heater
- If you forget to turn off the water to the drain at the bottom of the water heater, a few minutes after the water starts filling the heater, the hose will whip around, spraying everything in sight
- No matter how old I get, my dad is still my knight in shining armor

Title sounds more interesting than this post is going to be, but two points of awesome for the day:

1 - I got a new vacuum! It's a Dyson, and holy crap has that thing got some suction. Our carpet looks better than when we moved in, I kid you not.

2 - My little brother got accepted into the JET program! He'll be leaving for Japan in January and will be stationed on an island (off the mainland) that is known for its sushi. Since Japan INVENTED sushi, my mouth is watering at the thought. I must visit, clearly.

Problem: I hate matching my socks after they come out of the laundry. Even more, I hate it when one sock wanders off for parts unknown, never to be seen again.

Solution: Fasten them together with a safety pin after removing them for the evening.

Voila!

I'm not sure whether to feel brilliant over this revelation... or stupid that it took me so long to come up with it.

Hell of a week, the details of which are probably irrelevant to anyone who is not me, but involved hospitals, vets, non-medical-aid-required illnesses, work, and car insurance people - oddly, none of these things being actually related to each other aside from the fact that they ganged up in an attempt to drive me shrieking over the edge.

But it is storming now - the wonderful thunder-and-lightning sort - and I find it all very calming, somehow. Everything will be okay.

So, if anyone else out there is having the kind of week I'm having (and from others to whom I've spoken, it seems to be going around)... I hope you find whatever it is that brings you this sort of inner zen.

Two days left, then the weekend. :)