So I was handed two used keyboards over the weekend, and had a double bonus – I got to meet a fellow rock hound who lives nearby, named Woody. What a fantastic man! We talked rocks and rock hounding, then he graciously agreed to take a couple of tubs-worth of my rough that was too hard to my little baby saw to cut, and he’s going to slab them for me.

In the rock world, this is a big deal. I’ve asked him to keep for himself as much as he wants, I’m just thrilled to be able to get some of this stuff slabbed up. To those of you who have no idea what I mean – he’s taking rough chunks of agates and jaspers and cutting them into thin slices, which I can then cut into shapes for the tumbler.

I have a saw, but it’s a baby compared to the big boys, and just can’t handle some of the harder, larger rough. My best work is done with slabs, but sometimes I just can’t resist picking up a big chunk of pretty.

So anyway, work on the keyboards is moving forward. These two I had donated to the cause over the weekend needed cleaning (good God, how people live!) In fact, when I started popping off the keys I realized they had to be scrubbed, so I was forced to put aside my fear of dismantling these things – and dismantle them. I took them both apart and scrubbed the cases with soap and hot water, then disinfectant.

I’m struggling with a way to cover the backs of the cases, the inside portion behind the keys, but I still have a few methods to try – work on that progresses. Pebbles and BamBam was shipped to my beta tester, and hopefully will arrive by the end of this week, and I have a promise of more keyboards coming in the mail.

This week I should have photos of an Ice Age keyboard, and possibly a Bronze Age, if not another Stone Age. And one of these days I’m going to take a week off of work just to sit and build keyboards !