Kitty Litter

I got a call last night. It was Jason, the Pipe Major. He told me to microwave my kitty-litter.

You think this needs a word or two of explanation? You are perhaps wondering why the Pipe Major would be concerned with the hygiene of my cat on the night before a parade?I will explain.

Inside the bag of modern bagpipes is usually a boxy sort of thing, about 4x5x1", with plexiglass tubes connecting to the drones and other orifices of the bag. It is a moisture control system. You may be able to visualize why a moisture control system would be installed in the bag of a bagpipe, which is played with much blowing, and the inevitable drool. Inside the boxy thing is something quite similar to kitty-litter, although hopefully much cleaner, which absorbs moisture, similar to kitty-litter. That is why in the trade it is called kitty-litter. I, being the cheapskate that I am, do not have a moisture-control system installed in my bag. I just open the bag up every so often and air out the insides. Thus, no kitty-litter. So I did not have to microwave anything.

I emailed work last night to ask them to give me a short, early job as I would be leaving at 0730 for the parade. Then I went to bed. I left home this morning at 0230 and drove the 17 miles in to work and everybody asked me why I was there. That's gratitude for ya. I mean! Seems they sent me an email right back saying since I was only working 4 hours I could work from home. ha. I did some quick math (or as quick as I can do math at 0300) and figured I couldn't get home in time to log in for my shift, so I stayed.

Stay tuned for the next update about the St Paddy's Day parade and any subsequent St. Paddy's Day activites.

No, no comliments. At least none that I heard. I was late.

No, we did not do massed band tunes. Jason had us go over the 6/8's and the 9/8's. And Clumsy Lover?!? We didn't do too badly, but I still have trouble with that last bit.

I'm trying to work out how this 2/4 march, Lady Lever Park, goes without having somebody play it for me. Not sure I have it right. Hopefully I can find it in iTunes so I can get an idea.

Everybody was tired last night. I'm still tired today. Had to come in to the center because my computer wouldn't work.

I hope Daughter #1 knows to pick up the kids.

Email. It's a wonderful thing.

What with one thing and another, 24 hours passed.

The next 24 might be more exciting. I'm trying to get some time off to go to North and South Carolina in April, and that will include moving a piping gig at Small Son's school, and moving a court date. I'm going to try to do those today. Also scheduled for today is the first lesson after the concert. We are actually marching in the parade on Saturday, so we will probably go over massed band tunes: Green Hills / ((in my head I call it: After Battle Triple Chocolate Cake) When the Battle's Over, Farewell to Nigg, The Mill set, probably our two MSR's, Minstrel Boy/Wearing o' the Green, Heights of Dargai and Battle of the Somme, The Smith's Set (The Smith's A Gallant Fireman/Killekrankie/Scotland The Brave), maybe even 100 Pipers and Blue Bonnets. I feel pretty confident about them all.

I'm sorry. I know it's been 3 days since the concert and I haven't posted so you would know what had happened if you hadn't been there for whatever reason. I try to stay away from the computer on my days off. So they really ARE days off. From the computer.

Well, anyway, you have to know ahead of time that Friday night I couldn't sleep. I was waiting for Daughter #1 to call for a ride home from work, and when the phone rang I thought it was the alarm and got up and started dressing before I heard Handsome Husband answer the alarm . . . er, I mean the phone. So I went back to bed, but I only had an hour left. I went to work and worked my 10.5 hours, then went home and made sure my stuff was laid out and went back to bed to catch 40 winks. But I was so nervous I really couldn't sleep..

Mostly, I just lay there with my eyes closed and worried about the tunes.

At 1630 I was on my way to Highland HS. I got there only seconds before PM Jason, and people started showing up thick and fast after that. We warmed up, did tuning of chanters and then drones(the one with the hair is Pipe Major Sean. He's making up for PM Jason, who by his own admission has a five-head--more extensive than a fourhead)and then gave a bunch of money to Aaron's mom (Aaron is the 6'7" piper whom I am standing next to in the warm-up picture) who went and got us pizza and we ate that and hoped we wouldn't puke it into our pipes due to nerves.

Standing behind the curtain in the dark in our two lines, listening to the 2 or 4 pipers coming down the aisle, I was praying I could get through this with no problem, especially Blue Bonnets. And then the curtain went up and we were on!

Kind Jack had taped the sets were were playing on the first row of seats in huge letters so for the first half I just went tune by tune, and getting them set in my head before we even started. and I DIDN'T LOOK AT THE AUDIENCE!! That messes you up every time. Plus the lights are extremely bright and will burn out your retinas or some awful thing.

So I played 4 sets in the first half, and 3 sets in the second half, 2 of which were playing with the Grade III! I did mess up a couple of times on the easy, Battle set, but in the 2nd halfwhen we played Blue Bonnets, the hardest one for me, I breezed through them both, no problem!Afterward we played a couple sets in the foyer, and then the drum corps was asked to play their salute . . .That side view of the tall guy in the center background with a beard like Abe Lincoln is my baby brother, and he's talking to me there, I'm sort of facing the camera. He's almost bumping his head on the ceiling, he's that tall.

The concert went marvelously. PM Jason's goal was to pull off a perfect concert, and it mostly was. The pipers rocked (mostly) and the drummers really rocked. Practice was cancelled last night so I haven't heard Words of Praise yet. I'm very happy with how it went.

C minus 2 days and concert, where C=concert.

Last night at the group lesson, Jason wanted to give me a new, easier reed. He said he could maybe play one tune on my reed and then be too tired (not his word) to go any further. He said he has a much easier reed. I said, Maybe that's why you make it look so easy. (appreciative laughter) I also said I appreciated his offer, but I didn't want to change ANYTHING right before the concert because it would royally mess me up. So I have my old, hard reed until after the concert.

The worst part of this is that I don't have time to practice on pipes at home any time before the concert. I do have 2 additional practices before then, but I was hoping not to make any stupid mistakes (see yesterday's entry) even during band practice. I have to work on strike-ins. I got a lesson on that last night. Again I say, some people make it look so easy. Jason was holding his pipes out away from his body and talking and all the while the drones were droning . . . It was like he doesn't even have to come into physical contact with them to make them play, they are so well trained!

My Dumb Dog, the 18" high blonde one, jumped our 48" high fence last month and ran up to a man and his dog and barked at them. He called the animal police, who wrote me a ticket. I have to appear in court. The officer told me to call (this number) and check to make sure my case is on file, and she gave me a court date. I've been calling them every day since it happened, and still they do not have my case on file, but the Prosecutor's Office said show up anyway and show them the paper that says I have to be there Monday morning 0830, and if there is no case, maybe they will throw it out.

what fun i can hardly wait

I was so entertained by the comments on that last entry that I forgot to do new entries!

It'd be nice to forget last night's practice, too, We were going over combined band tunes. If there is one set that everybody knows so well they are sick of it, it's the Mill set, comprised of The Old Mill, Mari's Wedding, Killikrankie and Pipe Major J. K. Cairns. These are the first tunes anybody learns in this band, and we play them ad nauseatum because everybody knows them. However! There are 2 versions. Version One is the Competition Version, which starts on E and then jumps into the first tune, and you play right through all 4 tunes without stopping. Version Two is the Parade Version, which doesn't have the E at the beginning but jumps right in at the D of Mill. Anybody who plays the E gets The Look and/or severely chastened. The other difference is that in the Parade Version there is a break after Mari's Wedding for the drums to play their 4 measures of tics and tacs. We are playing the parade version for the concert, so that's what we practiced. I remembered about no E, but I completely forgot the break. So I was the only one playing--wrongly--during the drum break. I got The Look, and the Severe Chastizement.

PM "Were you watching me?"

me "Yes."PM "Did you see me step out?" (stepping forward 2 steps and then back signals the band that we are going to stop at the end of the current section)

me "No."

PM [shakes head in disgust]On the other hand, I played the battle tunes (also known as the 9/8's) with the full band last night. I was the only one of the Grade IV on my side of the stage who played. Both the other Grade IV members standing by me told me I'd done a good job. I accept all compliments!

We didn't go over the 6/8's, which is harder (for me) and longer. No more weeks to practice: the concert is in 3 days!!

I have to go over the Mill set and our Grade IV Medley. I didn't majorly mess up the medley, but I did mess up. Lesson tonight, 'nother band practice tomorrow, 'nother practice Saturday, but I don't want to mess up even in the practices!


My editor has told me that it's either one exclamation point or none. I just want to say this is cramping my style.

I'm still flying from Wednesday's practice.

Good thing, too, cuz I had to skip Thursday's lesson to attend a RS meeting at the Stake level, and my lip is still swollen and sore, although not as bad as it was that first Sheep Dog Trials ('06) when I played for 3 days straight with a poor grip on the blowpipe.

Small Son has been tootling his PC after lights-out, which is bad for sleep but good for practice.

At the Stake RS meeting Thursday, when I introduced myself, one of the Stake Presidency asked, "Are you the one whose daughter is . . . um . . . . brilliant?" I admitted I was, thinking in my head how Daughter #1 would chuckle when I told her. Then they all joined together to tell me about a letter Daughter #1 E wrote to a soldier in Iraq to accompany some fleece blankets and pj's we were making to send to injured US soldiers so they didn't have to deal with those rather revealing hospital gowns, or the army-issue wool blankets. They were all tearing up in the telling. I got them to send me a copy. It is brilliant. Well. Here's some stationery if ever I saw some.

"We must have fifty sewing machines going in this building. We'd have more but we ran out of power strips. We have everyone, from four-year-olds to great-grandmothers, sewing and cutting and pinning and tying and ironing and writing.
"It's a silvery-gray day here in Salt Lake City, Utah. It's the first rain we've seen since fall. There's silver light coming in through the clouded-glass windows and pale gold light coming from the florescent light fixtures in the ceiling of the gym. The sewing machines are whirring in fits and starts, making the thread spools rattle on their spindles. And everywhere there's a murmur of women's voices. They're talking about their jobs, their kids, the seams they're sewing, this funny thing that happened one time, this delicious jam that so-and-so made from her cousin-in-law's peach trees. It's a little cold in this big room; we're all still in long-sleeved sweaters, knowing that winter isn't quite over yet. It's five minutes to two.
"So why am I telling you all this? It's partly because I want to fix the image in my memory, to refer back to if ever I need to smile. It's partly because someone put a piece of paper in front of me, and the only thing I know how to do with a piece of paper is to cover it in description, however pointless. But it's partly because I wish you were here, whoever you are and wherever you come from. You could pull up a chair, and watch the little kids run screaming by, and have a slice of that pineapple-coconut bread with so-and-so's raspberry jam. (Delicious) You're a long way away from Salt Lake City on a rainy Saturday afternoon, and I wish you didn't have to be. You probably wish it too. But here's a little piece of us, along with our thoughts and our love, though these things are feeble thanks for all you've done and suffered. So be warm, be safe, and come home soon to the people who love you. Which now includes all of us.
God bless and keep you.
Rose Park North Stake
and Rose E. Hadden
23rd February 2008, 2:00 p.m.
Salt Lake City, UT"

It has been a joy and an honor to be her mum. Stay tuned for bragging about Daughters 2 and 3, and Small Son in later entries.