MIMF

I haven't lurked on MIMF for a while, since COVID's been a bit of a handful.

How is everyone doing?

I joined MIMF sometime in the early 2000's to learn about guitar building, but stayed for the community.
People like Deb, Ellie, Mario, Al, Barry, etc.....

I hope you're all doing well.
On my end, I'm getting ready to propose to my girlfriend....and probably should finish those ukuleles that I started in 2015.

Hi Matthew. Good to see you again.

I'm as well as could be reasonably expected. Good luck on popping the question. I won't spoil the surprise.

Update: Got married. Two months later, got a pup...and found out my wife is pregnant.

Currently, trying to organize my garage so that it's usable, but has space for all the dog and baby stuff.
Hope all is well!

Congrats!

Congratulations!

Hello Everyone! How's things? Happy Holidays!

Nice to see you posting Mark. Twenty years ago, there would have been a couple of dozen posts before mine! Merry Christmas!

Right?
Well, up here in the north woods we've got a foot + of snow on the ground, more on the way with 40 mph winds and -30F wind chills! Even with the heaters on full blast in my shop, it's not going to get comfortable in there before Christmas.

Hi Mark,
Nice to see you posting again! I have been wondering how you and some of the "old crew" - Ellie, Amy, and Deb Suran, Julian Barton, Larry Clinton, and many of the regulars who used to post here have been doing. I know many of us are less active than we used to be, but it's nice to see some of the original posters drop in from time to time and I'm glad that Charlie has kept the forum going.
Here in Maryland the Polar Vortex is going to drop temperatures into the teens for a couple of nights, but then "highs" hopefully back in the 40's by New Year's day.
Happy Holidays to you and yours and to all the people of the MIMF!

We have the same forecast but this is south Texas. It may be an all time record low!

Jeez, Clay, warm up by you! It is only supposed to a whopping 5 degrees here tonight, with 30 MPH winds.

Having been around this Forum for over 20 years now, here is what little I know:

Ellie is still building guitars and playing with various bands in Wisconsin. Search Imaginary Watermelon.
Amy still runs an instrument repair business in PA, about 5 miles from me. I have unfortunately not ventured over there since the beginning of COVID.
Deb was farming garlic and battling a nematode infestation in Maine last I heard. I don't think she is building instruments anymore.
I have not seen or heard from Julian in years. He was still active duty Army last I know, mostly repairing instruments for the military bands.
Sorry, no idea about Larry.

And for those of you who don't remember back that far, this Forum was actually co-founded in 1997 by Deb and Nicholas Blanton. Nick is still building hammered dulcimers just outside of Shepherdsdown, WV. Shepherdstown is a lovely little village, and one of its claims to fame was that it was the site of the first steam-powered riverboat in the country, jet propelled, no less! Besides his amazing craftsmanship on dulcimers, Nick helped research and build a replica of the first steamboat, which they actually sailed on the Potomac River. While I was in Shepherdstown a few years back for a musical gathering, Nick gave us a wonderful tour of the boat and explained its history. He still pops by the Forum occasionally.

Hi Jim,
Thanks for the updates. Good to hear what some of the old crew are up to.
Being close to the river and in somewhat of a "canyon" we are in kind of a microclimate with the water temperature of the river ameliorating the temperature swings a bit. Also the wind passes over top of us, so we don't feel the wind chill blowing across the hills. And IIRC you are over the line In Pennsyltucky, several hundred feet higher in elevation. Compared to much of the rest of the country we are both relatively lucky!

Happy New Year Y'all!

Nope. I'm in MD, in very northern Baltimore County, just on the opposite side of the Mason-Dixon line from Amy, who is in PA. One of the original Mason-Dixon survey markers (1763) is only 2-3 miles north of here. Probably about 800' of elevation on a knob, so the wind whips through here like crazy. The latest storm blew over a bunch of trees that I'm busy cutting up. Wish I had a saw mill!

It's great to see you all here too.
We got absolutely hammered in that storm, we have had over 67" of snow here in Grand Rapids, it's the 2nd snowiest city right behind Buffalo, NY. it's melting now.
I am keeping quite busy, I am a partner in a repair shop here these days as well as playing quite a bit. Happy New year, my old friends! I'll try and check in more often.