Opening Day 2012

Opening Day
    We got the calliope loaded and drove out to the parade staging area. One group of kids were already singing, "Take Me Out to the Ball Park".  We fired up the generator and tried to play a few notes.  The keys stuck!  Some would lift and stop playing while others became stuck.  I inserted a small zip-tie above the key and this helped release most of the notes.  Subsequent playing seemed to improve.  But, at last, a couple of notes remained down and would not come back up.

    We shut down and headed back to the barn.   We weren't going to the ball park today...

Update (work done on 4/30/2012, posted 5/19/12):
     After looking at the construction of the calliope, I removed 4 wood screws from the top of the keyboard and was able to look down into the key-action area. An industrious mouse had been storing up cat food for the winter. 

 As pieces would slip under the key, they would not return upright and stop playing.  With an air compressor and shop-vac, ice pick, screw driver and about any other type of tool, 

Marsha and I removed the cat food, stuffed the holes with steel wool and replaced the top. 

All keys now work just fine -- and will hopefully continue to do so for the foreseeable future.

    We should be ready for the DC fair in June!