John Tuttle's humorous (yet "creepy") description of the severe bug
infestation in that Chickering reminded me of a similar experience...

A couple years ago right after I moved into my home, I was playing my ol'
Wurlitzer upright, and I heard the strangest sound.  After I would press
a key or two, I would hear a slight knocking and tapping inside the case.
I was quite mystified -- I really couldn't think what kind of mechanical
problem could be making such an odd random noise.   Anyway, after a day
or two of hoping that the piano would fix itself, I finally got off my
can and decided to investigate.  I stuck my head into the piano through
the foot pump door and banged on a couple keys...

I found out the problem, all right: one of them jumped up and hit me in
the nose!  Two little mice were trapped in the base of the piano, and
every time I started to play, they would get a little frightened and hop
around, hitting their heads on whatever happened to be in the way.
Hmmm...  either that or they were dancing.

So after washing my nose, I successfully coaxed the suckers out and into
a garbage bag and took 'em to an empty lot nearby.  The piano was fine: no
chew marks or anything, just a smattering of rodent... uh... deposits.
My guess is that they stowed away in the piano while it was at a
warehouse for a few weeks during the move.  They must have climbed in
through a gap on the top of the piano, fell down through the action, and
were trapped there until I let them loose.

Oh well...  Sorry I dragged that one on, but you have to admit it's a
rather interesting story.

Rocci Cirone

 [ Just sit down and play "Kitten On The Keys", Rocci -- that oughta
 [ do the trick!   :)    -- Robbie