Happy Holidays to all MMDer's.  I appreciate all your thoughts and
submissions and will pay for my subscription during this years fund
raiser drive as I'm confident that the MMD publication will continue to
provide me with useful and entertaining reading that's well worth the
$30.00 they suggest.  Thanks Robbie and Jody et al.

On another note -- I have a thought that has been causing me some fear
and dread.  A year or two ago I acquired a 1925 Haines Bros. Ampico
baby grand.  It was in non-working condition but over the course of
time I have replaced all the rubber tubing and recovered a few of the
sadder bellows and rebuilt the vacuum pump.

As I've been going through it I noticed that a lot of the elbows,
etc., are of lead composition.  I also see that as they age the lead
oxidizes and creates a grayish powder.

I recently moved the piano and upon it's installation at its new home
it would not play at all.  I picked and poked and determined that there
was a blockage of the vacuum.  It seems that a few of the bumps and
vibrations of the move dislodged some of that powder (or something) and
blocked vacuum to the note side of the vacuum circuit.

I never did determine exactly where that blockage was but I pulled off
a few of the larger diameter hoses and stuck my vacuum cleaner on to
suck out any accumulations.  It worked pretty well again after that.

Which all leads to my question and concern.  I have two small children
growing up in my house.  We all love to play the piano and dance about
while it plays.  I can't help but picture invisible clouds of lead
particles floating around the room and entering my own and the lungs of
my wife and kids.  Is that a reality?

I'm going to ask the doctor to check for lead the next appointment and
I really dread the answer.  Does anyone have any thoughts on this
matter?

Thanks,
Paul Meehan