Forum Activity for @dana-r-mccall

Thanks Susie and Patty

That's a neat idea Garey, but i won't be hanging it in my house I have no room, all my walls are covered in dulcimers. lol Might put it for sale on Ebay and see what happens. Or stick it in the closet with the other pics. HAHA

Garey McAnally said:

Sooooooooo cool, Dana. It almost feels like you could reach out and touch the koi. I'm wondering where you will hang it. Sounds crazy, but it seems like you would naturally look at it from above. But, how would you display it on the floor??? Wouldn't it be neat mounted under the glass of a coffee table or a large tray.

Thanks Robin and Carrie.

helen I've been drawing and painting since I was 12 yrs old. I have some of my artwork posted in my pictures here. The one of the swan is the first thing I ever painted at 13. I stopped painting and drawing for a long time after I got married. Just doing little things here and there. I painted a heck of a lot of Demolition Derby cars and Mud trucks with cartoons for friends during that time. But didn't get back to painting things I wanted to till about 98. I have had no training or schooling in art. Just High School. I just love it.

Helen Seiler said:

Wow wow Dana. That is amazing. How many years BD (Before Dulcimer) have you been painting. You are a very talented artist and musician. Loved the pitter patter of paws in the background. (Sounds familiar) Helen

Been in the mood to paint the last few days, so my dulcimer hasn't had much attention. But I have been having fun indulging in my other hobby, my first love before my dulcimer. Painting! couldn't find my camera so I videoed what I been doing.

Just got back from Berea, took the Ledford to Warren May to be restored and a old one of his that i found #646 to be checked out. He said I got a real bargin on the Ledford and that it was worth 900 dollars. That is 850 more than I paid for it. Good profit margin there. He said it was an easy fix and would be playable when he got it done. All the frets were in good shape. He said it was made to play in DAC tuning. Something to do with a shorter 1 fret ? I can't wait to get it back, but told him I was in no hurry, want him to take his time and do it right. And his father in law passed away this morning at the age of 94. I was very sorry to hear that. Warren told me the noter in with the old dulcimer of his I took in was one made by his father in law. He couldn't believe to be as old as it is the dulcimer and case were in new condition just like they had just left his shop and it was 40 yrs old.

susie i need to recount, i've got them all over the place plus a couple loaned out. I'm not sure how many i have right now, plus i SOLD one. ewwww i don't like saying that word.

But i need to say also that was a couple of years ago before money was as tight. A lot of things(antiques) that were bringing good money a couple years ago are down right now. I just hope it goes back up one day.

Dana R. McCall said:

Tom most of the ones down that low a number I've seen go for 1000 to 1200

Tom McDonald said:

Great find, Dana! Just curious: what do you figure this is really worth once restored?

Kevin I spend way to much time on the net. I search all over for them. Just been lucky and got good deals on all of mine so far.

Kevin Messenger said:

Man why can't i find these deals. Great job Dana, looking forward to seeing your Ledford. Kevin.

Tom most of the ones down that low a number I've seen go for 1000 to 1200

Tom McDonald said:

Great find, Dana! Just curious: what do you figure this is really worth once restored?

LOL Patty I can always find more room for another dulcimer! I'll post pics tomorrow before I take it to Berea to Warrens shop.

Patty from Virginia said:

Dana, good for you! Put them on the ceiling. After all, Fred Astaire danced on the ceiling. I can't wait to see the pictures

Thats whats wrong with this one JH the sides have come loose. but no cracks or splits. Rest of the body is in really good shape. Looks like the glue just dried out.

John Henry said:

Chuckle, Robin, how you doing, I might have guessed you would come back at me (I have actualy done a refurb on a Ledford , JohnS purchased a very beat up instrument, reminiscent of one of Charlie Chaplins shoes, bad case of glue failure for some reason, it looked like hide glue to me ?)

John

LOL sorry ya'll but I think it's a keeper, John I'll just have Jimmy boy build me another wall! Or I might start putting them on the ceiling.:)

LOL Don't choke John H. What can I sayI'm just a ledford magnet. LOL

Well while crusing Craigs list last week...I saw a dulcimer that caught my eye. Looked like a Ledford headstock and it had diamond sound holes and staple frets. Called the number and it was a pickers site that buys out estates and resales. I asked if they knew who made the dulcimer and they said no. I asked how much they wanted and they said 60 bucks, so I told them I would take it.

I got it in the mail today, they failed to tell me the glue had come loose from the sides and the bridge was missing but other wise it's in good shape, just needed a clean up. I looked inside and couldn't find a name anywhere, so I was dissappointed. But still it looked just like my other ledfords except it is about a inch shorter and the tail piece is a litte different. so decided to try again to find a name. Got my book light out and ran it down the sound hole and guess what....there it was in pencil Built by Homer Ledford Winchester KY Number 1163!!!! For 60 bucks and 10 dollars shipping. I'm going to run it down to Warren May in Berea and see if he will restore it for me. I LOVE a bargain.

OH this isbeautiful, I wish I lived over there with access to all those wonderful, historical places.

LOL John Most redneck experiments end with those famous last words..HAHAHA

We used to make "Chicken on a beer can" on the grill, you juststick an open canof beerup the chickens rear(a dead one of course) and let the beer steam it. Makes the meat really tender and moist. Always wondered who it was that first thought of that. Two rednecks with a chicken and a half drunk beer. Hey bubba wonder what would happenif we........and threw it on the grill? And a trend is started!

LOL That's good because I couldn't find it again anyway . But it was in good taste, just a shapely woman lying with her back to the camera and a dulcimer laying the same way in the forground mimicing the same curve of the womans waist and hips. Really pretty picture. Anyway, your right we don't seem to have the same prob you do in the english language. It's just a preferance of ours to add gender to our instruments. I love the smileys tooo!

Goschi, I really enjoyed your comments and explnation of the German language concerning the gender of things. Never thought of it in the sence you are saying about gender of an object, it is very interesting. Thank you for posting. There is a neat picture of a dulcimer compared to a womans body, if I can find it again I will post it.

Goschi said:

Thanks for all your answers and different opinions! I appreciate all of them and some really made me laugh! It was a serious question but one should not take that too seriously!

If you look at it from a statistical point of view, it is true that in the German language many musical instruments are regarded as being feminine (trumpet, trombone, violin [BUT: a cello is neuter!], organ, guitar, zither but also flute / recorder, so maybe Freud could have been mistaken at that point) or neuter (piano, accordion, bugle / cornet, cello, saxophone, banjo [even though it has a guitar-like neck!]), glockenspiel, Scheitholt etc.). Compared to that, I have found only very few examples for musical instruments that are regarded as being masculine in the German language. Most of them are compound words, and the genus is given by the last word component for example "Der Dudelsack" (bagpipe), because "Sack" is masculine.

Interesting: in German grammar, the word "chalumeau" is defined as being neuter. The corresponding word "Schalmei", which has come into the German language some centuries earlier, is defined as being feminine. So that example shows that words can change their genus over the years.

Now to make things even more complicated, the word "dulcimer" seems to be derivated from a mixed expression "dulce" (Latin) and "melos" (Greek). "melos" / "" in Greek is an irregular word (because it is neuter, but doesn't have the "typical" ending for neutral words ("-on"), but "-os", which in most cases is the ending for masculine words in Greek). Mmmh, that doesn't make things easier...

The problem is: there are "logical" arguments for all three alternatives.

Grammaticaly, I have been tending to use the masculine article so far.

But on the other hand, I can't deny that my hourglass dulcimer in fact has appealing curves and I think these emotions could persuade me to look at my dulcimer as being a "she" from now on

On the other hand again I am expecting to receive two McSpadden dulcimers in a few weeks. One of them is a "Ginger" model. Now I wonder: should I name the other one (a standard model) "Fred"? Questions upon questions

I just seem to alway call mine female, prob because of the beautiful shape . Although if they made a dulcimer based on my shape it would look more like a kettle drum . Most of mine have female names, my favorite being Curly Sue, she is a modern mountain made of curly maple with a beautiful voice . She's a big girl though and has a double bottom like me . LOL

Sam your just BAD! LOL

Sam said:

Well when one sits on MY lap and I gently rub oil along all those curves, in and around all those nooks, crannies, orifaces ... believe me .. it's a SHE !!!!!!!!!!!!!

OH NO YOU DIDN"T!!!! LOL But your little wifie gave you a good going over when you got home. And well deserved I might add.

John Henry said:

Wow ! Every now and again this site throws me a 'curved ball', and I worry about whether I am clever enough to be here ! Four wartime years of school in England left huge holes in some of my early educational basics, and I have been playing catchup ever since, as evidenced by my shortcomings on this darned machine !!! The forgoing makes interesting reading tho, and back to the original premiss, I am with Ken in that my dulcimers are 'it' rather than 'he or she' . If I talk of them then it would be my 'Baritone', my 'English Walnut', my 'TMB', the 'Purpleheart', or my 'Virginia' (whoops, exception to the rule there, tho' with good reason !) Just once did I make the connection between dulcimers and gender ! At the start of a performance at our church where the audience in the main had never heard or seen such an instrument, I made the mistake of holding an hourglass in one hand and a teardrop in the other and jocularly liking them to progressive stages in the female form. Yes, my wife was in the audience !!!

I repeat, definately 'it' for me !

JohnH

(how could anyone resist not referring to 'my sweet little Ginger', Carrie?)

Yes Patty, you already have your thumb or finger on 4 for the A so you just slide it on up to 3 and 2 on the melody to get the words... ain't right.

We Just Aint Right D(2 on melody)G(3 mel 1 on mid) A(4 mel 1 bass

Well we sit and strum all day long

D D D D D D D D

Making videos and singing songs

G G GGG G G G G

Then the bee boopin starts

G G A A A A

And we chat all night

A A A A A

But some people say

A A A A A

We just aint right!

A A 3 2

We just aint right , thats what they all say

D D D D D D D D D

But we dont care, cause we like us this way

D G G G G G G G G G

So join the Bee boopers, were outa sight

G A A A A A A A A A

But some folks say We just aint right

A A A A A A 3 2

Were always happy and havin fun

D D D D D D D D D

So jump right in, so you can have some

D G G G G G G G G

Your toes will be tappin

A A A A A A

All through the night

A A A A

Then they will be sayin

A A A A A A

You just aint right!

A A 3 2

We Just aint right , thats what they all say

D D D D D D D D D

But we dont care, cause we like us this way

D G G G G G G G G G

So join the Bee boopers, were outa sight

G A A A A A A A A A

But some folks say We just aint right

A A A A A A 3 2

Will be posting a vid tomorrow!

I'll see what I can do about that.

Stephanie Stuckwisch said:

Dana, how 'bout posting a video?

I'll get right on it. Thanks

Thanks Cheryl

Updated:

We Just Aint Right

Well we sit and strum all day long

Making videos and singing songs

Then the bee boopin starts

And we chat all night

But some people say

We just aint right!

We just aint right , thats what they all say

But we dont care, cause we like us this way

So join the Bee booper, were outa sight

But some folks say We just aint right

Were always happy and havin fun

Jump right in, so you can have some

Your toes will be tappin

All through the night

Then they will be sayin

You just aint right!

We Just aint right , thats what they all say

But we dont care, cause we like us this way

So join the Bee booper, were outa sight

But some folks say We just aint right

We Just Ain't Right!

Well we sit and strum all day long

Making videos and singing songs

Then the bee boopin starts

And we chat all night

But some people say

We just aint right

But we all say were just havin fun

Just jump right in

So you can have some

Soon your toes will be tappin

And youll be singing along

Join the bee boopers

Where going strong!

Then dont be surprised

If you hear one night

Someone say..

We just aint right

I love this, thanks for posting I think it has turned into one of my most favorite tunes.

Carrie you summed that up beautifully! The dulcimer brings everyone together. I was amazed to find out there are doctors, pilot,nurses, accountants, ministers,mountain climber, people in exotic places all over the world and the one thing they have in common is they play the dulcimer and have fun and enjoy it. It's such a simple instrument that has so much potential and fits in everywhere. So many people like me had a wish to be able to play a musical instrument but thought it not possible because of no musical education. But the dulcimer proves anyone with the want and love of music can play whether the simpilest tune like Bile Cabbage to Starry Night(Vincent) to Classical music and everything inbetween,depending on how far they want to take it. And right here is the only place I know of were you have a loving, encouraging, helpful audiance. Your own spotlight.Hope that speil made since.

I'm just jealous Sam because my Koi won't let me skinny dip in there water hole. LOL

Sam said:

Dana I enjoy my small pleasures ....... he he ........

Gayle ... simple answer to your question, for me ... I keep hoping somebody will show up that I play better than .... so far ... sigh ... nope .................. but they let me stay anyway

Your a good one to talk about getting your feet wet, resident skinny dipper

I think the site is wonderful because we are all "SPECIAL" in our own little way. Get my drift? LOL Glad you are enjoying the site.And if you really want to see how "SPECIAL" we can be check in to chat some evening.Welcome to FOTMD. Dana

Mamaw used to cook neck bone and potatos to, when we would go over there my oldest daugther, when she was little used to ask "Mamaw you got any that good old fashion meat" lol Don't know why she called it that she was just about 5.

Sam said:

Hi Jan;

We didn't add noodles but we often cooked 'backbone n ribs' in a big roaster with potatoes. We canned (cold packed) meat in home canning jars, so all the bones were trimmed pretty close ... but ... those wonderful tidbits were left on the backbone, ribs and yes, the neck bones. Settling at the bottom of the pot was what mom called 'red-eye' gravy. Sop a biscuit in that just once and you'll never forget the great flavor. Some of the fast food houses now offer a 'dippin' sauce with some sandwiches ... if they only knew !!!

Love your recipe, an' I ain't fancy.

Thanks C I've been wanting a good BNB recipe.

Carrie Barnes said:

I'm SO glad this thread has started!!! Here's my contribution, it's an old Mennonite recipe for those of you that love dessert breads. It's a dark,heavy bread, but foolproof! I make this every year for neighbors, friends at Christmas time. But it's also a great dessert bread, add a little whipped cream on top and you're good to go!

Banana Bread

1/2 cup unsalted butter

1 cup sugar

1 cup nuts (your choice.....pecan or walnuts)

2 Xlarge eggs

1 tsp baking soda

dash of salt

1 1/2 c all purpose flour

3 large ripe bananas

Bake @ 325 in greased/floured bread pan for 1 hour 15 minutes

Mash the bananas on a plate w/fork, then mix w/remaining ingredients.

ENJOY!

Sorry but that is suposed to be 1/2 stick of butter.

Salmon Patties

In a sauce pan on top the stove, combine 2 or 3 heaping tablespoons of flour ,

A stick of butter, salt and pepper and add a can of evaporated milk to make a thick white sauce.

You want it thick almost like dough so add the milk slow, you might not need all of it.

Set it aside to cool.

Open your cans of salmon (I make a lot of these so I use at least 5 cans and Ive always liked Prelate the best) anyway Mom used to always go through the salmon and take out all the bones and the shiny silver skin (but if you like it keep it)

In a bowl mix the salmon and most of the white sauce, bout and you can chop up a onion and add at this time if you want it.(I dont because my kids dont like the onion) Roll the mix into small balls, little bigger than a golf ball and put on a plate or cookie sheet and set in fridge to set up for a little while(you dont have to do this but it makes it easier to work with)

Take 2 or 3 eggs and beat up (apologise to them) and take a couple sleeve of zesta crackers and crush um up real fine.

Now take salmon balls and dip in egg and roll in crackers, redip and crumb a second time. Have a hot skillet of Crisco or what ever oil you prefer on the stove. You are going to want the oil good and hot and about a in deep(I use a large cast iron skillet for this) Put the salmon in and I flatten mine out like a hamburger patty. Fry till golden brown on both sides then dip out onto a paper towel to soak up grease.

I make a big batch of homemade biscuits to eat them on: Angle biscuits really easy, just couple cups of self risen flour and heavy whipping cream. Use enough cream to make a nice dough dont over work, roll um out and cook them. Only 2 ingredients EASY and GREAT.

You can also take what white sauce was left over, thin it down to a nice gravy and add velveta cheese to pour over your salmon. Lip smackin good. Only problem with these is you can't stop eating them. They are really good cold to.