Hey, @b-ross-ashley Ross-- good to see you again! It's nice to hear you are going to pick up the dulcimer again. I have found playing mountain dulcimer to be a balm to my spirit. Take care.
Hi, all, it has been a while since I poked my head in here ... Sandie and I are still alive, and living in the middle of the 4th largest city north of Mexico. I have not played much at all in the last while. Our community chorus scrubbed its season in March and we have only done the occasional online singing since. The COVID-19 pandemic has not hit us anywhere near as bad as it has our neighbours across the Lakes, but it has hit our elders in Long Term Care really hard, plus the personal care workers who look after them.
But I am back, and hope to pick up the dulcimer again! Glad to see the rest of you too.
Sandie and I mask up when venturing out, and I get out a lot more than she does. She is asthmatic. Masks are now required in indoors public spaces like malls, stores, etc. Bars and restaurants are now open only for outside service, patios etc. Pro sports are still on hold, and the federal government have decided not to allow our baseball team to play their home games here ... keeping cross-border travel to the essential minimum. Hockey may resume, with all games played in two Canadian cities, Edmonton and Toronto, no cross-border travel involved. I am wondering whether the same will happen with the Canadian Football League.
There were some shortages for a while, particularly TP and bakers' yeast! Since I use a bread machine that got to be a hassle for a while but it is coming back now. The Province is opening up gradually, much more slowly than some of your states are (I hope that is not too political, LOL).
Travel is difficult. I have an annual conference later this summer that is going to be online instead of in person because it is just not going to be possible to get to Ottawa safely. So it goes.
Stay safe, all!
John & Ken, it was a great pleasure to be in Hindman for the opening of the museum in November of '15 (I think). Glad you fellows enjoyed the movie!
Thanks Robin. Randy is a very patient teacher whether with children or adults.
Ken
"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."
This is so great! Thanks for posting it here!
Thank you, friends! This is what I like to do for fun.
Exception work, as always, my friend. Bravo. That's a real beauty.
Stunning! Wonderful work right there, John !
You do excellent work on making historic dulcimore replicas, John, and this is no exception!
I finished my Sam Russell dulcimore replica exactly 81 years after Mr.Russell finished his prototype! You can see photos of his in L. Allen Smith's Catalogue, on page 52 (D15). It's made of black walnut, with a rosewood nut and bridge, birch accents, full-width staple frets set in a mean-tone scale, and Perfection pegs. It was quite a project!
Hats off to you Belinda, for becoming avid hikers with your husband!
I find it interesting how different people get creative in figuring out ways to get their exercise safely during the pandemic. We each gravitate towards types of exercise that suit both our current situation, our comfort level, and our individual personalities. 
Magic, I'm needing to see your IP address from the location you usually use and where you are usually seeing this issue happen... so maybe let me know when you are logged in from your normal home location- then I'll get the IP address that I can double-check on about possibly you being blocked from our end. Thanks! You can just email me using the "contact site owner" email link at bottom of site to let me know once you're logged in from home. :)
There's something else I'd like to check on, Magic. But you'd need to be logged in at the time I check on it. So if you are able, please try to get logged in and STAY logged in today, so I can do this check. I need you to be logged in at the time I do this checking. Thanks!
Here is what my site platform developers (and my server provider) think:
"So it seems that he's tried different browsers etc. and still intermittently gets this issue.
I'd suggest that he contacts his ISP to see if they are somehow occasionally blocking your site, or maybe a server that might be used on the route to your site."
The idea is that your ISP internet service provider servers are intermittently blocking access to fotmd.com for one reason or another, seeing it as a possible threat. Perhaps that has to do with higher UK protection settings, or not.
It's a good idea to contact them- it's likely that they can whitelist FOTMD.com or adjust that server's settings to stop blocking.
--> Be sure that ALSO on your end, you go into any virus protection programs you might have (and also your browser settings), go into any cookie preventing extensions on your browser, or AdBlock programs etc, and add fotmd.com to any whitelist/'allow' lists there might be within those programs and software.
If this frequent access blocking was coming from fotmd software or fotmd servers, then a whole bunch of members would be experiencing this, and that doesn't seem to be the case. Something you have going on is blocking you from accessing fotmd.com and the pages on our site server.
I had not heard of Jim Hamilton nor his Dulcijo. Like Dusty, I have heard good things about Mike Clemmer's instruments.
I had a similar problem the other day and I just figured the site was offline for awhile. I came back later and got right on, so I don't know what the issue was. That's the ONLY time I've had a problem getting on in 2020.
weird. I have no advice for you. Sorry.
Magictime, I have a question, but maybe I'm just a little slow this morning. If you get an error that you can't enter the site, how are you able to post comments here? What are you doing to bypass that error screen? I wonder if you are not running some kind of virus-protection or internet firewall software that wants to double check that you want to visit this site. I'm no expert, though, so my questions and comments may just reveal my own ignorance.
This is helpful additional information, thanks. :)
I've asked a couple of knowledgeable folks about this to see if they have any ideas.
Meanwhile, if any other members are experiencing this, please post it here.
I have kept your place tucked away in my mind ever since you told me about it in Berea. Nina
Try not using the bookmark you created a while back. See my last post. Also purposely log out when you do it. Clear your browser cookies. then come to the site by typing in the location fotmd.com and not using your old bookmark to get there. Replace your old bookmark with a new one. Tell me if you get the problem when doing the above.
BTW, the email link at the bottom of the site "contact site owner" works outside the site, through regular email.
Nina -- anytime. Our AirBnb listing is open once again (cautiously), and I'll certainly make you a gourmet seafood dinner!
I call my husky/malamute my Trail Buddy and try to get out with him for about an hour every other day. Recent hot weather has forced me to try doing that in the morning. (I'm NOT an a.m. person and tend to muddle along until finally alert.) I've tried night hikes, but he's just not as happy with paved walking, our local parks shut down at sunset, and flashlight hikes in fields and woods can be tricky. <sigh!>
Magictime, to help determine if this is indeed a browser issue, try a different browser. If you usually use Firefox, try Chrome or vice versa.
I've never heard of this happening before either.
Magictime, I've never heard of this happening before, and I'm not sure what it means.
Have you tried coming to the site by directly typing in fotmd.com into your browser location window, instead of using a bookmark you may have created a while back? Try that. If it gets you here ok by typing in the address new, then make that the new bookmark and get rid of your previous bookmark. This could be a bad bookmark or a browser issue.
Important--> When does this happen? When you are just trying to get to the home page and have not logged in yet, OR when you are already logged in and trying to go to some page on the site? Please tell me exactly what page you are on when this happens, and what you are trying to do when it happens.
