Sunday, September 24, 2017

It's been a while.....

Hello Friends!  It's been a while.  It's been a long while now since I've written anything in the blogging world.  It's been about five years actually and my how time goes by.  It's been a little over 5 years since the passing of my Dad and my taking the reigns solo of the clock repair business he founded as well as this blog that he started long ago.  He taught me his Trade, my Trade, and he taught me very well.  When I took hold of the blog I had the best of intentions of writing more often.  It didn't quite go that way though.  I've thought of it often but nothing has gotten written.  There have been many interesting things happen in my clock shop over the last five years that I would have loved to share with you all.  I've learned a lot of interesting things too that I would love to share.  Perhaps I will be able to share a few of those stories with you in the near future.  I've seen some really amazing clocks pass through my shop in the last few years since I've written.  I've seen a few clocks the like I never would have dreamed I'd see and given them a second life.  I've seen some very beautiful cases indeed and a few clock movements that were true works of art themselves, beautiful marvels of mechanical engineering. I've seen some awesome cuckoo clocks and had the great pleasure of restoring them to full working order and enjoying them for a short time while they test ran on my wall before flying my coop to go home.  I've been called on and asked to do a few house calls and seen some beautiful Tallcases.  Most of the clocks were fairly common I suppose but each one is special to their owner and that alone makes them truly priceless.  There have been hundreds of clocks pass through my hands just in these last five years. I worked on another few hundred before those in the years when I Apprenticed under and worked for my Dad.  I lost count long ago.  I keep records and I think one day I might count and see just how many there have really been but then I think I really don't want to know.  It's been a wild ride I can assure you.  Being in the clock repair business can be like holding a Tiger by it's tail most of the time if your really good at it.  If your not so good at it or an amateur that Tiger could eat you up and quick! Most of the clocks I've repaired in the last 5 years were very good patients and didn't give me too much trouble.  Some of the clocks were a little more problematic and put up some resistance to my efforts.  Some were real monsters and fought hard till the bitter sweet end.   Each one is different in it's own way.  It's a gamble with each clock you take into your care on what problems your going to run into and how long each one may take you to restore them.  That is something my friends that is not easy to explain to someone who is not a professional in the Clocksmithing Trade and lived it. In my opinion one of the hardest things to deal with in this business is the fact that few people can truly understand this even when the tale is told.  Few people can truly understand just how many hours upon hours might have to be put into their clocks in order to give them back running again.  Even the clocks that go relatively easy take a lot of time and energy if you do the work right and refuse to cut any corners.  You had better or they will be back to haunt you.  The ones that are problematic can eat up your time like a hungry wolf as the days pass by and turn into weeks.  The clocks that prove to be real monsters can suck the life right out of you and really put you out.  My friend Mike, a true professional mind you, calls the bad ones "Time Vampires" and boy how right he is because that's exactly how some clocks can tend to be.  Some of them really have a mind of their own and drive you crazy doing what they want to do but not quite what they're supposed to do at all times and they don't want to tell you why but you have to figure them out. Some of them are known to make finding out why they are being most difficult most difficult indeed too!  I guess those are what I would call the playful ones.  I love Clocksmith work very much and you really have too otherwise it could drive you insane.  I have written in the last five years, I've written quite a lot actually...but not in my blog.  My Dad believed in sharing information and answering peoples questions about their clocks.  I do too and I've tried my best to follow in his footsteps. I enjoy it even though it can be really taxing to do on top of everything else one has to do in this business, in life and in keeping oneself in good health so you can continue to work on .  I can understand why someone else would choose not answer questions related to their craft. I have people write to me with clock questions from all over the world and I try to respond to them all with good answers as I am able and if I am able.  I've missed a lot of questions too in the last five years, if you wrote to me and asked me a question that went unanswered I am truly sorry but I get so many questions asked of me I can't possibly get around to them all as I would have liked.  I stay way too busy in the work shop for that and there has been times here and there where I have just flat out not been able to.  When I began five years ago I had though and had full intention to answer every single one I would receive.  I've tried to answer the most of them and for sure the best of them and I hope at least I've been at least somewhat successful in that.  I've tried to get the ones answered that would help people the most and help those who truly needed my help the most and sometimes had to overlook and not respond to many of the simple questions I've received that the answer to could easily be found elsewhere if I could not reply and they sought the answer elsewhere on the internet.  I don't reply typically to questions whose answers can be found on the frequently asked questions page of my website.  I get so many of those it would make your head spin.  You would think a guy who answered questions about clock repair and had a FAQ page would not get so many of those same questions but it indeed happens to me every day.  In the beginning I used to respond to those with a brief response and a please see my FAQ page just to be helpful but that quickly became too much additional weight to bear.  I would if I could just to be friendly and helpful I suppose but I very seldom can.  When I'm writing answers to questions I'm punched in on my personal Time clock and working for free because I enjoy it and it's helps people and I believe that helps me. I don't answer dumb questions either.  I've heard it said that the only dumb question is one that's not asked but ya'll I am hear to tell you that is not true!  "Clock doesn't run?" is not a question!  It's a statement in fact but when posed as a question it qualifies for a dumb one in my book and I've gotten that one many times.  "Pendulum doesn't swing?" is not one either and I've seen that one too and both of them more times than I could count. I have so more funny examples I could share.  Maybe I can write about some of those silly questions in a future blog post along with the answers I would love to reply to them with but I wouldn't actually as it would be unkind besides the fact I don't have the time too regardless but I just know they would make a hilariously funny and interesting blog post.  I bet I could get you rolling on the floor laughing friends.  Bottom line is I stay very busy in the work shop and if you were to write to me and ask me a question that is not at least one complete sentence, well, you might not be receiving an answer from me anytime soon.  In the last five years I've met so many wonderful people by being in this business.  My customers are some of the best people you could ever hope to meet and I truly mean that.  I feel like they are all my friends in a way and I have actually made friends with a couple of folks and we talk often on clocks and such.  Don't get me wrong I've met a couple of not so nice people in the last five years too. I wish I could have seen them coming I would have kindly asked them to take their business elsewhere if I had known what awaited for me.  I've made many new friends and lost a few friends too in the last 5 years.  One of my best and long time friends passed away in 2013 from a sudden heart attack just a little over a year after my Dad passed from a failed heart.  He was a friend to my Dad as well I and a big part of the life here in the clock shop. I lost my Cousin Beth whom I loved very much not long after as the cancer took her quick. My Grandmother took on the Alzheimer's and it made a long two years watching her go slowly.  She passed just a little over a year back now.  My oldest daughter not only went through high school over the last 5 years she graduated with honors and left for college this Fall. I can't tell you how proud of her I am as well as my younger girl whose just starting as a Freshman at the High School now.  I along with the rest of the world watched a new President of these United States be elected in these last five years since I've written into the blog as well as a lot of other big events that have come and gone and are now down in the history books.  The clocks have kept on ticking the time away through it all here and I'm quite proud of that.  I wanted to write tonight on this pleasant September night to say hello to you all let everyone know that I'm still here and working hard at it and to let everyone who reads this know just a little of what all has happened with me since I last wrote.  It's hard to believe so much time has past actually looking back while writing this.  It is said Time flys!  Tempus Fugit and Tempus Regit are true I think indeed and applies to all including blogging.  A Clockmaker most certainly understands this I would say. Time flys, Time rules, and Time is money!  I hope it is not 5 more years slip past me before I write again.  I never intended the last 5 to pass by without.  I had hoped to write more often and do again now.  Maybe with a little luck I can write many times over the coming 5 years and share with you some great clock information and stories.  I'm not sure but I am going to try in hopes that my blog will help someone out there some day, an aspiring and up and coming Clocksmith perhaps or just anyone interested in clocks and or the Clocksmith's Trade. That would sure make it having been worth my time to spend writing if it helps someone someday.  It's been fun writing this tonight.  It's been very therapeutic actually as I've missed the blog badly and been wanting to begin writing again for some time now because it has indeed been a while.......

   All the best to you!  Papa