Joiner's Musings

TK7SU cartridge in TP-60 plugin Thorens shell  A couple of years ago I resurrected my TD 165C manual turntable to advance my audio hobby. I quite literally dragged it up from the basement where it sat in a box for thirty plus years. At the time (2-3 years ago) vinyl recordings were starting to make a strong comeback. I guess people were not entirely pleased with the digital recordings of our new age and wanted to go back to the rich sound of vinyl. And yes, there is a difference! I was happy to see my turntable in action after almost thirty years and I was not in the least disappointed. Everything worked to a "T". Well, almost! Attached to the Thorens TP-60 plug-in shell is an  Audio Technica TK7SU cartridge (the tonearm is a TP-11) which was a very respectable cartridge in its day and what I would consider to be in the medium to high end range. However, I discovered that the my Shibada stylus has a bent shaft. It's not that I didn't know this. I was pretty roug...

A brighter future I had a couple of old 2D Maglites lying around the house and rather than buy new LED Maglites which are pretty pricy I did a little Amazon shopping and found 55 Lumen bulbs for around 10$ apiece. While my fingers were doing the walking I also bought a lower power 30 Lumen bulb for backup and that was about 3$. Yes, I could have bought a couple of cheap plastic  LED flashlights for around the same price of the LED bulbs but Maglites do last a long time and my decision seemed to be a more practical approach. I do have a 2D LED Maglite and to be honest at 120 Lumens it does shine much brighter but it was also relatively expensive. I found a 2AA LED flashlight also lying around that had leaked within the past year, one of those mini Maglites. I don't if you have ever had a flashlight battery leak in the flashlight itself but I can tell you that they are just about impossible to take out once they have become swollen inside. I tried vinegar, baking soda and not...

Canadian Time clock Escarpment looks good  I have had this clock for close to a year and a half and have never opened it up. Today is the day. I decided to remount my Canadian Time clock and in the process oil and clean it. In the end the idea that I had for remounting did not work out. The clock is on a large picture hook and I wanted to hang it on a toggle bolt since it is on a hollow gypsum wall. The bolt I wanted to use combined with a few washers could not fit into the clock hanger plate so it is back to the drawing board. The clock is time only so the good thing is that there is no second or third train to vibrate the clock off the wall (potentially). Clock Movement Maker's stamp Compared to the case the movement is very small but since it is time only that is no great surprise. I looked at the clock and it appears that the bushings are okay and so I assume that the pivots are fine as well. There is no obvious play in the clock. My guess is that ...

Whatever the breed, these were large dogs Sugar shack I decided to go with one lens today, the Panasonic 45-175X zoom, which basically makes my ILC a super-zoom because the top switch on my Panasonic G6 powers the zoom. I like this feature a lot and the zoom does not disappoint. I believe it is a good practice to go with one lens exclusivity so as to explore its limits and learn to use the lens properly. Admittedly all of the shots in this post could easily have been taken with a shorter zoom but because it was cold and icy the zoom enabled me to get close to my shot without having to physically move nearer and risk hurting myself in the process. Old International Harvester tractor I believe this is the logo for International Harvester We spent the afternoon at Sugar Moon Farm on Hwy 311 heading north from Truro towards the Tatamagouche area. The farm is beautiful in any season of the year and just as captivating on this cold January day. It was particularly bu...

Yes, this humble little blog has reached 20,000 page-views! So first of all thank you if you are a regular visitor to Joiner's Musings. Also thank you if you are one of those people who comes here to glimpse some of the events in my life. (You know who you are!) Let us also not forget the many people who have ended up here by "Googling" the many phrases associated with clocks, cars, photography, cottage life, traveling or just stumbling to get here (yes, there is even a website called www. stumbleupon.com). I started this blog on a whim while I experimented with the whole concept of recording my thoughts and ideas. I figured I would eventually loose interest and this place would fizzle out of existence like so many other blogs I have seen. Search and you will find a vast array of blogs where I assume people just gave up or ran out of original ideas.Were these sites failures? Not necessarily, but like anything else in life you've got to keep at it to make it...

 Is selecting and cutting down your own Christmas tree a lost tradition? A Christmas tree lot not far from us I know many families buy an artificial tree and those that do buy natural trees do so by visiting the many lots that are located in towns and cities during the Christmas season. It is simply a  matter of choosing your tree, agreeing on a price, putting it in the back of your vehicle and off you go to put it up. We have actually done that in the past and have been quite happy with our selection. But, for the past 5 years we have renewed the tradition of cutting down our own tree. Because we live in the country we could conceivably go into a nearby forest and find our own. Usually you spend a lot of time looking, all you can see are spindly little things and what you finally bring home often disappoints. No, our choice is to select a groomed tree that has been nurtured just for that purpose. decorating the tree Luckily for us there is a Christmas tree farm...

Ticking away and more quietly now  In a previous post I mentioned that when I bought this 80+ year old clock at an antique dealer in Great Village Nova Scotia, I immediately determined that it needed servicing. My first real clue was an almost imperceptible squeaking noise. It kept reasonably good time but the squeaking did not go away even after oiling the clock. Hanging in upper hallway However, upon opening the clock I discovered one very bad bushing and I knew right away that it had to be attended to as soon as possible. A trip to Doctor Clock in Halifax was the answer. So, in mid November I brought the clock into the service center and asked if it could be ready for Christmas. They said yes, although they had a number of other clocks in for servicing it would be ready they said. Had I come in one day later there would not have been a guarantee that it would be ready in time. They are that busy. In fact when I picked it up there were 3 other customers in picking up th...