Piano mailbox

Here is an excerpt from Sarah's journal that I wrote three years ago, when she had just turned three:

March 31, 2007  I discovered last night that the piano keys were really stiff and hard to push down.  Mike said it's so old it probably has rigormortis.  We took it apart and discovered a stash of paper, books, pennies, envelopes, stickers, etc.  It had Sarah written all over it.  It must have been recent, because there were some library books in there that aren't due yet. We NEVER would have found those.  I didn't accuse Sarah, because I wasn't completely sure, but it didn't take long before I caught her red-handed, stuffing a piece of torn paper "in the mail slot". 

For the past few weeks, every time I played the piano, I noticed that when I pushed the E, then the F and G keys would go down as well.   I had forgotten about Sarah's using the piano as a mailbox, but asked Mike to take apart the piano and see if he could find the problem.  

 Hoping for an easy fix, he started by just opening the top.  The kids are always interested in seeing the inner workings of things, so they gathered around and peered inside.

 Of course, it wasn't an easy fix, so he had to take off the front.  The adults searched all over and couldn't find any problems. Then Noah said, "There's a pen in there!" and sure enough, a pen was wedged deep in the innards of the piano.  It must have been there for three years and finally worked itself into a bothersome position.  

 

 It took a few tools and a lot of maneuvering, but we were finally able to remove the obstruction.  A CEFCU pen, no less. Mike and I are always commenting about how those things are everywhere, but we never expected to find one buried inside our piano!  Those pens are tough.  Although it's not very pretty anymore, it still works.