I know.....I could make a thousand jokes about Mothers-in Law, but Esther was one of a kind. She was different, but everybody who met her loved her. She passed away on Feb. 22, 2002, and still visits us. At least we think its her.
Her younger sisters husband (both still alive) was a woodworker and made each of his in-laws a beautiful handcrafted grandfather clock. From Scratch. With very limited power tools. These were all built by hand in Hebron, N.D. in the 50's and early 60's. When Esther died we were at her house that afternoon figuring out how to clear everything out and to whom it should go. The junk went to those relatives that didn't show up to help clean.
So...on the day she died she had forgotten to pull up the three chains that run the time and chimes (on the quarter hour by the way). The clock had stopped at 8:30 AM so we figured she died sometime before that. About 2 in the afternoon the clocked chimed and several of us went and looked and it was running and the hands were at the correct time. There was only 4 of us in the house and we all saw each other and none of us were near that clock at any time before that. Wow.....Esther is still with us!
Fast forward to now. My wife and I have the clock and just before this past Christmas the pendulum and its' attachment to the upper movement snapped off. Probably from metal fatigue of swinging back and forth for so long. So the clock doesn't run at all. It had stopped at 7:45 AM. Little by little the clock has been advancing time with no one moving the hands or anything else. It now says 8:30AM. I have looked up into the movement and nothing is moving or clicking or clacking or whatever Grandfather clock movements do.
The other day I finally said, "Esther, if you're moving the hands on the clock why don't you get it to the right time?"
Three hours later I came back from subbing down at school and the clock was at 11:45AM....about 5 minutes off the correct time. Nobody was here, and Murphi our wonder Yorkie is hardly tall enough to get up there, open the door, and move the hands. It's still at 11:45, so I guess Esther made her point. Anyone got any ideas on why it's moving like that?
Gonna call Ghost Hunters.
Anyone for a Weenie Roast?