Maraca mysteriously goes silent

[s219]

So I finally got a chance to look at this tonight, and it appears the culprit was ..... drum roll ..... grape juice!!! After yanking the handle off, I popped a little cap sealing the hole in the shaker, and managed to shake out one little BB that was very sticky. Looked in there and it was kinda purple and smelled fruity. Ran it under hot water and shook out another 10-15 BBs. I am thinking that someone maybe tried to pour grape juice in the hole when the handle came off, and enough dribbled in to gum things up. I never bothered to check the "shake shake" function before fixing the handle, but it was probably gummed up before I even got ahold of it.

Anyhow, some of the paint rubbed off when I was washing it out, so I ended up sanding it down and gave it a couple coats of Kubota orange paint (was handy and she likes tractors). If I can somehow manage to chuck this thing in my drill to spin it, I might add some John Deere green and yellow stripes. Then reload it with the now clean BBs, glue the handle back on, and hope for the best. If all else fails, I'll buy her a new set (which I should have done in the first place, since this is entirely too much effort for a maraca, but I got hooked by the mystery of it all).

As the father of a toddler, I find I am learning new things every day....

 

[2LaneCruzer]

"As the father of a toddler, I find I am learning new things every day...."

And it should continue thus for years to come. It's one of life's great adventures...and if you haven't figured it out already, little girls think that Daddy can fix anything. I made a special effort not to disappoint my little girls, so consequently you often put way more effort into "fixing" something for them than it is actually worth. I learned things about dolls held together with rubber bands and other girly stuff. It does get more difficult as time goes on though. I finally had to quit "fixing" things the second time my daughter trashed the engine in her VW. She and I went down to the bank, I co-signed for a loan for her, and she paid the $800 back herself. I wouldn't trade those memories for the world.