Lynn's Comments: Now, we shift back in time to when Alan lived in my garage. As a musician, his schedule was 24 hours on call. If he had a "gig" somewhere, he might come home around two in the morning, all enthused after a night of jazz or rock or whatever had been "going down". Trumpet players are often like freelance artists. You join a group that's looking for a horn player, practice for awhile and blend in. Al had regular performances, too. He played classical and Baroque and when he wasn't playing for an event, he practiced.
It wasn't unusual after a performance for him to practice in the garage well into the morning hours, and if I asked him to lower the sound, he used his mouthpiece. This made a Donald Duck kind of "kwakking" sound - which was fine if you were awake and sensible, not so cool at the bewitching hour. We had a number of tense discussions about this and I think I won. I don't remember. You lose some of your faculties with the lack of sleep.