It has been a while since the Platzl cuckoo-dwelling Happy Hans has appeared with such astonishing regularity. These days you put a quarter in the clock and Happy Hans comes out to yodel, just like... well, clockwork.

That has not always been the case in recent years, as the clock has had some mechanical problems. Happy either yodeled incessantly or refused to yodel at all.

But, says Kimberley Chamber Manager Sioban Staplin, the clock has a new champion, local businessman Ozzy Piechatzek.

"He has really taken ownership of the clock," Stapline says. "It's so spic and span. Juri (Adank) was wonderful for years, he spent so many hours working on it, but he's very busy. Now Ozzy has taken it on. We were looking around for someone to look after it, the next thing you know Ozzy has it all figured out. Turns out an important piece was missing."

Sabotage? No one knows, but Happy is yodeling again.

And the quarters being fed into the cuckoo clock are going to a paint fund to return it to its former glory.

"Now with someone giving it some TLC and time, we're not looking at expensive repairs, just at exterior renovations," Staplin said. "We want it to be picture perfect -- Bavarian style, full of flowers, just like it used to be.

"We have pictures of it when it was first built and we want it to look that way again. The main thing is to bring it back to how it was. If we keep one thing from that era it's going to be Happy Hans coming from the cuckoo clock."

If you have any interest in helping out as a volunteer with the clock refurbishing, stop by the Chamber to talk to Staplin.

"We would love for an artist who is good at the Black Forest style of painting to step forward."

The hope is to get all the renovations, including a new lens for the clock, done this fall.