20 November 2007

The rest of the story

At Daniel's Prompting, here is the rest of the story:
I got home from school hoping to be there to load Lindsey's scrapbooking materials in her car. Instead I got home in time to get her call. For some mysterious reason, she couldn't get the key to turn in the ignition. I gave her the suggestion of turning the steering wheel to "unlock" the ignition and told her that I would drive up to doctor's office if I didn't see her soon. I thought "I better leave right now" as soon as I hung up the phone, so I did. I soon arrived in the parking lot just before Lindsey starting kicking her car. Within 1 minute I had the car started and we were ready to go.
I had forgot that Lindsey is an excellent direction follower. She knew to turn the wheel, but had never been told to turn the wheel and the key at the same time. So, now we have cell phones and Lindsey has a new direction to follow.
I am reluctant to post this because I love the way Lindsey attacks the world. I love her innocence and her confidence that I can fix almost anything. I will end this post by sharing with all of you that Lindsey once received a similar phone call from her mom.
Her mom was stranded at school because she could not get the key to turn in her car. Lindsey, George(her stepdad), and I drove to Lynne's school to try to fix the problem. The drive to the school was about an hour and we spent another hour trying to get the key to turn. This was not the same problem. It ends up that Lynne's gargantuan key ring had stressed the ignition to the point that I would no longer turn. The car had to be towed and fitted with a new ignition (Not a cheap thing). From then on Lindsey and her mom were very careful about the size of their key rings.

04 November 2007

Step 1 completed

I have finally finished the first part of getting the nursery built-ins done. The silly thing is this isn't even going in the house and the little one may never appreciate it. Oh well, it was a good learning experience and will serve me well for a long time.

The legs and stretchers are made from 8/4 and 12/4 maple (20 bdft of each). I am really happy with how my bandsaw cut through the thick stock. The top is a butcher block work surface that is 24" wide and 8 feet long. It is 2 1/4 inches thick and weighs alot (it was really fun to get out of the car).

The left end has the vise. The vise is the part I am the least happy with. It was darn near impossible to get it even, straight, and square. In the end it is pretty close, but I will always know it is uneven.

I had to re-arrange the garage stuff to make everything fit. I was able to fit all the wood for the project under the bench. It gave it even more mass to keep it stable. I have the sheet stock standing up against the wall so Lindsey can hopefully park her car in the garage when the snow comes.

The next step is to prep the room, and then the real fun begins.