We Interrupt Our Regularly Scheduled Activity.....

Here is the box!




I decided the computer room was as good a place as any to assemble the wheel, so I gathered Anne and the box and got set up.

We opened the box to find this!




The directions were right on the top. Handy that. NOTE TO SELF--When assembling items, be sure to check all the directions first. Navigator (Anne) is extremely competent, but she doesn't always check those things out.

We unwrapped and laid out all the parts and pieces, except that we didn't put all the screws, etc. out, for fear of losing them to kitties! Here is what it looked like!




You will see that Mickey played spinning wheel inspector and supervisor!

I won't bore you all with all the photos that we took. I have a lot, although we didn't take photos of all the stages. If anyone is interested, I will work out a slide show or something that you can see.

The point at which more direction would have been of benefit came up quickly, although I didn't realize it. After all was done and assembled, and the wheel had been moved into the family room, I took the folder out there too. I was looking at the directions, and saw that among the things needed for assembly were the screw driver and hammer I already knew about, the scissors--ditto, AND candle wax and oil. They recommended putting candle wax on the screws, etc, to make them easier to get screwed into the wood. The pilot holes were quite small, and the wood was pretty hard. It was hard getting those screws in. Two of them, I had to get Mike to finish for me, they were so hard to get in. Oh well! The very hardest part was getting the bolt thing that holds the wheel installed. You might have guessed by now, they recommended candle wax for it too! I swear it took me 15 minutes to get it in.

In our defense, we knew from the guy who sold it to us, that they had picture directions, and since Anne didn't look all through them first, we didn't know that there were also written directions in the back. That is where the benefits of candle wax were made abundantly clear--that wasn't made clear in the picture directions. We will know if there is ever another time, and others can benefit from our experience, in any case!!!!

I got sewing machine oil at the base today, and we will give the wheel a good oiling. There are a number of places that should be oiled, and it should be oiled before it is used. Anne didn't use it very long last evening before we found that note, and the wheel has been left to sit and be pretty till it has been oiled. No harm done.

Pictures????? Of course!


----I'll supervise from here now!

What do you think, Mickey, does it look okay?------



And finally it is complete!


------You see, it isn't very big....

Anne spinning -------












So, the wheel is complete, and I think I will oil it tomorrow, when there isn't much to do.

Anne had lab work this morning, and it took a while. We went to the base after that, and got the oil for the wheel---I guess I should introduce you, Anne suggested we name it "Kate". (lots of people name their wheels, I am not sure why, but the car and laptop have names, so I guess it makes sense!) We did a good shop at the commissary and got stocked up a bit on things, after having been away.

We had some rain on the way home and the sky was really black. By the time we got home it was already slowing down, it had almost stopped by the time Mike and I were getting the groceries into the house and the sidewalks were already drying out. Not much help from that, eh?

All is well here, will keep you posted on things.....