NOTE:  This is post includes three (3) photos with caption, taken by me (Bruce) with a Google Pixel 6 Pro.

SATURDAY 22 and SUNDAY 23 June 2024 — A state finals, a trip (not us), cat sitting, and shop work stand assembly

Saturday 22 …  A state championship, a trip to Las Vegas (not us), cat sitting, shop cleaning, work stands

The NE corner of the shop room in the barn cleared out to make room for one of the two Rockler Rock-Steady Corner Stands.  I ordered two of these, along with five (5) Work Stands, each 56” L x 20” D x 32” H.  The 20” depth matches the depth of the two “ends” of the Corner Stand so they can be connected together using special double-ended bolts with a space section in the middle.  I bought enough of these connectors to connect a table to each side of both corner units, plus a 5th table to end of one of the work tables.

Our daughter, Meghan, had been providing child-supervision and entertainment for her niece (Sadie) since Tuesday, but needed to hand those duties back to Linda as she had a state championship Quiz Bowl tournament this evening in the state capital city of Lansing.  Also, she and Chris were leaving tomorrow for a week in Las Vegas.  Linda would be away from our house for five (5) nights and a good portion of six (6) days, so she packed accordingly.  She left for Ann Arbor before mid-morning.

I was waiting for cooler weather to start working on the workshop in earnest, but this morning I at least began.  First up was cleaning up the shop, which had (not unexpectedly) become a disorganized storeroom as we continued to move things from the garage to the barn.  I had dug through tool boxes and storage boxes looking for things I needed for this or that task, with most of them not getting put back where they came from, so step one was to put tools back where they belong.  My toolboxes can be stacked, so once they were properly loaded, I could store them against a wall in the footprint of one case if needed; a very efficient use of space, but not so great if/when I next need a tool.  I already had a folding table (approx. 30” x 72”) set up in the center of the room.  I had a second folding table available, so I set it up next to the first one, long edges together, to provide a work surface for the tools and components I needed to assemble the Rockler Rock-Steady Corner Stands, which were the only two pieces for which I had all of the necessary components.

The first Rockler Rock-Steady Corner Stand assembled and placed in the NE corner of the shop room of the barn.  The legs have height adjustable feet, so the height of the assembled stand ended up being approximately 34 inches.  That will likely change slightly once all of the pieces are assembled and I square them up and level them to accept a work surface.

With the shop cleaned up (more or less) I moved all of the Rockler Rock-Steady work table components into the shop and began assembling one of the two corner stands.  These were the only two pieces for which I had all of the parts, at least I thought I did.  It came with good instructions, and was easy enough to assemble, until I realized they had shorted me 8 of the 5/16-18 3/4” bolts and matching 5/16 washers.  After a bite of dinner, I went to Rural King but the best I could do was 5/16-18 1” bolts and similar washers.  I had a feeling the 1” long bolts might be a problem, but hoped they would at least provide temporary securement until I could resolve the issue properly.

Madeline was due back from Camp Algonquin (YMCA) sometime tomorrow.  The current Camp session ended today, but Mads was spending the evening with her friend (and former neighbor), Marian, and Marian’s dad (Kip) at their family place in Cheboygan.   Mads mom and dad were also due back tomorrow from their 1-week trip to Portugal.  That was good timing, as Linda needed to be at Meghan and Chris’ house to take care of the cats while they were gone to Las Vegas.  Both of the cats (Min and Inches) have health issues, so Linda was there until Meghan and Chris returned later in the week.

Sunday 23 … Work shop stands and dinner together

The second Rockler Rock-Steady Corner Stand assembled and placed in the SE corner of the shop room in the barn.  I had a lot of tools and materials “stored” along all of these walls, so it was a bit of job to move all of that to other places.  Where possible, I moved things to the storeroom (above the shop) and tried to place it on shelves in some logical manner, at the very least grouping it with “like items” that were already there.  But some of it ended up along the walls of the RV bas, and some of it just ended up in the west and northwest part of the shop, or under the two folding work tables I set up in the middle of the room.

I continued working on the second Rockler Rock-Steady corner stand using the 5/16-18 1” bolts I bought last night, but I ended up not leaving them in the assembled product.  While assembling this stand I “remembered” (realized) that I had purchased the spacer kits that are used to connect the various Rock-Steady products together in larger configurations.  These spacers are cylinders, ~5/8” diameter by 5/8” long, with 5/16-18 3/4″ threaded studs on each end.  Each spacer replaces a corresponding bolt that came with each product, so two bolts in total.  That made original bolts available for me to use instead of the 1” long ones I had purchased.

Brendan and Shawna got home sometime in the early afternoon.  After a little time to visit and exchange information, Linda headed to Meghan and Chris’ house.  Mads was not home yet, so hearing about her week at camp would have to wait for another time.  I drove to Meghan’s house to meet Linda at 16:00 to have dinner.  We had salad and vegan pizza from Pizza House, courtesy of Chris.  The pizza was excellent, with light tomato-based pizza sauce and just the right amount (not too much) of non-dairy “cheese.”  (We later learned that Chris assembled this pizza himself, as the last time he also asked for “light” cheese but the cooks loaded it up, as they do for the regular pizzas on the menu.)  We hope he decides to add this offering to the menu, as it will open up another place for us to go for dinner and drinks with or friend, Kate.  There should be a market for this in Ann Arbor, but it has to have a net positive contribution to the bottom line.

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