2002-05-13 - 9:49 a.m.

Well now...wasn't that weekend special?

This weekend was to be the weekend when we finished our Pavillion completely, and started Sapphire prep (ie making sure we have enough garb, etc, etc, etc).

Well...instead we both had to go into work all day Saturday.

One of the Law Firm we work for's clients is in the process of settling a class action lawsuit. This is good, because there was a legitimate problem that the company wanted to make good on, and this is the most efficient way for everyone.

However, we were expecting it to take a good 4-5 months before the Court formally accepted the settlement. It's not an easy process, involving a bunch of lawyers and hearings and all sorts of stuff.

Instead, approval came last week, mostly because everyone involved said "Well, you know, this is just about fair".

So our September deadlines became Memorial Day deadlines...

They asked for volunteers to do data entry, which Gina did. And they told the programmers "There *will* be support on the weekend". Which meant I had to come in.

So there went Saturday day, and our plan of "Get the Tent pole wood Saturday morning, then take it over to a friend's and get it worked down, and all will be well by dinnertime" turned into a "Have Alan take 2 hours off friday afternoon, dash to Troy, VA (60 miles each way) and buy the wood, then go after work to the friend's house and get it worked down, hopefully before dark" plan.

Well...there were two problems.

1. Our center sleeve decided it wanted to remain on the old pole...we couldn't hammer it out, we couldn't even *burn* out the wood...

2. The lovely straight and dry ash I bought was a hardwood (well...duh!). Too hard for our friend's tablesaw. So hard in fact that it ground the motor to a halt about 2 inches into the cut. (no damage, it just didn't work).

So...plan B.

Fortunately, our friend has a friend who has access to a heavy duty saw, and he will be cutting down our poles on Thursday night. That's one problem down.

The center sleeve...well...that could be trickier. We left it with our friend because he had some ideas. He also works for a company that does metalwork, so he thinks if worse came to worse he could go back to the shop and talk some of his buddies into making us a replacement.

So, it'll all work out, it was just not our day.

Sunday's plan was "Get up early, get the pavillion up to Andrew and Sorcha's, spend about 2 hours sewing the final seams, be home by like 4ish.".

Well...not exactly.

Got there by 11:30 (more or less on schedule, that's good), and got to sewing pretty quickly. That was also good. But, the sewing just kept going and going, and going.

We finished closer to 8 PM.

But, it's done. There are two more stake loops that need to be attached, and that's it. Our machine can handle that, even in it's current less than wonderful state.

So, the project looks like it'll make deadline. And that's good.

Next, Elizabeth's smaller Pavillion. Woodwork this coming weekend, canvas once the sewing machine comes back from the shop (which will be sometime after it goes into the shop, tomorrow hopefully). Probably not done by Memorial Day weekend, but certainly in time for War.

Good enough, I guess.

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