Some Assembly Required

Several months ago Terry ordered a Louet Spring II loom, knowing it would be quite a while before it was delivered. It arrived last week while she was busy proofing my new book, The Hard Days, and yesterday was the first chance she had to start putting it together.

If I didn’t know that it was made in the Netherlands, I would think it came from IKEA instead. The loom came in three large boxes, numbered 1 through 3, and I’m glad Terry was the one in charge of the project because I was lost and confused by the time we got the first box opened.

Terry was like a kid on Christmas morning opening those boxes.

You all know Terry is Mrs. Fixit, and she was having a great time with it.

The detailed instruction manual that came with the loom was very clear and concise, with lots of illustrations to explain the process. Even someone as non-mechanical as I am was impressed by the fact that everything is screwed or bolted together instead of using glue or nails. At one point, Terry had 168 screws to put in the fourteen treadles. No question about it, this is going to be a sturdy loom when it’s fully assembled.

Except for holding a few things in place now and then when she needed an extra hand, I did the best thing I could do to assist her, which was staying out of the way until she called for me.

Is this not the face of a happy lady?

By the end of the day, she was more than halfway through the assembly process. Terry has been looking forward to getting one of these looms for a long time, and I’m thrilled for her.

Now I wish she could find a buyer for one of her big Glimakra looms so she would have a little more working space. She has it advertised on several online sites, but so far, most of the responses she has received are from scammers. The same ones who respond to cars, RVs, or anything else advertised online. They are all out of the country but want to buy it sight unseen and want to send you a check to hold it for them until they can arrange for someone to pick it up, and they all want to include more than your asking price. This is an old scam, and basically, they then want their money back, or at least the extra money, and hope you send it to them before you find out that the check they gave you is bogus and you have been ripped off.

And finally, here’s a chuckle to start your day from the collection of funny signs we see in our travels and that our readers share with us.

Be sure to enter our latest Free Drawing. This week’s prize is an audiobook of More Than Human by my friend Heather Ashbury. It’s a blend of fantasy and paranormal romance that begins when a young woman returns to an enchanting town in New Mexico following a mysterious death, where she is unexpectedly pulled into the mystical world of gods, demons, werewolves, nymphs, and more.

To enter, click on this Free Drawing link or the tab at the top of this page and enter your name (first and last) in the comments section at the bottom of that page (not this one). Only one entry per person per drawing, please, and you must enter with your real name. To prevent spam or multiple entries, the names of cartoon or movie characters are not allowed. The winner will be drawn Sunday evening. Note: Due to the high shipping cost of printed books and Amazon restrictions on e-books to foreign countries, only entries with US addresses and e-mail addresses are allowed.

Thought For The Day – I have never seen anybody jogging and smiling, so that’s all I need to know about that.