July 5, 2010

White Dog went out to the Studio with Steve and Richard to supervise the assembly of the new multi-position futon sofa we bought to accommodate guests. While Albuquerque is not exactly a tourist mecca in the summer heat, come October and the International Balloon Fiesta and our corner of the world becomes quite a hot spot! This year will be especially guest bountiful because I am doing a three-woman art exhibit featuring my painting, Hansel's mom's photography, and a poet friends performance art. White Dog wants to be sure everything is in tiptop shape well before the deadline.

That said, she accompanied my construction crew and oversaw the unpacking of the boxes. White Dog insisted that they methodically lay out the pieces and made sure nothing was damaged. She gathered the myriad of little plastic bags into a neat pile and sat back to watch.

The wood exterior frame went together like a charm. Everything was perfectly aligned and there were no scratches. The men got a "paws up" to continue on to the metal hinging and mattress holder part of the sofa.

As those packages were laid out and examined a terrible discovery was made...there was NO instruction sheet! A quick search determined that they were, indeed, missing, and were not merely packed elsewhere. This was a critical part of the construction...the multi-position locking hinge made the difference between sitting upright and being thrown on you back when you sat on the sofa. White Dog growled at Richard's suggestion that they just try to "figure it out." There was nothing intuitive about the collection of tiny little plates and different types of screws (not to mention the other Lego set type bits and pieces that could go together 100 different ways).

White Dog came in first to tell and I congratulated her good judgement. Steve came into the office and grabbed his laptop as he said over his shoulder to Richard."we'll just download what we need. I am sure the manufacturer has the instruction PDFs on line!" "Ha!" White Dog muttered to me.

After a fruitless hour of searching, I heard the chef and his associate out in the kitchen fussing with dinner. White Dog carried in the scrap of paper upon which Steve had scribbled the Helpline number (which of course was closed today). I retrieved it and concurred with her decision to shutdown the job site until the proper instructions were in hand.

All were frustrated but at least the spinach/feta stuffed meatloaf, mashed sweet potatoes and sauteed zucchini offered some consolation!