Great Minds

It is said that great minds think alike.  I'd just figured out how I was going to get the TV stand out of the truck when I got a text from my daughter with the same solution.  "Can you open the box and bring in a few pieces at a time?"  I guess that's what's called "thinking outside the box."  Putting the cabinet together wasn't necessarily difficult, but it was a long process.  I appreciated Ralph's help when I dropped one of the umpteen fastener gizzies.  I was going to get down on hands and knees to look for it, but Ralph found it first and batted it right to me.  Celeste got bored and went to sleep, but Ralph was very involved, crawling in and out of the empty box, inspecting every part as the stand went together.  (Every job needs a superintendent.)

Constructing the stand turned out to be the easy part.  In order to thread the cables and wires to the receiver through the back of the cabinet, they first had to be unplugged.  That's when the fun began.  It was the hottest day of the year so far and I was running sweat.  I did (or thought I did) remember which wire went to which plug, but the wires weren't long enough to allow me to see the fittings and had to be attached by touch alone in a very cramped space.  The very last one was the booger.  Time for a break.  Calmer, I went back to the job and, of course, got the cable connected.  Quite pleased with myself, I turned everything on, only to get a "No signal" message on the TV.  I could have cried.  Did I plug in something wrong?  Did I break the entire system?  Once again I called my angels in tech support (this one was actually named Angie!).  My relief can only be imagined when the problem turned out to be just a loose connection and easily fixed.  I actually had hooked up everything in the right place.  Ta da!

Ralph did a final inspection before giving it his stamp of approval.  It was time to put the goats to bed.  It had been, as I'd anticipated, a long day.