Not a lot happened this week, other than furniture assembly. I managed to put 4 dowel pins in the wrong holes. I had to drill them out, which went well. I found myself offering half my kingdom for a dowel pin. The big-box hardware store has countless square feet, but doesn’t dowel pins in the sell the size I need. I could order them online, but wasn’t sure how they are measured. (Don’t laugh — 2 x 4 timber is actually 1.5 x 3.5.) I bought a bag of the wrong size dowel pins to make sure I knew how to measure dowel pins in the table kit so I could order new dowel pins that would fit in the table.

I ordered a variety box of 270 from Amazon. The box contained pins the right diameter, but they were too long. I needed a dremel tool to shorten them and chamfer the  edge. After recovering from my mistake, I found a hole that was not drilled correctly (fixed with my drill), a dowel pin that was the wrong size (already had that covered), and a leaf that wouldn’t sit flat because fitting blocks were the wrong size (my new small hand circular saw came to the rescue). All in all, I needed some tools that weren’t on the recommended list. If anybody needs dowel pins, let me know. I have plenty in a variety of sizes.

The chairs didn’t have any factory defects, but one chair had obviously been returned. The chair had an extra layer of shrink-wrap, and the hardware bag had a hole in it. That would have been OK, except the previous owner had managed to cross-thread three bolts. I called Ikea to see if they could send me some bolts, but they have an unusually high volume of calls. Regrettably, they can’t take mine. Click. So we have an excellent table and three chairs. Ikea has a generous return policy, but it requires a trip to College Park and I’m not in the mood to be on the road this close to Christmas. I’ll return it next year.

Christmas traffic is as angsty as ever in this high-stress holiday season. Thursday, we went to Bowman’s Restaurant in Baltimore for a Circle lunch. (It was one of the few times we have been in Bowman’s that wasn’t a funeral. That place seems to be the official funeral restaurant of the Hartka family.) Somebody got so frustrated they started honking their horn in the Harbor Tunnel because traffic was moving slowly. It’s certainly angsty enough to keep me off my bike until after Christmas. Better to stay home, assemble furniture, and replace the bike chain.

Speaking of bike chains, I think I’ll replace mine now.

I hope this finds everybody doing well.