July 23, 2014 at 2:10 p.m.
A project comes out of the closet (03/04/2009)
Back in the Saddle
By By JACK RONALD-
Wrestling a bear in a closet wasn't on my agenda for the weekend.
But that's sure what it sounded as if I was doing Sunday afternoon.
Let me explain, or try to.
Like most couples our age, Connie and I have too much stuff. Sorting things, getting rid of things, moving things from one storage place to another, and pledging not to acquire anything else seem to occupy a good chunk of our time.
But the job is never done.
The latest chore developed when I suggested that we might be able to make room for some of the china that Connie had inherited from her parents if I relocated my collection of LPs and the stereo to my study. I've only actually had a study for about a year. Before that, I'd write a column like this on a computer on an old door balanced on two filing cabinets.
But then the kids started to grow up. With our twins in their 30s, it seemed safe to re-invent their bedroom as a master suite. Our old bedroom, in turn, became my study. And I love it.
It's also a guest room, but I like it enough as a study to make sure that the sleeper sofa isn't TOO comfortable.
The plan, such as it was, was to house some of the stereo equipment in the small closet and place the speakers along one wall near some bookcases.
First, we acquired some stackable cube thingies in which to put my collection of old vinyl. (What can I say? I am a creature of my generation.)
I have a few friends with more records, but not many. When sorted, the British rock from the 1960s stood a foot and a half high. The U.S. rock from the same period was about 15 inches. The soul collection was nearly a foot high. You get the picture.
With the LPs safely stored, I needed a base on which to put the stereo equipment.
I bought the right piece, essentially a board, at Menard's a couple of weeks ago. (As I was carrying the board - my sole purchase that day - around Menard's, Jay County contractor George Loyd came up to me and suggested that there was no way the U.S. economy was going to get stimulated one board at a time.)
At any rate, by Sunday things were in place.
It was moving day.
And like all moving days, it had its surprises.
But the biggest related to an old problem I sometimes have involving three-dimensional space.
To make it short, I was putting a heck of a lot of stuff into a very small closet.
The storage units with the record albums fit great. But when it came time to start hooking up various electronic components, suddenly that old thing involving adequate space for elbows reared its ugly head.
It's also important that the stereo equipment is not some sleek thing purchased as a single unit. Some of it is a Pioneer system we bought from Ja-mar years ago, a couple of the speakers came from J.C. Penney roughly 30 years ago, a couple of other speakers date to my college years, and the turntable was a gift from my wife within the past decade.
As anyone who has ever dealt with a stereo component system can tell you, it's complicated but not too complicated.
Except if you are doing it in a corner.
A dark corner.
I hung a trouble light and set to work.
And then, for about an hour, I proceeded to sound as if I were wrestling a bear in the closet.
The CD player needed to be connected to the amplifier/tuner. So did the turntable, but the connecting wires were short. Speaker cables had to be attached. The newer ones (circa 1979) were easy. The ones for my old Fisher speakers from college required a screwdriver.
It was a long hour.
And I can't say that I was particularly gracious about the process.
Words were muttered under my breath, and sometimes they were louder than that.
Perhaps appropriately, when I powered things up to check on the connections I tuned to PG-14 to get a strong signal and got an earful from one of the local preachers broadcasting on a Sunday afternoon.
I wondered momentarily whether I should call in and ask forgiveness. But I was so happy that all of the speakers were performing perfectly that I decided the best thing I could do was to pop in a CD.
Bob Marley never sounded so good. And there wasn't a bear in sight.
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But that's sure what it sounded as if I was doing Sunday afternoon.
Let me explain, or try to.
Like most couples our age, Connie and I have too much stuff. Sorting things, getting rid of things, moving things from one storage place to another, and pledging not to acquire anything else seem to occupy a good chunk of our time.
But the job is never done.
The latest chore developed when I suggested that we might be able to make room for some of the china that Connie had inherited from her parents if I relocated my collection of LPs and the stereo to my study. I've only actually had a study for about a year. Before that, I'd write a column like this on a computer on an old door balanced on two filing cabinets.
But then the kids started to grow up. With our twins in their 30s, it seemed safe to re-invent their bedroom as a master suite. Our old bedroom, in turn, became my study. And I love it.
It's also a guest room, but I like it enough as a study to make sure that the sleeper sofa isn't TOO comfortable.
The plan, such as it was, was to house some of the stereo equipment in the small closet and place the speakers along one wall near some bookcases.
First, we acquired some stackable cube thingies in which to put my collection of old vinyl. (What can I say? I am a creature of my generation.)
I have a few friends with more records, but not many. When sorted, the British rock from the 1960s stood a foot and a half high. The U.S. rock from the same period was about 15 inches. The soul collection was nearly a foot high. You get the picture.
With the LPs safely stored, I needed a base on which to put the stereo equipment.
I bought the right piece, essentially a board, at Menard's a couple of weeks ago. (As I was carrying the board - my sole purchase that day - around Menard's, Jay County contractor George Loyd came up to me and suggested that there was no way the U.S. economy was going to get stimulated one board at a time.)
At any rate, by Sunday things were in place.
It was moving day.
And like all moving days, it had its surprises.
But the biggest related to an old problem I sometimes have involving three-dimensional space.
To make it short, I was putting a heck of a lot of stuff into a very small closet.
The storage units with the record albums fit great. But when it came time to start hooking up various electronic components, suddenly that old thing involving adequate space for elbows reared its ugly head.
It's also important that the stereo equipment is not some sleek thing purchased as a single unit. Some of it is a Pioneer system we bought from Ja-mar years ago, a couple of the speakers came from J.C. Penney roughly 30 years ago, a couple of other speakers date to my college years, and the turntable was a gift from my wife within the past decade.
As anyone who has ever dealt with a stereo component system can tell you, it's complicated but not too complicated.
Except if you are doing it in a corner.
A dark corner.
I hung a trouble light and set to work.
And then, for about an hour, I proceeded to sound as if I were wrestling a bear in the closet.
The CD player needed to be connected to the amplifier/tuner. So did the turntable, but the connecting wires were short. Speaker cables had to be attached. The newer ones (circa 1979) were easy. The ones for my old Fisher speakers from college required a screwdriver.
It was a long hour.
And I can't say that I was particularly gracious about the process.
Words were muttered under my breath, and sometimes they were louder than that.
Perhaps appropriately, when I powered things up to check on the connections I tuned to PG-14 to get a strong signal and got an earful from one of the local preachers broadcasting on a Sunday afternoon.
I wondered momentarily whether I should call in and ask forgiveness. But I was so happy that all of the speakers were performing perfectly that I decided the best thing I could do was to pop in a CD.
Bob Marley never sounded so good. And there wasn't a bear in sight.
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