Being Very Careful

I went over the entire sculpture a few final times touching up details.  Each time I discovered new defects and realized that this art project had entered the "Eternal Tinkering Phase" where I was at risk of being consumed by tiny issues that were not important and that could delay its completion.  I said to my self, "That's it.  Call it done and stop making adjustments."  In fact, I said it out loud so that I would hear myself.


The next day I approached the sculpture with a different attitude.  The sculpture was truly done in my mind and I could focus on finishing the base but first I wanted to make sure that the princess could be removed for transportation to the library.  I had to make sure that the threaded rods coming out of the princess' feet had not become stuck to the base by WInterstone.   Kneeling on the floor, I carefully dragged the upper base with the sculpture attached to the edge of the lower base, wriggled my fingers underneath and lifted up one side of the upper base.  The sculpture swung to an angle.  My heart skipped a beat.  I froze in place to evaluate the situation.  Carefully I tipped the base down slightly to find the balance point, slid my knee underneath then lowered the base to rest on my thigh.   With my left hand cradling the princess, my right hand picked up a wrench that I had placed on the floor nearby.  I moved my right hand and wrench under the base, found the threaded rods with my fingers and blindly put the wrench around a nut and gave it a gentle tug.  To my surprise the nut turned easily.  Wonderful.  I continued with the wrench until the nut turned freely then loosened the nut under the princess' other foot too.


Once the nuts and washers were off I sat the upper base down and stood up beside the princess.  Taking hold of the bag sides I lifted the sculpture, pulling the connecting rods out of the base.  Success.  She was safely in my arms. 


Before anything could go wrong, I reversed the steps and reattached the sculpture to the base, confident that it could be moved to the library when needed.