Came home, took at look at the "straight enough" bolts. Shook my head, went to make dinner, napped, called my fiance and told him I loved him, came back - still so crooked I couldn't stand it any more than hiking up a mountain with a rock in my shoe. Took out all the bolts, tried again to straighten the struts and put all the bolts back in.
Decided to put the jury strut in while I was attaching all the other hardware. Remembered that this was annoying the first time - and that I had to modify the tabs on the jury strut attach bracket when a hole was mis-drilled. When did I remember this? Right about when the jury strut didn't line up with the holes.
So, I fetched the other jury strut, and pegged it in place with a bolt. Hmm. This one, too, has its holes drilled too high on the front strut. And... also too low on the rear strut attach. Which means neither jury strut attach fitting actually fits my spars.
Time to take plenty of pictures, make very careful measurements on where the holes should be to line up with the spars (far easier to modify metal tabs than wood - you don't want to put extra or wider holes into the wood you can't mend.) And head back to Atlee Dodge for more metalwork, as this calls for a precision in drilling I could do, but a precision in welding I currently can't.
I'll just... go and have a cup of tea with soymilk, prime the other side of the hand-cut shims I started yesterday, unload the dishes, look at webcomics, and remind myself that it's like physical therapy - no matter how bleak, hopeless, painful, aggravating, and annoying it seems, if I just keep at it, a little every day, I will be able to walk, to run, to climb mountains, and to fly. We're a broken-winged chick and a broken-winged bird together, and if I can heal myself, I can heal her.
In better news, the spacers, given a day for the varnish to dry, look just fine. And for a rough job, my shims will do just fine.
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