In my initial post above I see that I commented about spending, "...most of the last week assembling new benchwork." To clarify, the actual assembly required just a couple of days. I was only able to devote part-time effort, and lost (?) one whole day of work on account of how it was my wife's birthday and she wanted to do something other than watch me put a puzzle together.
I'm happy to join everyone in celebrating Tim's/Mianne's success. I also rejoice that Sievers is still in the business, was very responsive to my inquiry, and was able to provide a quality product in short order.
Peace,
Sam
ps: gunrunnerjohn: I've been following your effort and progress here in the forums; it has been one of the sources of inspiration from which I draw (and one of the reasons I tried to contact Mianne first).