Another Lifetime to go

22nd August 2026 

My body will alway tell me I’ve eaten too much.

It says “ Pete you’ve eaten too much”. I knew I had eaten too much, and I spent the evening regretting it. There was a good reason for my gluttony , we went to a wedding.

Today Mandi, Kelli’s niece, was getting married to Hunter in an old barn in Hudsonville.

This is the first wedding I have been to, not counting mine in a long time, and it was an interesting experience. There were quite a few guests, there were more visible tattoos than in most tattoo parlours, and there wasn’t a suit to be seen. There were a lot of bushy beards and denims.

It could have been a meeting of truck drivers and builders, but everyone was having fun. 

Kelli shed a lot of tears, being an emotional basket case she took the opportunity to blub at every opportunity. Even getting out of the truck reduced her to tears, and when she saw the bride, well the waterworks started again.

It was all too much, we hadn’t had much sleep (that is a recurring issue) so it’s a wonder we stayed awake for the service.

There was a lot of conversation, most of which I couldn’t understand, but there was a free bar (thank you very much) and  plenty of food. That is where the problem started. What should I choose, the mac and Cheese, the roast chicken, shredded brisket and pork, the potato salad looked to good to ignore, so I didn’t. Personally I don’t think they should have supplied large plates, because it didn’t look that much when I piled it on, although it didn’t look take two hands to carry it. I blame the wine, only two glasses, but not having much to drink in a while, it must have affected my judgment.

I sat down and started eating around the base camp hoping to tackle the summit at some time. I knew the two pieces of chicken was a mistake, but luckily Kelli had wrapped the one she couldn’t eat in a napkin that was destined for the girls back home.

We couldn’t stay for the evening festivities because we didn’t want to leave the dogs longer than we dared, and quite frankly all that food in my tummy might have found its way out.

We both arrived back home tired, then we had to  go for a walk, I don’t know how I did it, but we got back and crashed out for the evening.

21st August 2026

Did you know about digital price labels in supermarkets? I didn’t, but there is concern that the goods you remove from the shelf at one price can be different when you reach the register. 

Now before disappearing down some deep rabbit holes I need to understand what is going on. I have already written about the price of fuel that can change every day, and funny that when a holiday is approaching, the price goes up. 

It’s that old chestnut “Supply and Demand” well, some are predicted that the same can be applied in the shops, and with digital price tags they can be changed easily. There would be no need for an army of workers manually changing the price tickets. I hope I am wrong, but the way things are going in this country, nothing would surprise me.

So with this in my mind, I wandered around Aldi, and yes, there they are, there is a small LED that flashes when the price is changing, I didn’t actually see that happening while I was there.

Look around what are Sainsbury’s and Waitrose doing?

20th August 2026

Another day of hard graft and sawdust. Got all the drawers finished in one dresser and sanded the leg joint I had to repair on the buffet.

I like it when everything slots into place.

I made a drilling jig to hold the lounger legs that I brought home from John’s barn. I thought I would have more time to work on it rather than keep getting distracted.

This also turned out well, I was beginning to think someone was looking down on me.

I’ve kept all the world news at a distance, I really don’t want to know what Trump is doing, the man is a puppet and just following orders.

The fuel price is over four dollars a gallon. The price changes regardless of what’s going on in the world. I know it’s no better in the UK, but it’s all part of the plan to keep the plebs down where they belong. 

I used to think when I got a salary increase my standard of living would improve, but in reality it was just keeping up, no improvement.

We really were pissing in the corner of a barrel.

The next bit will raise a few eyebrows, as did mine, but Kelli has been talking with the person who runs the rescue centre where we got Winnie. There is another smaller Winnie that is the same age that is looking for a home.

We had talked at length at getting another dog so that Winnie can relate to it better than Phoebe. 

Winnie gets so frustrated sometimes because she just wants to play, and Phoebe, being much older, doesn’t. This often results in Winnie rushing around the garden at high speed ripping out plants as she goes.

Kelli had arranged to meet at Pet’s Smart where we could introduce all the dogs together and see how they react to each other.

It was an interesting experience, Phoebe was her usual self, snapping at everything, but Winnie was much more fascinated and better behaved.

That was encouraging, and as there was no blood, a success.

What happens next? We agreed to give Tater a home trial to see how he would fit in, possibly starting next week. I know that this is just a formality, being a big softy, she will want to keep him, the thought of give him back to stay in a cage is not an option, so get ready for becoming a three dog family.

19th August 2026

I can tell the sun is moving away, the evenings are a little cooler, and we are sure getting close to ending the warmth of the summer.

During the day it’s still fun to just wear shorts and t-shirts with a cap to protect my head.

I had plenty to do, there was the broken leg on the buffet to fix and a number of drawers that needed repairing on the free dresser we collected recently.

I was feeling energised, I actually enjoyed doing the repair work, everything seemed to go right.

That in itself is rare, so I have to take advantage it, because tomorrow could be a shit day.

We sat watching a bit of tv when there was an audible boom, enough for Winnie to awake, and for Kelli and myself to look at each other, and utter those words “ what the heck was that?”

It appears that most of Holland heard it to judging by the number of Facebook entries about it.

There are a number of surveillance cameras going up in the town. These are called Flock cameras and are nothing to do with the police.

They are installed by a private company, but sell information to law enforcement. They record details of every vehicle that passes them, and the information is stored on cloud based servers.

So it’s not just catching speeding drivers, that is what is disturbing.

However there is a growing movement calling themselves De Flock, who monitor these devices, and also vigilante groups that go round and disable them.

The people do not want them, they don’t want a private company linked to Israel spying on American citizens.

What is happening to this country?

18th August 2026

It was back at John the wood’s barn. Because no one seems to go there, as we walk in the place starts to breathe, I feel a welcome as I turn on the lights, it’s a place of activity again.

We always start with a coffee and biscuits, I explain what we are going to work on, today it will be machining to size the timber for the lounger. I had rough cut the beech the last time, now it was the final sizing.

I talked to John about the person who wanted some white oak for a trailer, and that I wasn’t sure he had timber of the thickness the guy wanted. I then followed John downstairs to look at the stock, I was surprised to see some thicker planks. Now John got it into his head that we needed to pull them out ready, and I tried desperately to stop him as I wasn’t sure if the job would the real or not. I went back upstairs and sent a message to the chap to see if he was still interested.

In the meantime I got on cutting up the pieces for the project.

We were having a sandwich when a neighbour came round to talk with John, he often used to check if John was okay, and not killed himself somehow. 

Anyway we talked about the sawmill and decided to fill the tank with hydraulic fluid.

John had a few drums of the stuff, but as we started pouring, it looked to be contaminated with something. It seemed that every drum was bad, but now we had crap fluid in the system that we need to drain out, but we couldn’t find the drain plug. I guess that’s another call to Woodmizer Bob.

I was just getting ready to clean up and leave when a old friend of John stopped by to buy some timber, of course they had to both go downstairs to pick a plank leaving me to sweep the floor and store the parts of the lounger ready for next week. I had a strict deadline because we had people driving from Grand Rapids to collect the latest dresser.

With the little delay I still managed to get home in time, and help load this piece.

17th August 2026

The day arrived when I went to the Secretary of State office to get my temporary driving licence.

I had booked my slot and Kelli dropped me at the door. I booked myself in and took a seat. Looking round there were many different individuals, some looked a bit shady, I on the other hand had dressed bright and cheerful, and excited with what was to come.

I was called into the waiting line. I noticed there was an elderly lady renewing her license, she had trouble hearing what the person behind the glass was saying. It was taking ages to process her. The final stage was the eye test, she seemed to manage the top line, but didn’t understand what peripheral vision was.  

The lady behind the glass explained about the flashing lights to the side of the viewing port.

Eventually she managed to complete the test. She was then told to stand in front of a blue screen to have her picture taken. Instead the poor dear stood in front of the camera. After being told where the blue screen was a picture was finally taken. This when I thought to myself that I don’t want to be anywhere this old lady is driving.

Finally after a long wait it was my turn, I went to the window of the person who had dealt with the older lady. We went through all the required documents, green card, social security card, and UK drivers licence. There were documents to sign, fee to pay for, and then the picture.

I was then given a piece of paper that allowed me to drive until my proper licence arrives in the post.

With that over, I went in search of Kelli who was shopping in the nearby thrift store. I spent a bit of time looking for her, I swear she blends in with the clothes racks.

I had to call her in the end.

The next thing we had to do was deliver the Michigan coffee table to Not So Shabby.

Finally we had to drive to Allandale to collect a free dresser. Nothing special, it was a type that we had many times, a bit of repair to the drawers and a fresh coat of paint, and it should be done.

Later, friends from up the road delivered another dresser that had come from a parent’s house that they were clearing, now we have a full garage.

16th August 2026

We were woken up early with Winnie barking. This is not something she does, but it was a stormy night, with thunder almost overhead.

That put paid to any lie in, instead, we had to starting the day early.

I have the job of trying to keep both Phoebe and Winnie apart so they can do their wees and poos  separately. This is almost impossible, because Winnie likes to play and Phoebe doesn’t.

You would think that after nine months things would have settled down, not at all.  

The morning air is filled with Phoebe barking because she is getting hassled. This usually gets Winnie frustrated, so then she has an eppi, and tears around the garden ripping up plants, much to Kelli’s annoyance.

I quickly fill their bowls with food, and open the door. It’s as if the flood gates are flung open and a high pressure of dog enters the space.

Winnie liked to jump, and she can reach quite a height, the first job is to calm her down, then the bowls can be introduced. There is peace for a few minutes as they gorge themselves.

It is then my turn to start breakfast for us humans. In between all this, I am throwing or kicking balls to keep Winnie occupied. She does have very large feet, and they are perfect for trapping the ball and putting a spin on it and sending it back to me.

I had a video call with Tim Wallace, and then off to Goodwill to look for furniture.

Not much luck, both stores  had zero stuff, but I did find a couple of books.

Kelli wants to go back in time, she is fed up with subscriptions and wants to go back to good old VHS. We still had a small tv in the storage room,  but we need to get a VCR to start playing tapes.

That is the next quest.

15th August 2026 

We were on the road early to collect a piece from a storage facility next to Menards.

Kelli had been messaging with the seller whilst we had breakfast. She showed me a picture of it, saying it was free. I finished my coffee, and we set off.

It turned out that the person had been to our house and picked up some free stuff that we had on the road, so she knew us, strange how that happens.

We got to the lock up and saw this piece waiting outside. It was six foot long on spindly legs, although one of the middle legs had broken.

The rest of it was not in bad condition. We looked around her storage room to see it there was anything else that took our fancy.

I, as always am concerned with the space we have available, gratefully there wasn’t anything else.

We loaded the piece into the back of the truck, that is when we discovered that it wasn’t free after all.  She said that in the post there was mention of $40, but it wasn’t fixed, I had a twenty in my wallet, so she took that.

Although at the weekend we don’t usually do any furniture, but on this occasion I had to get the Michigan coffee table ready to go to “Not so Shabby” on Monday. We decided that we should sell it through a store, even though we would have to pay commission, but it might get customers that are better off (richer) walking through.

We finished the mid century style dresser, took pictures and posted it.

14th August 2026

We had to do our weekly shopping today, because we had cleaned out the fridge a day earlier.

It is history repeating itself, I believe we did our shopping on this day a couple of years ago, but gradually working up towards the beginning of the week.

The one thing I observed, was, it felt exactly the same, every shopping day is the bloody same.

The only main difference was we had to drive to the pet shop to get Winnie her dried food.

Of course we can’t leave without buying a whole host of other things. This includes dried pig ears, that is a special treat, and other chewy things. We spent a small fortune on our little darlings, it buys us a small bit of peace, and you can’t put a price on that.

Kelli was busy painting the other dresser. She was looking through her stock of hardware for new knobs to match the handles she found at the thrift store.

There was stuff in the garage just waiting for us to return. The green island moved on, the back panel was finished, and I attached short legs to give it the extra height needed for an island.

Things have been very quiet in the neighbourhood, no dramas, there is continued intrigue over the occupants of Larry’s house. 

Are they renters or Airbnb people? Kelli wants to know.

13th August 2026

Thank god it is rubbish collection day, at long last I can get rid of the dead possum.

I made sure that the bin was set out last night.

I managed to transfer the black bag that I had stored in our yard waste bin. I put my respirator hoping that it would stop the stench, and to a degree it did, but there were plenty of maggots crawling around to make the whole exercise bloody disgusting.

I watched from the window as the truck stopped and grabbed the bin, lifted it up, and deposited the contents into the inner most parts of the vehicle. That must be a pretty vile job to drive that evil smelling truck about, especially in summer, but somebody has to do it.

I did a lot of assembly work on the green island piece. I fitted the back panel and cut the top to size. Kelli painted the other mid century style dresser in a dark green, she found some cool handles at a thrift store, so it should look good.

We are now in the election fever season. The tv is full of advertisements for these puppets. They are all actors playing a part that is all scripted. They are not elected, they are chosen, elections are a scam made to make the voters think they make the difference.  They all play the roles of rivals, but behind the scenes they know the plot.

Over here, “We the people” is what the actors are scared of, so they keep everyone divided, fighting, and in fear, because there are far more of the people than the actors.

I look at things in a completely different way now, and if more people did the same they would see through the scam.

I was watching the eclipse, but I didn’t see the moon pass in front of the sun, I just saw a black shape, where was the moon? The moon should have been illuminated by the earth, so it should have been seen crossing over. Just think about it.