Author: peterb51

29th March 2026

We were anticipating someone coming to look at the small buffet that was posted yesterday, I needed to do a little more work on it.

I gave the top another coat of finish, left it to dry.

Later I heard that the person had crapped out, that happens a lot, however Kelli had several more interested players, and one paid up front for it. 

I did a bit of tree pruning. I missed out last year and most grew out of control, so this year meant a drastic cut back at the expense of fruit.

Winnie enjoyed chewing some of the branches and generally running around like a mad person.

Thank goodness the temperature was up in the fifties, a wonderful change from the cold.

I’m looking forward to the week ahead.

We had our usual ice cream fest at Kelli’s mums house. Then it was a walk around the block. With the dogs.

There is so much to do in the garden, there are new things I want to do if time and finances allow. 

28th March 2026

We ended up with two long dressers when we were only planning on one. 

As it happens, eagle eyed Kelli saw one at the side of the road as we were heading to West Olive to collect another.

Painted in a crazy blue animal pattern it was a decent quality, the drawers worked and all the hardware was attached. This is a rare occurrence, but it looked mid century, and with some love we will make it beautiful again.

We drove home, and unloaded it, leaving it tucked around the corner, out of sight, something painted that wildly is not for people on South Shore Drive to admire.

Now it was back retracing our steps heading for West Olive.

We arrived at a trailer park, my heart dropped, I was not sure this piece was going to be good quality, but to my surprise, it wasn’t bad. The drawers all worked fine, it was just the top that had seen better days. We loaded that one up and headed back home. 

We took pictures of the small buffet we finished yesterday.

David, the guy from over the street came over to fix our rear brakes, they had been making a bit of noise recently, and I had bought a kit a while ago in anticipation, so now was the time.

These are jobs I used to do when I was just starting out, in those days, with little money it was a necessity. Nowadays I prefer that someone else lays on the ground and gets dirty.

27th March 2026

The losing of my spreadsheet was on my mind as soon as I awoke.

I asked the question on Safari about recovery of spreadsheets from the cloud, but that wasn’t helpful.

My last hope was looking at deleted files, I’m sure that I didn’t knowingly delete anything, but I was clawing at anything.

Well to my relief the file was there, there was a date of the 21st February which must have been when it was deleted. Recovery was then simple, the wheel of death turned, and then it was back, like a long lost child, my relief was tremendous.

Kelli, who doesn’t always share the sense of importance that I have was relieved, because she wouldn’t have to hear me moaning on about it all day.

I had a breakfast with Lloyd, at our regular place. A chance to catch up and tell him about my trip. He is due to fly into the UK in a few weeks time with his sons for a vacation. 

Breakfast seems very popular amongst the old folks who probably can’t be assed to cook it themselves. I have my regular choice of Farmer’s Platter consisting of two eggs, hash browns diced onions and peppers, washed down with lashings of coffee.

I between all that excitement, I applied a finish to the small buffet and sanded the heck out of the two pedestals and a small storage, getting them handed over to Kelli for painting.

26th March 2026

We sold our first piece since I got back which wasn’t saying much. To say the market is weak is an understatement, but with all the optimism in my heart it will get better.

I did the repairs to the drawer pedestals, the weather and the workman working on Larry’s old house was showing his crack. It’s not a pleasant sight, but at least it was not the full moon that he displayed whilst I was away. I don’t know why he doesn’t feel the draught on his delicates, maybe it’s toughened up due to the constant exposure.

I spent a bit of time going through the hard drives that I brought back. Most of the old recordings were there, including some I had forgotten about, it was like opening a time capsule and finding gold. 

I had a horror moment during the evening when I tried to update our Bristol Cottage spreadsheet.

As always there updates to the OS system on the iPhone, and that changes the appearance of the apps. I opened the”Notes” app to be faced with a different looking page. I scoured the sheets but couldn’t find my current one.

I kept looking, but it had gone. All that was left were previous years, I had lost all of 2025 and what I had for 2026.

I had a sick feeling in my stomach, not the best way to go to bed.

25th March 2026

The American people are being squeezed, I expect the British are also victims of the economic blitz that the world is being subjected to.

Wars can be conducted without force, pressure can be applied, and life can change.

Lyndon B Johnson once stood up in 1965 and told his audience that “Those that controlled the weather, control the world”. A chilling thought, that led to the start of a bio engineering experiment that has gone on ever since.

The whole subject of climate change has been planned, in effect created. It keeps us concerned about how much oil is still in the ground. Oil is the single element that controls everything from fertiliser, pharmaceuticals, automobiles, energy, textiles and household products. We are locked in, and they know it.

The Iran war illustrates how a small bottleneck can strangle the world, slowing squeezing the supply, driving up the prices and hurting everyone.

We should know this by now, but they want to keep us in our place, down at the bottom. After a while we get used to it, food prices will not go down, just the value of our hard earned cash does.

What new laws will this war bring? Could there be rationing, restrictions of travel, all in the name of national security.

24th March 2026

I had to forgo my visit to John the wood’s due to a dental appointment. I was feeling better than yesterday, when I could have fallen asleep standing up. 

There were many things to do in the garage, I wanted to complete the new base for a small  buffet. This was just an assembly job, it certainly improved the look of the piece.

Kelli had a call from my dentist to say that they cancelled my appointment due to a shortage of staff, and rebooked it for later in April, part of me was relieved.

Now I could start to strip down the desk I picked up yesterday.

Some old desks can be a problem taking apart because of their construction. Almost all get damaged and need repair, but this one came apart easily,  meaning a quick flip job.

Winnie is very demanding. Since I have introduced her to ball chasing, she now follows me about with a ball in her jaws and a soulful look in her eyes, how can I resist that?

23rd March 2026

Nothing has changed in the food stores, no reduction in the prices, and petrol is nearly four dollars a gallon.

All thanks to Trumps involvement in the Iranian war that the American people did not want.

The general consensus is that he got played by Israel and now cannot get out of it.

This is what I’m involved in now I’m back in the US. Unfortunately all the west will suffer as a result, it’s a no win situation.

It’s another tightening of the screw of fear keeping us scared, and when we are scared, we are controlled.

Some say that ‘this war is another distraction, the continued release of the Epstein files draws Trump evermore into the web of perversion and deprivation. Although this seems a bit over the top, it follows a pattern to shift attention from one event on to another.

I’m sure the forthcoming moon shot will absorb the news away from what is happening in the Middle East, after all that is so important, isn’t it?

I started clearing away the winter debris from the back garden, I even packed away the snow blower, that is a brave thing to do, but there wouldn’t be much snow this winter even if it were forecast.

22nd March 2026

It was a peaceful day of rest, my eyes were still feeling dry from lack of sleep, but I soon got into the old routine of letting the dogs out and preparing their food.

I checked that the hard drives I had in my bag had survived the journey, and they did, as did my guitar and other studio related pieces.

I certainly felt the cold, my poor body wasn’t sure what was happening. From having weather where I could work outside in just a shirt to having to put on a coat must have confused it.

We did go up to Kelli’s mum’s for ice cream, and I told stories of my adventures, obviously exaggerated a bit.

I spent a lot of time playing ball with Winnie, boy is she fast, and able to grasp three balls at a time owing to her enormous paws, definitely could be a future goalkeeper.

We took pictures of a dresser that Kelli had finished, outside, now that’s a novelty.

21st March 2026 

The coach pulled away from Bath Bus Station just before 4.00am. Nicola and Colin had dropped me and my various luggage pieces. This time I was taking one of my guitars with me.

I had bought a hard case for it, hopefully substantial enough to protect it.

It’s a two and a half hour journey, I think I must have had a bit of a nap because when I woke up the dawn had broken.

Once I got to Heathrow I had to transport three items, each were heavy, but luckily my leather hold-all fitted on the top of my roller case, meaning I had one hand free to carry the guitar case.

Inside terminal three I located the zone that dealt with Priority customers. This saves the hassle of printing out the luggage tag and boarding pass. A very pleasant lady advised me the best way to deal with my guitar. In case there was no locker space in the cabin, it would be more protected if it was containerised in the hold, rather than loaded at the gate.

Once all that was done, I got through the security and headed for the Curator restaurant for breakfast.

Since the last time I was there the staff had changed, today there were Indian waitresses rather than the Eastern European ones.

The food tasted the same, which was the main thing.

I took the long walk to the gate, whatever journey I have taken the aircraft is alway the furthest away.

Loading was a bit chaotic, the public address system was badly distorted and the announcements were incomprehensible, leading to a stampede, of which i joined, I needed overhead locker space for my bag.

It was a full flight, but I had plenty of locker space, so I settled down for the long haul.

I put on my sound cancelling headphones only to discover the battery was dead, I put in the spare, and that was dead as well.

I had a bit of a doze and watched a couple of films, not the best selection this time.

The arrival at Charlotte International was a bit of a bump, made worse by the blinds being closed.

Getting through the customs was very quick, but the walk to baggage reclaim took a while.

Eventually my luggage did arrive at the carrousel, and then another long walk to recheck luggage. By the time I got through security again, and another long walk to the gate, I’m sure I could see Grand Rapids in the distance.

I had a short wait, but the gate area was woefully inadequate in terms of seating for the size of the aircraft, I sat on the floor, the old hippy I am.

I made sure as soon as my group were called I was at the front, it was a smaller plane so the overheads were smaller, I fortunately found a space an stuffed my bag inside.

The pilot announced “ We will be leaving ahead of schedule “ lying git, we moved off the pad but waited for ages to move again.

All this time I was trying to agree a time that Kelli should leave home and pick me up.

Having made an arbitrary decision, I continued to sit a wait for the bloody thing to move again.

It is about this time I just want the journey to end, it’s a long day, I’m tired, I was a shower, and I’m hungry, so any delay is really annoying.

It was a wonderful reunion, because Winnie was in the truck waiting for me. She went crazy I was given a welcome home licking, well many times.

I was so happy that she remembered me.

Once we got home, tiredness really hit me, I missed most of what was on the tv, woke up just in time to go to bed.

20th March 2926

This was the last day, a day of cleaning and packing.

My attempts of getting a bonfire going to dispose of the pile of debris from the garden tidy up, was not very successful. I scratched around for things to start the fire. I had a couple of cardboard boxes that should have worked.

There was a lot of smoke to begin with, but there was a lot of green stuff, making it hard for the fire to take hold. A couple more attempts proved equally unsuccessful, but I was successful in creating a smoke cloud that hung over the valley like a damp cloth.

Ryan came up in the evening baring a fish and chips supper.

I don’t think he was impressed when I started talking about the complexities in the design and building of Bath Abbey. It was built in a time when basic construction details were pretty limited, and this fascinates me, “How did they build that?” Is my mantra, and I guess not everyone shares the same interest that I have.

He did challenge me to dig deeper and research what has been documented, but like most history it can only go back so far. I have lived with this building since I was a child, it still fills me with awe every time I look up.

The architects were Robert and William Vertue back in the early 16th century, although it was originally built back in 675AD. I love the history, but what intrigues me is how information was transferred to the army of craftsmen. The whole building exists full of fine details, all those lock together to form the structure we all see today.

However it was done, is a testament to the brilliance of the person, or persons that conceived it.