Author: peterb51

14th August 2023

Heavy rain was forecast for most of the day, I just managed to get a couple of hours on the saw cutting.

A neighbour stopped in to say hi, I had not met him before, but he had brought a piece of wood with him. He was a friend of Larry who lived across the street, so he must have directed him over to me.

This piece of wood came from a boat he was restoring, it had a bleached stain on it, and he wondered if I could suggest a way of getting it out. I said the best way was to run it through the planer, which I did. After a couple of light passes the mark had disappeared so he was delighted. He then went on to tell me about his kitchen and how it was a typical 1950’s style that he wanted to update. I gave him a few suggestions, but I didn’t expect it to turn into a project. All the time I was hoping that the rain didn’t start as I had a few more planks to run through the saw. Eventually he ran out of thing to talk about, but I’m sure he will be round again.

Kelli had the desk pedestals to prime, just as she started to spray, the sky opened up and the rain was torrential. This was needed, the ground was very dry, but couldn’t it be at night?

13th August 2023

It was a trip to the garden centre because it was their annual Pansy dollar sale. This is where customers can exchange the Pansy dollars they have built up with purchases throughout the year, in other words a loyalty scheme. We had built up quite a stash, so Kelli wanted to use some on new plants for the front garden. Now the system works like this, each customer has to spend money then this is discounted fifty percent with the Pansy dollars. So I had to spend a hundred dollars to save fifty, if I had stayed in bed I could have saved even more.

On returning home we had a customer collected the dresser that was posted yesterday.

After a bike ride to water the plants on Dave’s grave, we drove down to Elaine’s to go over the drawing for the doors and drawers for her kitchen in Florida.

We searched through her barn for timber that I could use to build all the stuff, and found lots of materials that were salvaged from old pallets that her late husband had stored.

I couldn’t wait to get home and run the stuff through the planer to see how good it was.

After several passes they looked great, and of course the dust bag filled up quickly, I can always tell because all the wood chips gets thrown back at me .

12th August 2023

Shopping day has come round again, we gave the dogs the last dregs of their food, and our meagre breakfast was a reminder that were were down to the wire. I think this is just perfect, no waste and no surplus.

It was a bit of a late start, the weather forecast was not good, so rather than getting wet, we waited, but the rain failed to materialise.

We wanted to get the latest dresser finished and on Marketplace today, that just meant screwing the knobs on.

We had someone on it straight away and will pick up tomorrow.

We had some pool time, but the water was colder than yesterday, I’m sure it’s good for us, but it takes courage.

I am quite pleased that the back lawn has survived all the dog piss that ruins most grass. I now watch where they go and drench it with water from the hose, this has worked, although the dogs are getting used to me walking behind them with the hose.

11th August 2023

There was more revealing information regarding Trumps involvement in the January Sixth insurrection, the main stream media are all over it gleefully dissecting every detail.

I have reduced my intake of them because the bias is so blatantly obvious. Another person has thrown their hat into the presidential race Cornel West is standing for the Green Party and this is causing all sorts of problems between the Republicans and Democrats “ We can’t have a third party” they cry.

We took a bike ride that took us past the deserted farm house, and surprise surprise work is starting on it. The roof has been stripped and a rotten deck has been removed. We will make a weekly trip to watch progress.

We sold the project dresser, and it was collected and out of here.

Kelli then started on the next one, this had a laminate top, so some masking and a paint job and that should it. I had made a new drawer for it using some scrap materials.

We also managed a dip in the pool, the water was cooler than we like, but we gritted our teeth and got in, it was great as long as you didn’t move.

10th August 2023

It was an eventful day, which meant getting up early for breakfast and out on our bikes.

Today the old James De Young power plant was due to be imploded. Built in 1939 it housed two coal fuelled boilers that supplied power for seventy eight years closing in 2017.

We joined the small crowd at Kollen Park, one of the closest viewing places waiting impatiently for the nine o clock event.

The time came and went, there was disappointment, I had shot a lot of video, mainly of peoples head with no idea when the action would happen. Kelli reminded me that she didn’t like standing, I explained that the English are used to standing in queues and to stop complaining.

After about thirty minutes it happened, no warning, just boom, and no video, a bit of an anti climax, but the demolition team had done a great job. By placing the explosives on one side they blew out the supports causing the building to fall on its side.

Now it was all over, and the crowd slowly dissipated, we got on our bikes and headed home, I couldn’t help thinking that with a bit more explosive they could have transported it into the scrap yard next door.

The rest of the day we spent trying to make the project dresser look more respectable. The top and side panels required vast amounts of filler to flatten out the dips and gouges. There were times when we almost gave up, we had to get more paint, but gradually the finish improved and so did our spirits, we had done the best we could.

9th August 2023

I had a quick ride down south shore to see if there were any eggs out, and yes there were.

Then it was into turbo for the ride back.

We were able to have breakfast outside, a treat that for the last two days the weather has been wet and miserable.

I had a drawer to make, I had laid up timber yesterday that needed to be thicknesses, cut to size and machined.

Dragging the saw outside, setting it up and doing the work I realised that I hadn’t zipped up the dust bag, so all the crap went all over the drive, not a good start.

I started assembling the cabinet door pieces trying to keep everything square, and I also applied a final coat to the desk top.

Kelli was painting the latest dresser that we bought from Zeeland, it was an unfinished project, it also must have been a piece where someone who had never used a sander before.

It was a bloody mess. There was only so much we could do to make it decent, but even after spending more time than it was worth, there are still areas that need more work.

We did take pictures and get a potential buyer, so the pressure is on to improve it a bit.

8th August 2023

It was old git music time, I was in my element and Kelli was off doing a taxi service for Dylan who was in Hudsonville having a hearing test.

I was slicing through my jobs even managing to cut components for two doors for a repurposed dresser.

There was fire in my step, new enthusiasm and it wasn’t raining.

There was a bit of a mix up at Kelli’s end when she tried to drop Dylan off at his home.

Greer had arrived home after her shift ( because she works at night at a hospital) she had locked the door (which had overridden the combination lock) gone to bed with her phone on silent and ear plugs. He had no chance of getting in as he had no key of his own and relied on the combination to gain entry.

There was no alternative but for Kelli to bring him back to Holland until Greer awoke.

Well it was my job to take him back to Allandale which was okay, and I didn’t get lost.

7th August 2023

I had another dental appointment (I hope it’s the last one for a while) this time it was a crown preparation.

As usual it was a fast session with the assistant taking the flexible cast and the dentist doing the grinding. Then he is off, leaving the assistant to do the scanning and making the temporary crown, trimming and bonding, one hour in and out.

I have another appointment in a couple of weeks, this is expensive, over a thousand pounds for a crown, I really don’t want anymore thank you.

When we got home there was the familiar sound of trees being ground up. A house a couple of houses up was having several trees removed. It is a shame that it happens, the haven for squirrels and birds are disappearing and not excluding what they do for the environment. Sometimes it feels safe living under a canopy of green, although in the storms it can feel scary. There is just the sound that attacks my ears, the buzz of the chain saw and the grinding of the tree muncher offends me.

What really got be mad was the supervisor who drove across my front lawn, as if the road wasn’t wide enough. I would really like to bury posts in the ground to deter these buggers.

6th August 2023

The day started off with tremendous expectations, that didn’t quite deliver.

It was wet and grey, not the best weather to move things outside to work on, so that was against us. Kelli found a free dresser on Marketplace, the trouble is, it was in Byron Center a good half hour drive away.

It is a pleasant drive out into the countryside.

We drove past one property that was covered in rubbish. There were things strewn all over the place, like something exploded. Even the landfill site was more respectable.

And that’s it, so many people cannot keep their property tidy. Farms are usually the worse, with old equipment rusting in the fields or littering the farmyard. There are barns on the point of collapse and everything just looks sad and neglected. These places are often in a wonderful location and next to an immaculate property, which must piss off that person.

We got to the address, the dresser was in the garage, a lady greeted us, she was on crutches with both legs heavily bound, I did mean to ask her what happened, but thought better of opening up that can of worms.

The dresser had a missing drawer, but the solid wood front was still there. Guess I have to make a new drawer box for that. The rest of the piece was okay, with a unmarked laminate top, it should clean up well.

We drove back hoping to find the messy house again, but the GPS took us a different way.

It was still wet when we got home, really putting paid to any furniture work. What didn’t help was a visit from Elaine who had the sketch I had drawn of a cabinet she wanted repurposing. I needed a number of missing dimensions in order to make doors and drawers for this cabinet that was in her home in Florida. She goes there every winter to escape the harsh Michigan weather.

Then my friend Martin made a Skype call that lasted two hours, so the day was disappearing. By the time that was over there was no point in starting any work so I just started to draw up the parts for Elaine’s project.

5th August 2023

Another night with four hours of sleep, there was great expectations that with the supplements that Kelli had finally received would kick in, but they didn’t.

To try to be as normal as possible, we did our shopping a day early, it tired Kelli out quickly reducing her enthusiasm to do much furniture work at all.

We unloaded the truck with the furniture that we collected yesterday, it was not as good as we hoped, one drawer was totally destroyed, and not easily repaired, I’m tempted to repurpose it.

I did manage to stain and seal the desk top and prep the pedestals for painting.