Author: peterb51

10th June 2023

Well it all happens in America.

I spent time reading through the indictment of Donald Trump concealment of classified documents, a fascinating report written in finite detail. All this is public, but I expect no Trump supporters will bother to read.

The man is an absolute dope, to think that he could treat confidential information as his personal property.

He, at last been shown as a criminal, he ran the Presidency as he ran his organisation, for the benefit of himself.

Finally all those who have been cheated, bullied, and slandered, and who have spoken out, but not listened to, can say “ I told you so”

The organisation he ran was found guilty of illegal business fraud, so I guess what goes around comes around.

It was day two of Larry’s yard sale, and it got off to a dismal start.

We went over and Kelli bought some things, but throughout the day few cars stopped to pick over the stuff he had going.

We had Kim, Kelli’s ex sister in law, stop over to get some rubber mats cut. I had earlier volunteered my services, and my bandsaw to cut a large circle so she could place it under her bird feeder, stopping the seeds from falling on to the ground and sprouting. I thought it was a ten minute job, but more like forty minutes. I redrew the circle in a brighter marker and carefully cut each piece, the garage began to smell like a tyre factory, but they got done and she was happy.

I spent the rest of the time scraping two bright red cabinets. They had been originally painted in a blue textured paint and the repainted. I was glad that it came off easily. I plan to join the two units together and stick legs on it

9th June 2023

I had been thinking about the bowed worktop all night, trying to find alternatives to adding a piece on metal and forcing the top flat. It seemed like the top would be highly stressed and could cause the top to crack at sometime in the future.

I called John, although he was not at the mill, I wanted to bounce an alternative idea around.

The main cause of the bow was a wide strip of timber in the middle of the top that had moved.

I suggested to him that we cut the worktop down the middle and insert another narrower strip and re-glue. This would relieve the stress, and then insert some hard timber braces on the underside. John had showed me some examples that were harder than oak that could do the job. So we agreed that I will drive down on Monday to help run the piece through the saw, and prepare the joining.

The next thing on the list was to get the truck fixed. A exhaust clamp had broken and needed to be replaced. Kelli booked it into a small garage that had done work for her before.

We drove there with the truck sounding like a tractor, waited twenty minutes for it to be fixed, then drove home a lot quieter.

We took pictures of a pair of night stands that we converted from a desk, these were “quick and dirty” jobs that we needed to boost the months numbers.

Larry was having a garage sale across the road, I took over a couple of Equa chairs that we’ve had for ages and couldn’t sell. He had a few people turn up, but the chairs were still there when he finished for the day, maybe better luck tomorrow.

8th June 2023

It was a bad night for both of us, Kelli because she woke early and couldn’t get back to sleep, and I, because Kelli could get back to sleep.

It sets the tone for the whole day and I didn’t want to be here. Fortunately I was going to visit John the wood man to discuss how to remove the bow in the worktop.

It was the first time I had driven solo to his barn, and got off to a bad start. I took the wrong road and landed in a construction area.

The road was being dug up and diversions were in place. This didn’t help me one bit, so I turned to my GPS to get me out of a mess.

John was slicing a red oak tree as I arrived but he halted that and helped me unload the worktop. We lifted it on to his flat table where he could see how much the top had bowed.

He was surprised at the amount, so we discussed different ways of flatting it out.

Short of adding lumps of steel, which might be the only way, he had a selection of America’s hardest timber most of which I can’t remember, as other options. He agreed to try a few things next week.

The drive back was quicker and easier because I was on the right road.

I did notice the truck was sounding louder than usual, when I got home I noticed that an exhaust clamp had broken, so I need to get that fixed.

The good new was I got the saw fixed. The new switch came in the post, so there was some trepidation on my part that it was the problem. It took a while to find out how to get the old one out. I had to knock out the pivot pin that held the emergency stop flap.

Once that was out, with depressing a couple of tabs and it was out. Then there was pressure on to attach the terminals correctly, there were six. Eventually I had it reassembled and fitted back in the saw, now came the crucial test.

I plugged in the power cable, pausing before I hit the green button. I could wait no longer, my finger pressed the starter, the saw burst into life, YAY! I was so relieved.

7th June 2023

Well it happened, the boys arrived at 8.00am on the dot, snapping a branch from our tree as they reversed their truck up the driveway.

These were not small boys, they sure had their fare share of burgers I’ll be darned.

They ripped off the old worktop with one hard grunt and carried it outside. In came the new piece looking clean and new. They wanted the hob removed, but we requested that it could be threaded through the hole, like threading the needle, which we did successfully as the boys looked on amused.

The bonding of the two parts took a while, the adhesive giving off a pungent smell causing Kelli to open all the available windows. The construction of the worktop was a lot different to the ones I’ve had before, there was a little less particle board in this, I hope it will be as durable.

There were a couple of issues that were brought to light.

One was the accuracy of some of the details, especially where the wood part joins.

I had made some assumptions that were wrong, so some additional work needs to be done if it can be.

I need to have the wood top widened by half an inch so the overhang matches the other side, I spoke to my wood man who said he could do that, but more serious, the top had bowed slightly, so we have to add some steel to flatten it. Altogether a bit more work to do.

The overall result was good, not as good as my other kitchens, but a score of eight out of ten.

The couple who owned the rocker came to collect it this evening, there were whoops of joy as they got out of their car, that made me happy to know they were happy.

So an interesting day ended, tomorrow the sink is connected so we can wash the dishes in that rather than the bathroom sink.

6th June 2023

So we did get a professional plumber in after all. He did not disconnect everything, instead he fitted shut off valves to the hot and cold supply. This allowed me simply to strip away the parts at the last minute without climbing into the crawl space to turn off the mains supply each time. I waited until the last possible time to do the work ready for the eight o clock start tomorrow.

Kelli finished painting the rocking chair and I finished the arms ready for assembly tomorrow and collection Thursday.

It was a difficult night, Kelli only got four hours sleep, which was not good making the day strained.

The weather was not so hot, making it ideal for outdoor working

5th June 2023

The dreaded day draws closer, the day when the kitchen will be transformed. The clock counts down to Wednesday when the worktop will be installed. I dread it because I will have to disconnect everything. My track record for doing anything with water is poor, and everywhere else that I’ve lived it’s always been done by a professional. Why didn’t we do that this time? I don’t know. I got someone in to do the electrical side of it, but not the water.

I suppose the reason is that all the new stuff will go in the same place. The tap will attach to the same pipes, it’s only the waste that will change from a double drain to a single, and I should be able to do that.

All this had been in the back of my mind for many weeks, I just want it to be over.

Even once the corian top is in I will still have to finish the wood top section, but I’m happy with that, that will be a Labour of love.

We had our usual shopping day, plus a quick trip to Menards where we spotted a sick potted flower arrangement, of course Kelli saw it and wanted to save it. I was embarrassed to carry it around in the cart and even more when I had to pay at the checkout. I wouldn’t have minded, but I had to pay full price for the bugger. It better come back to life or I will not be a happy man.

The job we earmarked for today was painting the rocking chair, that has been a difficult job, the original finish was like tar, and so hard to scrape off. There are a few repairs to the arms, but I hope this will be out by the end of the week.

4th June 2023

A bit of a lazy day, but we did sell the small cabinet to a lady from Grand Haven. I had to get up early to fix the top on and give it a good waxing. Then I fitted two new doors in the kitchen, now it’s just the drawers to do.

We had planned to go to Saugatuck with Greer and Dylan to mooch around the shops. I found a pair of sandals I liked, just the sort to tan my toes, so I bought them.

It was a lovely warm day, just the kind of day to sit at a cafe table and watch people, which is what we did for a while.

There are times when doing nothing is a real benefit, it’s like refilling the tanks, staring into the distance not actually thinking of anything .

Often Kelli will see me doing this and say “what are you thinking about” and my answer, though she doesn’t believe it, “is nothing”.

I can’t explain it, the mindless stare is used for many other things, like working out a problem, or trying to remember where I left a tool. I never really thought about it before, is it an age or a man thing? Whatever it is, must be totally normal and I enjoy the silence, so I guess I will do it some more.

3rd June 2023

Well that was a big waste of time. Even after the DeWalt customer service person wrote that I should return it to the store, it wasn’t that simple. Apparently there was just a thirty day warranty with the store and a ninety day with the manufacturer, so a bunch of crap all round.

We spoke to someone at DeWalt and they gave me a phone number to call to arrange for it to be shipped to their warranty/service centre near Chicago. This is not a small light item it would cost a bloody fortune to send back. We asked if there was an approved repair place near us, so he gave us a local number to call, there is a lesson to be learned I suppose, and that is to take out an extended warranty.

Once we got back we asked Larry to take a look at it, and he was sure it was the switch that was the problem, that would be a simple job to do, so I ordered a new part on eBay.

We went for a bike ride before the expected rain, that is when we came across a garden that was full of lilies. Kelli couldn’t help herself and went and complimented the older guy who was working on planting even more. He obviously didn’t talk to many people because he told us that he planted over a thousand bulbs, and they are so closely packed that even weeds can’t find any space to grow.

Then she made the mistake of mentioning the metal roof he had. That made him go off about how he changed the roofline, and all the structural changes he did to his house. This went on for a long time, and we were aware that the rain was drawing in. Finally there was a gap in the conversation leaving us the opportunity to escape. There was no doubt that he was passionate about his garden and his lilies, and we will be keeping an eye on them as we pass on our rides.

2nd June 2023

Disaster!

My DeWalt table saw crapped out on me. I was cutting some half lap joints when it stopped working. Every time I pressed the on button it would turn, but not latch. I tried everything I could find, the brushes, the thermofuse reset, nothing got it going. The evening was spent looking on line to see if I could fix it. In the end I contacted the manufacturer to see if they could help identify the fault, but they just said return it to the store where I purchased it from, so I will do that in the morning.

We did have a fun packed day, apart from that.

We collected two furniture pieces from an address in the sticks, there was a two drawer unit and a single drawer with two doors, a strange combination, but I’m sure we ca do something with it. Next it was a visit to Stacy to see a sample of a handle she ordered.

It was more copper colour rather than the dark bronze sample we already had. It looked much better, so we decided to go with that.

Then we ordered the tiles that will run above the upstand of the worktop.

Finally we drove to Zeeland to a small metal fabricator that Kelli had found to order copper trim for the tiles. Now I think that is everything for the kitchen, thank goodness.

We had our first dip in the pool, the temperature hat reached 90 degrees F, the water was great.

It was then as I started work on the kitchen stuff that the saw trouble happened.

All in, a mad day in Holland.

1st June 2023

After my comment yesterday about the weather, Kelli confirmed that there was no rain forecast for the next ten days. She said that as I heard distant rumblings and the sky darkened. Ignoring the signs, we both continued with our tasks, me cleaning down the rocking chair and Kelli inflating our floating chairs for the pool.

I felt a few drops, but thought nothing of it, then it got a bit heavier, and I moved the bikes undercover, then harder still and I moved the rocking chair inside the garage. Then it became torrential, and I thought “ no pool today then”. I check the weather on my phone, there it was, out of nowhere “Thunderstorm” for the next hour followed by light rain, mmm, bring back the seaweed.

Once that was over, the roads began to steam, the humidity rose, and soon we were back to being hot thanking that air conditioning had been invented.

We did manage to get a bike ride in this morning, and we moved our bistro table and chairs outside, (how’s that working for you?)

So not a total loss