Author: peterb51

16th May 2023

One day I will finish the kitchen remodel, I’m looking forward to that. The disruption is a little depressing, I know it annoys Kelli who cooks every day that the pans are not where she wants them, the dining table is a storage area that is constantly full of crap, and the thought of eating there is still a future goal.

We did manage to paint the last cabinet that still needs to be installed, so the snails pace continues.

The biggest frustration of the day was making new legs for the latest dresser we collected a few days ago.

Once we got it home we discovered that plywood panels had been nailed to the sides in an attempt to give a more contemporary look. Some crazy legs had been added, and when we removed them the extent of the alteration was revealed. The original legs had been cut off very badly, the sides had also been shortened but the cut was not straight or square.

My first job was to improve the cuts, and then find timber to make new legs.

I intended to make two leg frames, that would be attached to the base of the dresser.

I thought that using dowels would be the best solution, but dowels don’t like me much. I have several dowel jugs, and when all the wood sections are identical they work fine, but when they are not it never works well for me. Worst are the pointed bits that supposed to mark where the holes need to be, but they never work. No matter how careful I am I can never get them to be perfectly lined up, and it drives me mad. I can’t believe how long it took to make two leg frames, I lost count how many dowels I used. Eventually I did get them glued up, but what a pain in the arse it was. It would have been quicker to use mortise and tenons.

15th May 2023

Lots on today, first a drive to the North side to pick up some sheets that Kelli bought on Marketplace, then on to Plato’s to sell more of her clothes. This is often the case, taking from one hand and throwing it away with the other.

Next stop was a doctors appointment. He was happy with her progress, so a positive visit.

On the way back we had to collect the sink drainer that we ordered a couple of weeks back from the kitchen showroom.

The designer sent Kelli a message to say the new countertop would be installed early next month between seven and nine in the morning.

That required a return call to schedule a slightly later time. There was a discussion about handles and finishes, that we are still awaiting samples.

I did ask her to find a spice holder pull out drawer, but there was no mention of that, I had decided to make my own anyway, that way I get what I want, and don’t have to shoe-horn a commercially available piece into my enclosure.

To some extent, I think she might be losing interest because instead of her getting a slice of all the vendors orders, I’ve been making most of it, not because I was trying to be cheap, more that I wasn’t convinced I would get exactly what I wanted at a reasonable price. Some of the quotes were totally unrealistic.

When we eventually got home after doing the weekly shop I started on the pull out rack.

14th May 2023

It was Mother’s Day over here, flowers and pollen in abundance. We went to Kelli’s mothers for dinner, joined by her brother Matt, his wife Brenda and Kelli’s son Cameron. Kelli had made two flower displays from our garden, they were a combination of wild flowers and weeds because we had no idea which was which, anyway they made a colourful display.

We finished the two matching dressers that had been built into someone’s wall. I made new tops and tidied up the bottoms, and they looked very decent. Kelli managed to sell them both without posting them on Marketplace.

I wanted to remove another part of the old kitchen worktop so I could remove the only dishwasher.

I ran my circular saw across to cut through the laminate, then did the rest with a hand saw, mainly to reduce the amount of dust.

Once that was done I moved on to removing the appliance. It had brackets that was screwed to the underside of the worktop that I had no idea how they were tightened. There was no space for a screwdriver, and even a flexi drive wouldn’t fit. I scratched my head for a while, and concluded the only possible way of unscrewing the fixings was to grip a pozi bit in a pair of mole grips. This took a while, but eventually I was able to remove them. Moving out the dishwasher was then simple. I stopped off the water supply, and disconnected the waste water hose, but the only thing left was the power. I couldn’t see where it was wired because it disappeared into the back of another base cabinet, and I didn’t want the mess around with those, who knows what Pandora’s box I would unlock.

My only option was to cut the wire. I knew that the electricians had used the circuit for wiring up the hob, so technically it was not live.

However not taking any chances, I put on a pair of rubber gloves, and gripping the cutters in my hands, I took a deep breath, “snip” it cut though in one slice, I was still alive.

Then it was just a case of getting it to the garage to be cleaned, but that’s for another day.

13th May 2023

It was one of those days when I couldn’t get into my jobs. Quite early on I decided that we should go to the garden centre and get some new plants for the garden, and as it is Mother’s Day tomorrow get something for Kelli’s mother at the same time.

Of course it was raining, so the trip was quick, and we found things that would add colour to the bare soil.

I had a drawer to repair for one of the dressers that Kelli was working on, that started well and descended into chaos. I could apply myself to it completely and made by some silly errors that made me angry with myself. It didn’t help that it kept raining, so I resigned myself to a nonproductive day.

However I did visit the government website and found this interesting announcement.

Now once all my current obligations are covered I can plan my trip back to the UK.

12th May 2023

Well today was supposed to be the day when the Covid non vaccinated restrictions were due to be lifted, but I could find anything on the news to say that it happened. The only thing that was, was the immigration activity on the southern border. I guess I will have to scour the government website to see if it’s been implemented.

The changes in the local weather have started to irritate me. I used to laugh at the thought of having a weather channel on the television, but I can see that it’s needed.

Every morning I look at the app on my phone to see what I have to look forward for the day. Based on that, I will set out the things outside to do my tasks. Like this morning, it was due for rain in the late afternoon, so I had my job list mentality set in my head.

As I was adding finish to some drawer boxes, I felt something on the back of my hand. “No it couldn’t be rain, my phone said it was at four”.

I looked at my phone again, RAIN! it showed happening now, where did that come from.

So I rushed to move everything back inside cursing. Next the weather was clear until five in the afternoon, so I carried things outside again.

I was well into staining some tops for the two dressers, when I felt something on the back of my hand, again. I checked the weather app and it showed rain happening again. I rushed to move everything back inside yet again cursing a bit louder than before. Would I dare to venture out again? Bloody heck no.

On a sad note, our robin’s nest, with a baby in it was attacked by something resulting in a messed up nest and a missing baby. Nature can be cruel.

11th May 2023

The hottest day so far, and we had a good sale first thing this morning to a regular customer. Molly is usually one of the first people who comments on the posts. She lives in a relatively small place, next to the Max DePree house in Zeeland, so we’re surprised that she can fit in all the things she’s bought.

Next, we had to deliver a large dresser to a couple on the north side of the town, avoiding the Tulip Time parade day.

Then it was back to work on the two matching dressers and more kitchen drawer finishing.

I gave the back lawn a second high cut, and I was amazed how thick the grass is. There are still some thin areas, and patches where the dogs have killed the grass, but it looks healthy, and I will continue to add new dog resistant seed.

10th May 2023

It was off to Menards early, firstly to miss any visitors who get lost and block up all the roads, and secondly we wanted to paint the garage door.

This was last done a couple of years ago, and in that time it had faded, and needed freshening up.

When we first painted it in a bright red, it certainly stood out, but gradually it faded to a pink and looked grubby. That may have been because we used an interior paint, because it was used on an internal door.

This time it was a proper external formulation so should last three years before it turns pink.

There are a number of projects started including the kitchen that is taking over my time, thank goodness it was a warm day when things dry quickly.

We returned the electric skillet to our neighbour, with a thank you note and a gift card for the local shop, with three young girls in the house they will use it very fast.

9th May 2023

This is the first time this year that I have been able to sit outside and write the blog, the sun is still shining and the birds are chirping, it’s almost prefect.

Today the hob was wired in.

The electrician arrived early, we had to put him off an hour as we were still in bed.

There was a lot of smacking of lips and sighs when he saw the set up. I explained that the oven was already connected, all he had to do was run a new circuit for the hob.

He inquired about the crawl space, I showed him the entry point, at which he had to call a mate to come and do that part of the job, as he was thin and wiry.

Two hours later it was done, including recessing an outlet for the fridge, now the fun can start.

In between all this action, Kelli had arranged to collect two free dressers from a house close by.

These dressers had been built into a wall so there had been a few “modifications” but other than that they were in good condition, and should be good once we start on them.

Kelli finished the two side tables, painting them a dark blue/green with natural maple tops.

She wanted the get them posted as soon as possible, so pictures were taken even though the tops need more finish coats, so just the usual then.

8th May 2023

It was a dull rainy day, brightened only by a lady coming to collect the dark dresser.

It was shop day, but nothing exciting happened there, disappointing.

I had to cut down the desk top to make the two tops for the two pedestals, turning them into matching side tables.

The rain put paid to my aim for painting more door parts for the kitchen, although I did discover that I was two slats short on one door, so a mad scramble to find timber to make those.

7th May 2023

It was the second day of Tulip time in Holland, a time when people from all over the US converge on this small Michigan town to see the flowers.

Tulips have never done much for me, but the City go overboard to create a colourful arrangement of the blooms. Of course there are other attractions, including a fun fair where the finest cuisine floated in fat can be purchased.

If you get botulism,that’s an added bonus, you may lose a few pounds as a result, so your visit to Holland will be remembered.

We drove though the town on our way to collect a free desk in Zeeland. We passed a typical Japanese tourist taking close up pictures of a tulip, maybe they don’t have those flowers where he came from.

The desk we collected was small,twin pedestal in a sad state of finish, these are the ones we like, minimal repairs, just strip it apart, sand the heck out of it, cut the top and paint. The rate Kelli goes at it everything will be finished by Wednesday.

We had to borrow an electric skillet from a neighbour, now we can fry things. Kelli has started to use the new oven for the bakey things.