Author: peterb51

26th April 2023

Today was the fourth anniversary of buying our house, since then it’s been a wild ride of practical was emotional challenges.

We decided to mark the event by having lunch out, at the Way Cup cafe, one of the few places Kelli can get anything to eat.

Before that we went to meet with our interior designer to arrange the worktop templating and to sign the disclaimer that effectively stated that if the world ends I will still be liable, and all that bullshit. We also settled on the handles for the doors and fronts, these are hand forged in unobtainiam and unicorn horn, so they should look fine even if we have to lock them in a safe every night.

Once all that was done we drove back and started our day job.

I had a drawer to make and one to repair, so my new saw came into its own, I even managed to paint more door parts. Kelli was busy working on the new long dresser, filling holes and sanding, a job she hates.

Outside the sunroom we noticed the a Robin had built a nest in the nook of the downpipe. It will be amazing to see if any eggs are hatched.

25th April 2023

Snow was back again, all two hours of it, how much more is there?.

Kelli had to drive to Zeeland to give morale support to Greer who’s husband Dylan was undergoing ear surgery.

This left me four hours all on my own. I could make as much noise as I wanted, listen to my old gits music, swear and fart to my hearts content.

Boy, did I abuse that, I did a lot of machining, and had my music really loud, although I couldn’t hear much as I had ear defenders on.

We had someone coming to pick up the two matching dressers in the afternoon, so I had a top to finish.

I even started on the rocking chair, removing the two loose arms and starting to strip the seat, I’m not sure that will clean up as expected because the black stain has soaked deeply into the wood.

Then Kelli arrived back, by then it was time for lunch

24th April 2023

The isles of Aldi were more crowded than usual, although the trolleys are much wider than English ones, they can still jam up the place.

There was one particularly rude old git who wanted to get to the cooler cabinets where the frozen fruit and vegetables are displayed. We had stopped to look for something in particular, but sensing this chap was in a bit of a hurry I stepped back to let him get the item he wanted, there was no acknowledgment, and he let the door slam shut, knowing that Kelli wanted items in the same cabinet. He just strutted off without a word, we both looked at each other in astonishment at the man’s rudeness.

Back at the ranch, Kelli was working on painting the second dresser of the matching pair. She decided to use some of the paint that I am painting the new doors and drawer fronts which looked good against the natural colour of the maple top.

We dragged them inside to take pictures and they were posted straight away.

I had more kitchen parts to paint and drawer fronts to assemble whilst Kelli finally raked the dead leaves fro the wild flower patch at the front, she also planted seeds, so heaven knows what will come up in the next few weeks.

On the way to the supermarket we picked up a long dresser from some Hope College students, it was the kind we’ve had before, but this had seen a bit of action with a cracked top and damaged side panels. We discovered once we got home that one of the drawer fronts had been glued in place with no drawer behind, so a bit more work that we planned.

23rd April 2023

We finally sold the mid century style dresser.

A guy turned up, loved the piece and bought it.

That was a good start to the day, the night was not perfect, but better than most.

There was plans to have dinner at Kelli’s mothers with the whole family in attendance, a rare and somewhat daunting prospect.

Kelli prepare our unique and healthy meal, and I was looking forward to that. Sometimes it’s difficult to enjoy our meal when the smell of meat juices are wafting around. There is nothing more seductive than the smell of burgers on an open grill as it drifts across the fence towards my nostrils.

Messages were going back and forth, always a dangerous sign, and the more that are received the less likely the family dinner will take place, and sure enough a decree was issued cancelling the event. The one positive thing that came out of it was I didn’t have to change my clothes, I could finish the day in my slob outfit, the one covered in dust.

I continued to work on the drawer fronts, assembling the corner unit doors and painting a load of wood parts.

It was another fresh day, back to coats and scarves, the rest of the week is similar, maybe rising ten degrees, but still not shorts weather,

22nd April 2023

The modified dining table was picked up this afternoon, the customers liked it, even though, to me, they looked like hoofs.

Boy was I glad to see the back of that bugger.

I finished assembling the first set of drawer fronts, started painting more.

It was another cold day, threatening to rain at any moment. It was like someone was looking down and as soon as we moved things outside, the rain would start. It was so annoying.

The turkeys were out in force this morning, strutting their stuff like they own the place.

21st April 2023

The slow month continues, we still have the mid century dresser and the small dresser, but we did have someone coming over to view the mid century.

We continued to paint a few parts of the drawer fronts, I wanted to get the first front assembled by the end of the day.

Kelli had started on one of a matching pair of dressers. One of the end panels needed some help, the ply had blown at the bottom edge. We attempted to inject glue and then clamped it, with moderate success.

With a hot iron and some eighty grit sandpaper it smoothed the surface out.

I put the finishing touches to the leg extensions to the dining table, I made the best of a difficult job, no design awards for this.

A lady came to look at the mid century dresser and liked it, but it was to go in her son’s room and first she would have to check to see if he liked it.

She messaged back later to say he didn’t, what does a kid know? half the time their clothes are all over the floor, if fact, it was too good for a boys room, I bet he was a six foot snotty nose brat, who plays games on his phone all day, wasting his life away.

The dresser will find a better home, and be appreciated, and not covered in stickers.

Well no rant there then.

20th April 2023

There was a minor panic over the new oven unit and it’s position in the kitchen. Because we are not changing the cabinets but replacing the stove with a wall oven with a hob on the top. In building the enclosure for the oven I followed the plan supplied by the manufacturer, I was happy that everything would fit.

I was thinking about the worktop templating that was due in a couple of weeks and it suddenly occurred to me that the new oven carcass would not align with the microwave that is mounted above, it would be out by three quarters of an inch, which is the thickness of the side panel. It may not be much but it would annoy me, so I had to have a solution.

I explained the problem to Kelli, and the best option was to remove the end panel from my new unit and build on from the cabinets that is already there. Rather that continue the panic I will start that job at the weekend.

I had more pressing things to sort out, firstly adding height to the dining table. We found some old legs from an old table that I decided to cut the end section off, and because it had facets it needed to be rounded off to match the end of the legs.

Several months ago I was given a small lathe, I gave it a good clean, and it worked.

I wanted to use it to smooth the ridges off the end pieces.

The first one went okay, I used rough sandpaper and was pleased with the result. The second one was going well until the motor stopped. That threw me into a rage, I had another three to finish and no other way of doing it. In my anger I grabbed a hammer and struck it against the motor casing, suddenly it started up again, then it stopped, another blow, off it went, and so on.

I managed to get all the leg pieces finished but only by hitting the motor constantly. So with one hand I held the sandpaper, the other the hammer. It was very comical, and to others it must have sounded like I had a steam hammer in the garage.

Amongst all this commotion we finished the short dresser, and I even managed to paint the first set of drawer front components.

19th April 2023

Today was a treat, a trip to Byron Center to meet the guy who is making our wood countertop.

After a twenty minute drive we arrived at large red barn surrounded by stacks of air drying timber. John, was loading planks into a customer’s truck.

He showed us round his yard, tons of timber of every species was there. He mills the trees, of which he had dozens lying about, and the best was still in store.

Inside his barn, which was three stories high, he had a sixteen foot ceiling completely done out in tongue and groove pine which he machined himself. There was masses of the stuff, all finished in marine varnish. His floor was oak held down with over thirty thousand screws, each was covered with a walnut plug, it looked a work of art.

The best of it was he doesn’t run it as a proper business, he loves working with wood, and that’s why he does it. He does make table tops, mainly for people he knows, but he works alone with decent equipment.

His left hand shows a lot of wear, tips missing and scarred, but it hasn’t deterred him from what he loves, and I guess he knows the quickest way to the hospital.

I went there to clarify what top I wanted, I had sent sketches, but when I spoke over the phone I wasn’t alway confident that he fully understood, so a face to face meeting was essential. He showed us the beech planks he had selected for us, which looked great, and we are looking forward to seeing the final product.

The rest of the afternoon was spent finishing off the large mid century style dresser ready for collection. We had two customers due early evening to collect both pieces, which was welcomed.

The First Lady arrived and was all over the mid century one telling us that she needed it for “their cottage” but it was not able to fit into her vehicle because of a fitted child seat.

She then said that either her or her husband would be round would be round to collect it tomorrow. Then she added, “ but if anyone else wants to buy it in the meantime they can have it”.

Now if that’s not a statement of purchasing intent, I don’t know what is.

I don’t understand these people, they gush pleasure one minute, then go cold the next, I don’t think they are genuine people at all.

The next couple arrived just as the first was leaving, they were a bit indecisive, that had seen one other that had more drawers, bla, bla, but wasn’t painted, bla, bla, but ours had nicer knobs, bla, bla.

“JUST BUY IT LADY!” I was shouting inside, in the end she offered less, I just said “YES” just for them to go, I guess I’m not the most patient salesperson.

18th April 2023

There was excitement in the house, we had a buyer for the kitchen table, and they were due mid morning.

We dusted it off and set it up just outside the garage.

Right on time a red truck turned into the driveway and out stepped a couple. He was tall, and she wasn’t.

They both liked the colour of the table, but the lady noted that it seemed a bit low. We put a tape over it and it measured twenty eight inches, about two inches lower than it should.

This was a setback.

We then started talking about them getting us to refinish the table they already had, plus some chairs they were thinking about buying, so there was the potential to do work for them.

It was about then that Kelli remembered that the table had inserts in the bottom of the legs for castors, that would have taken it up to about thirty inches, so the mystery was solved, although it didn’t help us much with the sale.

In a last ditch attempt to snatch a victory out of defeat, I asked if we could add something to the end of the leg to increase the height, would they be interested? and to my astonishment they said they would, as they really liked the colour. So we grabbed a sale, and they paid in advance, now it’s down to me to come up with something suitable.

Kelli decided to change the handles on the small dresser, it hadn’t attracted much attention apart from a couple of no-shows, so she decided to replace the handles with wooded knobs. This meant filling the holes and repainting the fronts. Fortunately the weather was warm and everything dried quickly, but it was a lot of work.

We also finished the mid century style dresser.

We took new pictures of the small piece and the mid century one and Kelli posted them.

Then some activity started.

17th April 2023

Snows back! What a surprise, and with it is the cold. It was back on with the fleece shirt, and woollen jumper.

There were a number of things on the list of jobs to do, including a drive to Zeeland to collect two small tables Kelli bought for the deck, and get paint mixed for the kitchen cabinet fronts.

The drive was risky, the sleet was blowing across to flat fields, it felt like being sand blasted. The place in Zeeland turned out to be in Olive, a place out in the back and beyond.

We also had our weekly shop, and a good chance for me to get annoyed at big people blocking the isles.

It’s like the Mr Bean sketch where he’s walking down stairs, but he is blocked by an old lady walking in front, out of desperation he takes the fire escape and rushes down one flight of the back stairs and emerges though another door only to find the old lady still in front of him.

The same situation arises here, at time I feel they must think I’m stalking them, and at times I’ve pretended to scan the shelves, or look at my invisible watch.

There wasn’t a lot of desire to work in the afternoon, it was too windy to do much spraying, I just managed to machine a radius on the edge of a new worktop I’m making for a side table. The cold will be around for another day then it should get a lot warmer, I can’t wait.