Author: peterb51

27th March 2023

The sun was shining, the garage door was open and sawdust was flying, there was a area of sun that was warm and ideal for drying paint. That was just as well as Kelli had to redo some of the pieces that she painted yesterday that didn’t go too well.

I glued up some drawer boxes, slowly the numbers of them are growing, soon there will be a problem of where to store them.

The two turds, as we call them, are gradually being polished. They have a decent manufacturing name on them, but the material of the time was MDF and either powder coated or epoxy painted. The people we got them from had hand painted them, and didn’t do a very good job, so we had that to contend with.

I had to work on the table, stripping off the skirt and the four legs. One of them had been damaged with large pieces missing, so my task was to cut out the bad area and set in a new piece of wood. I managed to find a scrap piece of oak, but it was hard as hell to cut, but as it has to take a fixing bolt to attach to the table, it needed to be dense.

We were given a front seat at our wild turkey porn festival. The males were in full plumage strutting their stuff, and the females were having none of it, and running away. This left the poor males grouped together, no doubt boasting how close they got to “doing it”.

It provided some good entertainment.

26th March 2023

A bad night for Kelli.

The day wasn’t very good as well with rain predicted spoiling the chance to move stuff outside and making space to do some spraying.

Kelli made an executive decision to repaint the dresser with drawers a lighter colour, she thought that it was the wrong colour that was putting people off from buying it, my thought was it had only been a few days, and some things need a bit more time. However she was adamant, so be it.

I had to go a buy more timber and by the time I returned it had been transformed.

Driving back I saw a Post office delivery van, which is rare on a Sunday, but as it drove towards me it was the most ugly design I have ever seen. It’s not so much styled, but created.

I would have loved to be at the meeting when this monstrosity was unveiled. I think a five year old could have done better. It looks like it’s already been in an accident and they couldn’t be bothered to fix it. I can’t wait to see what they come up with for the electric version.

25th March 2023

Two customers came to collect their purchases this morning, one lady arrived at ten, even before we had breakfast.

She bought the French provincial style dresser, which turned out pretty well.

The next sale was the four chairs we picked up for free that came with a table that is the bane of my life.

A couple drove from Grand Rapids and absolutely loved them, we did too, because we didn’t have to do anything to them, these are the best sale.

I got on with my small batch production, and even started on the assembly of one drawer, whoopee!

Later I drove to hardware store on Graafschap road, the local armoury. I needed some magnetic catches, but everyone else was getting armed. It must have been fathers buying their teenage sons weapons of mass destruction day.

There were flurries of snow all afternoon, a reminder to make sure the woollens and long-johns are within reach.

24th March 2023

Kelli had a doctors appointment this morning, so off to Zeeland we went. She has been on a probiotic for five weeks in an attempt to improve her sleep, and now it was time to report if it had made a difference.

It seemed they had, although nothing in the natural healing world is quick, she will have to continue to take the supplements, although they taste like dirt, for a bit longer.

Getting back home I was able to start on the drawers and storage bins. I set up a cutting jigs to produce all the side pieces which were the most complex.

By the end of the day I was covered in saw dust and had filled two large plastic bags with wood chips and sawdust, not sure what to do with them.

23rd March 2023

My sore mouth has eased a bit, not the throbbing pain I was expecting. I managed a normal style breakfast before getting stuck in to some project work.

We finished the dresser with the doors I made to replace the twisted drawers, and I made a start on the drawers and boxes for the kitchen.

This required reducing the timber thickness from three quarters to half an inch.

Kelli was on the other end of the planer, looking like she didn’t really want to be there.

There was a bit of problem with the shavings getting jammed in the extraction pipe. I was getting bombarded with crap, and confused why the chippings weren’t getting sucked up in the bag. Once we found the problem, and cleared the blockage it work as intended.

I was happy to make a start, now I’ve got to keep it going like a mini production line.

22nd March 2023

So the dental visit happened, not my favourite event but there are many things in life that are not enjoyable.

I had to have a molar and the root of a premolar removed on the same side, and I wasn’t looking forward to it.

As I sat in the waiting area, the television was on showing some home improvement show.

I was listening to what a guy next to me was saying to another. He talked about the cost of his treatment so far at over four thousand dollars, wow! He could have had a whole new head for that, but looking at him, he must have just been conned.

As I lay on the bench waiting for the Novocain to take effect, the doctor sped in to check, then sped out again. Ten minutes later he was back tugging and yanking, threw some fragments on to a tray, said “ have a nice day” and was gone. This was the only time it felt like he was on roller-skates.

The rest of the day was quiet, I didn’t feel like doing much, we had a lady come to collect a dresser, but apart from that I just wanted to nurse my wounded jaw.

Kelli was great, she made me some oatmeal for my lunch, and a fabulous potato and leek soup which I slurped through the good side of my mouth, unashamed that I was making the noise of an infant.

21st March 2023

It was just like a spring day, I almost felt overdressed in my lined jeans and fleece jacket.

It was shopping day, but first, Kelli found a couple of free pine benches, that meant unloading the two pieces we had in the truck.

The French colonial unit went into our garage, the big heavy bastard went to her mothers.

I zoom off ahead to get the things I know where they are, leaving Kelli to wander around.

As we approached the checkout area, there was a lot of activity, and then we saw them, the self checkouts stations. Aldi, like all the rest has succumbed to these horrible machines.

It was always reassuring to see a smiling face at the register, someone you could have a joke with, but the number of manned positions will be drastically reduced, such a shame.

We had to walk through the person’s garage to the kitchen where the benches were waiting. One was close to four feet long, the other was about two. They fitted neatly into the back of the truck, then it was off to Aldi for the weekly shop.

I finished the second kitchen unit, and dedicated the rest of the day to working on the dining table.

The natural colour of the wood top has a red tinge, so toning it down was difficult, so we made the decision to sell the chairs separately as the colour was so different.

This takes the pressure off me trying to do the impossible.

Meanwhile Kelli was on a roll, she has three dressers on the go, including the one we unloaded this morning, go it girl!

20th March 2023

Well at least we had a good dinner with our friends Mike and Lesley down at Saugatuck Brewing Company. A wonderful meal of fish and chips to finish off a day of gusty wind ( not mine) and sunshine.

We had two collections to make, one was a freebie, a French Colonial style dresser, the other was a heavy long entertainment centre that had a door missing, guess who will be making one of these?

The wind was playing havoc with Kelli’s painting efforts and I was struggling making a frame for the smaller kitchen unit. It’s amazing what a day can do. Yesterday, everything went right, today the opposite.

But I persevered, and managed to do a fair job of it.

We were the first to arrive at the restaurant, we could sit where we liked. Usually early sitting are taken by the old and crusty folk, of which we, with the exception of Kelly, probably are.

We were back home by six thirty, sad, but I can’t wait to be allowed to stay out till eight.

19th March 2023

More snow landed last night, but the sunshine made short work of that, but the cold was still biting.

I was determined to finish the assembly of the two kitchen units so that I can have that crossed off my list.

I have to go back to the blessed dining table, that needs to go as soon as possible as it is taking up a lot of space.

I have a lot to prepare for this week, on Wednesday I have the dreaded visit to the dentist, which will mean difficulty in eating for a few days, which is no real hardship as I could lose a few pounds, but it will be a struggle.

18th March 2023

Still more bloody snow. Is there no end to this weather?

There was about an inch that fell overnight, a wind was whipping up a blizzard and the temperature had sunk to seventeen degrees.

It was back on with my fleece lined work clothes to continue work on our projects.

This has been a continuous theme for the last few years, and I’m sure whoever reads my ramblings will roll their eyes yet again.

My only variables are the collection days and my trip to Menards for materials, but that gives me a pleasant reprieve from the repetition.

I did manage to assemble the base unit for the new oven, and it is big. Of course everything is that much larger in America and that includes kitchen appliances. The washers and dryers are huge in comparison to the ones in the UK.

Over here they could solve the housing shortage, by just living in the fridges. They are so big things get lost, and then get rediscovered many months later. We have decided to downsize ours to more modest proportions, I hope that will reduce the tendency to overstock.

Kelli finished another dresser to post on Marketplace keeping the production line going.