It’s strange that Good Friday is not a well documented holiday over here. Most factories and offices are closed, but I have no registration that it’s a religious holiday, same goes for Easter Monday, that doesn’t happen at all.
Still, April is a busy birthday month for me with a son, his wife, three grandchildren and my wife to arrange presents for. It means searching through Amazon for ideas, except for Kelli, she always has a go to list that she can suggest ideas for me. This year she has even made space in her closet for it.
We finished the two benches, posted them and they were sold within minutes, possibly our fastest sale ever.
I stripped both leaves of the dining table and got them stained, drying in the sun certainly speeds the process up.
On the road again, first to pick-up a dresser in Hudsonville and a desk in Allendale.
The dresser had a broken drawer, not a problem, but getting it up a slope and into the truck meant carrying it up backwards, by the time we were at the top my calf muscles were bulging. After a nine minute drive we arrived at an apartment block, the chap met us at the front door. He lived on the third floor, up endless stairs and no lift. I grabbed my bulging calfs and followed the man.
The desk was just inside his flat, just one look told me that it was heavy, I checked it, it was.
I was lucky enough to go backwards down the stairs carrying the full weight of the desk.
It was so good to reach the bottom. As if the truck was perfectly designed, both the dresser and desk fitted side by side with very little space left. With that we bade farewell to the chap and headed home.
I had a table and two bench seats to finish, Kelli pulled out the dresser to make the repairs to the broken drawer. A drop of carpenters glue and a few clamps did the job.
It was warm in the sun just right to quickly dry the polyurethane.
We built up the small bench with just the holes to fill tomorrow, then it was a walk with the hounds around the block.
Trumps arrest has dominated the news, and all the networks are spinning the same stuff.
It is a unique event, and it shows the state of American politics.
Most senior Republicans have rallied round the bloated ex-President.
I didn’t believe it would happen, he is such a slippery character, and has used loopholes throughout his business career to cheat almost anyone he has come into contact with.
I believe many Americans have punched the air in triumph, and this is just the start.
This country could have the only twice impeached, criminal back in the White House if the weak minded cult followers continue to support him, I just can’t get my head around it.
I finally tested out my new saw. The timber pieces for the drawer fronts came out good, this bit of kit is a long time coming, and now that I have it hopefully it will earn it’s keep.
Having built the saw frame yesterday, today was assemble the saw to the frame day.
I wheeled it out to where the frame was waiting.
For once I followed the instructions precisely, making sure all the nuts were tightened down, and there were no parts left.
Now it was the setting and adjusting part to go.
First I made sure the blade was at ninety degrees, for this my digital inclination meter was very useful. Making the fine tuning adjustment was painless, and I was very pleased with myself. Next was setting the fence parallel to the blade. To check this I used my laser measuring device, so darn accurate you could pick your teeth with it.
Now I was ready for my test run, and just at that moment the rain came, I rushed to put everything under cover.
I will try again tomorrow.
We had a visit from Stephen and Kathi, the couple who presided over our wedding, we hadn’t seen them for years, so it was a wonderful surprise. Stephen was suffering from Parkinson’s disease, and his tremors were quite severe, it was such a shame to see the once articulate and active person reduced to a whispering shadow, but his wit was still present.
They only stayed for a short time, as he get tired very easily, and they had to drive to their daughters house for dinner.
As they left, a couple arrived to collect four chairs that we had for sale.
It was sad to see them go, they were the Shaker style that I liked, but we had others that replaced them. It’s just like the set for Only Fools and Horses, every episode there was different furniture in the flat, I feel like that happens here.
After they left another couple came to collect the long white dresser. She was a few months pregnant and it was to go into the baby’s room.
I helped them load it, I was glad that it went, it was a heavy bugger.
The large white Lowes truck pulled up outside the house. We were notified that the delivery of the appliances for the kitchen yesterday, and as per normal they gave a time period between nine thirty and one thirty, and blow me down it was right on the button, nine thirty.
Luckily we were ready, so I opened the garage.
Two Mexicans who hardly spoke any English man-handled three large cartons leaving them in the garage entrance.
The oven was massive and heavy, I couldn’t get it through the door to the storage room, so it will have to remain in the garage somewhere.
I also had to unload the table saw from the truck, yet another large and heavy box.
I had to remove it because we changed our shopping day to Monday, and today we were using my new shopping list that I had created on a spreadsheet. I got fed up with the words “ I forgot….” So my new plan for never forgetting anything was put into action.
However that was before a number of foods were taken off the list for health reasons.
Apart from grains that are bad, potatoes and oat milk have gone. The world is going to appear a more dismal place from now on.
I have agreed to this change as an experiment to see if I can lose weight and lower my blood pressure, other things may include living and breathing, but I’m all for experimenting.
When we got back there was the garage to sort out and projects to continue, I even managed to assemble the frame for the table saw, what a busy day.
A couple turned up to collect a small vanity bench that had been cluttering up the store room. It had been included with a maple vanity unit that we converted into two side tables, (our usual standby). Although we didn’t make much on the deal, it was more disposal of something we didn’t want anymore.
The day was definitely spring like, warm in the sun but still chilly in the shade.
We finished the long dresser, but still need to add more finish to the top, it didn’t stop us taking pictures and posting on Marketplace.
That led to a bit of interest and a possible sale.
I started on the first of the drawer fronts for the kitchen, and a couple more drawers, and helping Kelli with anything she needed.
I’m eager to start work on the garden, it looks a mess, but I haven’t touched it because of all the wildlife that takes refuge under the leaves during the winter. I have to wait until the temperature gets to fifty degrees for a week, then I can clear the winter debris.
The cold weather returned with snow flurries and a cold wind, but things were brighter.
We had a guy pick up the matching dresser and side table that he purchased a few days ago.
We also managed to sell the dresser with the two doors and a small side table giving us a good start to the month.
Kelli managed to paint another large dresser so we had a loads of drawers on every horizontal drying surface.
I got on making more drawer boxes, I think I have two left to build, then I have to make floors for them and coat them with a clear finish, so plenty to do.
I had my second doctors appointment this morning. The last time he concentrated on my left arm that had been fractured as a child. Certain trauma is retained throughout life and it can manifest itself in stiff finger joints in later life. My own joints have been less painful even in the cold. This was interesting, and I was keen to move onto something else that concerned me.
Whilst I was at the dentist, they took my blood pressure and had told me it bounced around and was rather high. So this was my next experience to investigate.
I didn’t want to go on any medication, but wanted a more natural alternative.
The doctor took a reading, it wasn’t as high as the dentist, but as blood pressure varies a lot during the day he wasn’t concerned with it.
However during the course of the session he did take readings at different intervals and although some were lower it did move around a bit.
We talked about diet, bread and grains are not good and can cause inflammation, so those will have to be reduced from my menus. Apart from that, the rest of my foods are fine.
We were early for the appointment, and to kill time we dropped in to Zeeland Goodwill.
There was no furniture, but Kelli, went off the fumble through the clothes racks, found a classic Hollister jumper from the turn of the century, which are very desirable at the moment.
That was very convenient because she sold it the same evening for a substantial profit.
On the way back we stopped off at Lowes another large DIY store, to finally buy a table saw. I had done my research and found that the Dewalt portable table saw was the best for the price.
I needed help to get it into the truck, and there it stayed until I had room to assemble it.
We both had a bad night, waking at three thirty and not able to get back to proper sleep.
That set the tone for the day, I am behind on where I wanted to be with the drawer boxes and bins, and my lacklustre disposition did not help.
I plodded on but I still have eight still to build.
We managed to unload the dresser that we collected yesterday because Kelli wanted something the work on and she didn’t feel like doing any painting.
The piece is very solidly built, but there was a bad spot on the top which was obviously water damage, the veneer had bubbles and lifted from the substrate, this had to be treated wether we refinished or repainted it.
The first line of attack was the hot iron trick to see if the adhesive could be reactivated.
Fortune was on my side, this seemed to work, so I continued to strip the top ready for refinishing.
It was a lovely sunny day, and a pleasure to work outside.
It is possible to see a bit of Lake Macatawa between some houses when the trees are bare, and Kelli has alway been excited by that, but that is all bound to change.
On our walk with the dogs we go around the small lagoon that feeds into the lake. At the end is a large patch of grass that hasn’t been built on. This strip of gold was owned by a large house at the end. This is now on the market at one point three million bucks, a fair price for its location. The green patch is also on the market, split into two lots, one is one point two and the other is one point three million smackeroonies. We think the lady who lived there kicked the bucket, and everything is being sold by the family, that’s a nice inheritance.
Would you believe it? More snow, and we had to drive to Hudsonville again to collect another free large dresser.
It was bitterly cold, although the snow had stopped, and the sun was making an appearance.
The dresser was one of the heavy buggers, although we didn’t have to move it very far, Kelli struggled to find a grip that was comfortable. It make it a bit easier we took the drawers out, inside was a mass of wood shavings caused by the metal drawer runners wearing away the wooden guide. This is a common problem meaning I’ll have to make new guides out of a harder wood.
Kelli put in a call to a guy who could make our wooden counter top. His name was given to us by our friends John and Patti who use him to make their dining table tops.
I explained what I wanted, and I think he grasped it, I wasn’t totally sure, so I went through it again. When it came to giving him my email, it took ten minutes to get him to get it correct. Just to make it doubly sure I sent him a sketch, I just hope he knows how to get to his email.
Another Lifetime to go 