Author: peterb51

23rd October 2022

Oh no, Kelli found more bloody furniture. Today was busy enough, with Matt’s birthday, the reassembly of the smoking table, and more assistance for Elaine and her RV ceiling panel.

We had a fast trip over to the north side of town to collect the furniture. When we got there we were met with two fine pieces of mid century furniture. The pieces belonged to the father of the guy selling them, who had recently passed. They needed veneer repair and the tops refinishing, but other than that they were perfect. With a bit of clever positioning we got both into the back of the truck.

The next place we had to go was Kelli’s mother for Matt’s birthday cake feast.

That was yummy, but as we were leaving, Don the next door neighbour offered us a dresser that was in the back of his trailer. It was a classic three drawer dresser with wooden casters. It had obviously been stored in a garage or shed because as I removed the drawers I could see that it had one of the sides chewed away and another had a chewed hole in the floor. The bottom drawer had the remains of a squirrels nest in it, so it had plenty of wild life activity going for it.

Kelli emphatically wanted it, and that was added to the growing stash of furniture stored in the GSF. We must be getting close to forcing her to park her van outside.

Finally I drove down to Elaine’s place to help were with her RV ceiling panel.

She had glued the pieces of plywood together, and the first job was to get it into the vehicle. That was a bit tricky getting it up the steps and around the top, but with flexing and pivoting we got it to the bedroom.

She had ideas of how it should be fixed, but I suggested we mark out some datum points so there was an equal overhang all around.

This required a centre line to be drawn on the board and also on the frame attached to the ceiling. Then we had to take measurements and various places and then transfer them to the board. That is when I realised that Elaine was a little deaf. I would shout out a dimension, but there was no response, so I would say it again, nothing. I quickly learnt that the best way to communicate was when she looked at me, then it worked. So after marking the various key places on the ply I cut small pads that she would have to stick on those places. These would add thickness to attach the metal brackets. I then offered to return tomorrow to do a dry run, just to make sure the panel fitted correctly.

By the time I got home Kelli had made a lasagna to die for, a great end to an interesting day.

22nd October 2022

It was all hands to the deck, and that has nothing to do with the large ship sailing down the small lake with its load of gravel. It’s hooter made our dogs bark, I’m sure they weren’t sounding it just to piss the animals off but it did anyway.

No, we had to work to complete the dresser that was posted yesterday and sold straight away. The customer was due at 2.00pm and I had the top to fit and wax, plus scrape off loose paint from the sides of the drawers so that Kelli could paint them. It all went well, and it was ready in time.

I finished sanding the panels from a smokers table, with is a small wooden piece where smokers would stash their tobacco. We got it from Goodwill and was painted pink, a hideous colour and paint job, but all that has been removed. It was held together with two inch nails, so I knocked it apart and removed the nails. We managed to paint everything with just the reassembly to do tomorrow.

Kelli had a call from her friend Elaine asking for help to cut some plywood. She had a table saw in her barn but didn’t feel safe using it, so I was volunteered to help her.

I had seen many places around that had barns next to the houses, but I had no idea what people stored in them.

When we got to Elaine’s I found out. Everyone needs a 1956 Oldsmobile up on a ramp, enough ten by twos to build a house and enough odds and sods to keep a treasure Hunter busy for weeks.

In the middle of this chaos was the table saw, an old machine that had seen better days.

My job was to cut up various bits of plywood that she wanted to upholster.

Elaine had used the saw fairly recently, she had successfully cut the tip off one of her fingers still heavily bandaged. I felt faint, I’m not very good with saw injuries, it’s what I fear the most, I sometimes walk up in the night after dreaming of that happening to me.

Nervously I started to make the cuts, I had to keep moving the saw about to make the space to work in, not ideal, but the task was done with no more digits mixed in the sawdust.

Just as we were leaving the conversation got round to bending plywood. I talked about a potbelly table that I needed to finish.

It just so happened that there was a full sheet of bendy ply stuck in a rack, that I could have if I could get it down.

This meant moving a few pieces of roller track, another essential item to have in your barn.

Once these were out of the way the sheet was easy to remove.

Feeding it into the back of the truck was easier than I thought, because it was BENDY!

It meant that we would have to drive back home with the board resting on our heads, more an issue with me, but I’ve had to do that a few times before.

We said our goodbyes and for some reason Kelli got in the passenger side. There was a pause as realisation occurred, followed by uncontrollable laughter. That sorted, we drove home with the constant flapping of the ply on my head like a constant patting of approval.

We even managed a bike ride to the park. The late afternoon sun bounced of the water, a few boats taking advantage of the last mild days of autumn.

21st October 2022

I had an appointment at the dentist at 10.00am which meant a rushed breakfast and a swift drive to the surgery.

I was met straight away by a short Asian nurse who led me to her room.

The chair was moved into a position where I was nearly upside down.

She worked around my teeth, it was just a cleaning procedure but her touch was so delicate I wasn’t convinced that she was doing anything at all.

After nearly an hour she was finished, the most painful part was the paying of the bill.

Kelli was outside to meet me, she had gone to Plato’s Closet with yet another two bags of clothes, and had a chance to do a bit of shopping on her own, usually a dangerous thing, but she was quite reserved for a change.

We got back to the homestead to finish the dresser and reassemble the kitchen unit.

I took some pictures of the it so that it could be on Marketplace for the weekend rush.

We also managed a bike ride down to the big lake, the wind was up and the waves were crashing on to the sand, there was not a soul in sight, the best time to be there.

We did have a sneaky look at the plot up the road that was cleared the other day. It was not a big space once you take eleven feet off of each boundary, so not a lot of width, but someone will build something on it without a doubt.

20th October 2022

There was a glimpse of the sun which made the brisk temperature quite bearable.

We had a dresser to finish, I had the kitchen unit to complete priming.

We are still driving around with a truck full of furniture, we should be storing them up at Georgia’s storage facility (GST) but we hadn’t the energy to do that.

I have two mid century style pieces to finish they are taking up a lot of room.

There was an inquiry to paint six dining chairs and a table base in black. This isn’t a bad job if our quote is excepted, I have learnt from doing others how long it takes and what I should charge to make it worth our while.

Later, the same person sent us a picture of the dining table with a large scratch on the top. Apparently it got damaged when they were moving it, so they asked if we could restore it.

Mmmmm, I thought, making scratches invisible is really difficult without stripping the top, I’m not sure how to respond to that.

19th October 2022

The big machines trundled along the road in front of the house, they were heading for the only undeveloped plot in Central Bay Avenue.

There were big trucks, a bulldozer a tree eater and various tree cutting equipment. The plot had been available for quite a while, much to the relief of the people occupying the houses either side, but that was about to change.

All through the morning the big trucks passed full of tree wreckage, taking away the habitat of the wild animals that we see wandering about. We see this happening so regularly, vast housing estates are devouring the once farmlands and closing up the spaces. In the years I have visited the area I have noticed the expanding urbanisation of the town. Try to find a parking space in downtown, it’s now got to “find a space, now buy a car”. Holland now has its own rush hour. As we travel about collecting or delivering furniture we are so often aware that the townships are merging, Kelli feels that Holland is growing towards Grand Rapids. The big corporations are fuelling this expansion by wanting to employ highly educated workers from outside the state, and most of these live in these estates, it pushes up house prices taking them out of reach of the first time buyers, a familiar story.

We were fortunate to get our house at the price we paid in the location so close to the lake, if it had gone on the market it would have been well out of our reach.

By mid afternoon the heavy machinery had left, the area was stripped bare, including the roots, now it is ready for the builders to start their jobs.

18th October 2022

We had to deliver the dresser to Jenison today.

The address led us to a brand new housing estate. All the floor plants looked the same the only difference were the roofline, and there seemed no logic to the order in which the structures are build. The house that we delivered to was surrounded by unfinished shells, and there was timber and trusses stacked all over the place. One shell was full of window units. I could not believe nothing gets stolen here. If it was in the UK it would be a different matter, even a box of screws would get nicked. Maybe the builders here have a sniper located in the tree to pick off potential thieves.

We made a pit stop at Goodwill, mainly because I needed the toilet ( cold weather you know) Kelli found three pieces of furniture, and because it was old git’s day she got a good discount.

I can’t believe just how cold it is, I was trying to select stones for the last gabion but my fingers froze. It also didn’t help that the stones near the bottom of the heap were covered in thick mud which was also wet and cold. I manage to do a bit before I gave up.

People whose job it is to work outside in all weathers get my appreciation. I could never work on framing a house in the wintertime, as I’m not that good at hitting nails in straight and I’m more likely to hit my fingers and not realise it.

17th October 2022

It was expected to rain all day, meaning no painting today. Kelli continued work on the white painted cedar dresser. I ducked in and out repairing a drawer and sanding fronts and top.

The rain would come in waves, at one point the temperature dropped and we were hit by a hailstorm. This is what we had to look forward to.

Late afternoon we had buyers for the large dresser, they had traveled an hour to collect it, with that gone there is a little more space in the garage, and, another piece that we sold yesterday goes out tomorrow.

16th October 2022

Dhama continues to struggle getting around.

Her early morning constitutional takes much longer, but as soon as food is available she still moves like a missile. It’s sad to watch her struggle, and you would think of the number of dogs Kelli has gone through she would be use to it, but it’s still upsetting for her.

She did find a harness that straps around the back legs so that it can be lifted to make moving around a little easier, we tried it out on a short walk, it seems to help a bit.

We did a bit of gardening, planting out the things we bought yesterday, now we will draw a line under anymore gardening until after snow goes, I am now waiting for the deluge of leaves that will happen very soon.

The wonderful colours of the trees that we can see is amazing, Larry’s maple is beautiful this year.

There was an inquiry for the long dresser, where we had to shoot a video of the drawer opening action, then nothing seem to happen, we will wait and see if they reply.

Kelli was also concerned that the white dresser with the maple top and teal knobs had been posted FOR A DAY and hadn’t sold. She was convinced the it was the knob colour that was putting people off, so she was determined to do something about it.

After playing around with different combinations of knobs and colours she finally settled on dark grey.

After painting them and posting new pictures it sold tonight. Was it the knob colour that did it? We might never know, but, I didn’t care my wife is brilliant, and she also sold the long dresser, all from a seated position.

15th October 2022

Dhama had trouble getting about, it appeared that both her legs were giving her problems.

We had visited the vet a two weeks ago but nothing could be determined, so we continued to give her anti- inflammatory tablets, but they were all gone.

Kelli managed to get through to the surgery and arranged to see one of the more experienced vets. This meant getting Dhama into the back of the truck. Usually she doesn’t like being lifted, but this time there was no objections, a sure sign the something was wrong.

The vet met us outside and watched as she was walked around. He did a bit of probing and feeling around her back leg joints. He then dropped some water in her ear that made her shake her head, immediately she fell on her back legs. This meant she had little feeling in her back legs and the vet suggested that she had a nerve problem in her spine.

All this was not good news, he gave us more anti-inflammatory and muscle relaxers plus another supplement that would slow her down a bit, and take pressure off her back.

We weren’t sure what that meant, but after giving her just one she was out, almost sleeping where she stood. They seemed very powerful, I might even try one of those myself.

I pressure washed the end of the garage that had become covered with green stuff, a problem because it was facing north. It alway happens that it gets done when it’s cold, never in the summer when getting covered in spray is quite pleasant.

14th October 2022

“Kelli! Kelli! We’ve been burgled, someone has stolen all the measuring cups from the drawer, hang on, I’ve found them, they’re all in the sink”

Kelli had a baking time, that means she uses every conceivable container and implements in the kitchen, but she did make fantastic chocolate chip biscuits, nothing like home made biscuits. They are so good that I have to limit myself to just one per up of tea, it’s a struggle.

We were expecting someone to turn up to buy the long dresser, but yet again they chickened out.

We finished another dresser, it had been a hard job because it had been finished with an armour coat, but underneath was solid maple.