Author: peterb51

27th November 2022

Today has a lot of meaning for Kelli’s family, it’s the third anniversary of Dave’s passing.

There isn’t a day goes by without Kelli repeating one of his sayings, it constantly keeps his memory alive. We watch a lot of building restoration programs on the TV relating to ancient barns, which he loved.

Kelli has a good way of describing his passing as moving into non physical, meaning his sprit remains around us.

Her mother struggles with his loss, but for her, grief hangs around her neck like a pendant.

Kelli picked up a couple of side tables that will need a lot of love to make them saleable.

I was met with a disaster. The side panel that I attempted to stick back the loose veneer had buckled, it was a mess.

The problem was the side panel was thin plywood, so when I tried to clamp a flat panel down on top of the veneer it just flexed. I should have known that might happen.

I had no option but to cut all the wrinkled veneer out, and bond a new piece of thin ply into the large area I had removed. This time I cut a back board and clamping board and screwed through. It didn’t mater that it was peppered with screw holes as there will be a piece of veneer that will fit on top of the new ply. That is the plan, let’s see if it works.

26th November 2022

We needed to get back to selling our furniture.

Taking a couple of days off changes the dynamic that we are used to. Not that we are slaves to any clock, we work everyday.

I have three projects that I’m working on, the first is the drawer front that needed flattening, the second is the re-veneer of a small table top. The third is the repair of loose veneer on the side of a mid century dresser.

The adding of the oak stiffeners to the back of the drawer front has worked well and the drastically reduce the bow, now it was just the backer to be re-bonded to the back.

This is a lot of work to go through just for a drawer front, and honestly it should have been replaced or just sanded flat and painted, but it would have ruined the look of this mid century piece. Anyway it has taught me something along the way, mainly, I don’t want to do it again.

I worked on the other two projects, edgebanding the table top, and sticking back the loose veneer on the mid century dresser side panel.

This is another tricky task, as not only the top veneer is loose but also the layers under it.

This might need drastic action.

Kelli had fun finishing the low entertainment unit, and painted two fold away lap tables for Greer and Dylan.

25th November 2022

Well I missed the rubbish collection, totally forgot that it was a day late, and decided to stay in bed instead.

The sound of the big collecting truck grabbing the next door neighbour’s bin brought reality back with a crunch, but hey ho there’s always next week.

There is a new saga to follow, that is our Christmas tree. Last year I bought a large example from a charity shop, it was big, it filled the area in the living space like a small forest, cutting out the light and generally getting in the way. So it was decided to change it.

Luckily Greer wanted to buy it, so we took it up to Allendale the last time we drove there.

That left us treeless, but Kelli was on the case and bought one from Amazon. When it arrived it was in pieces, a build it yourself tree.

It was tall and thin, just what she wanted. Apparently sometime in the past she lost, or got rid of the one she had for years, it would be be the ideal replacement.

However after assembling, and fluffing out the branches she didn’t like it, so it was taken apart and put back in the box from whence it came. Now the search was on for a replacement.

We spent the morning visiting most of the charity stores trying to find a tall thin tree.

We short listed a few, but found one at The Humane Society store. It was tall, and a real wood post. It looked a bit sad, the branches were pushed flat and needed some attention once we got it home.

Now the search is on for the lights, they are in the house somewhere.

We had a return customer collect a mid century dresser, so another one out of the shop.

24th November 2022

Well the glorious day has dawned, Thanksgiving is here and we’re are prepared for it.

More surprisingly I didn’t drink the whole bottle of wine myself.

Kelli prepared a fabulous spread of vegan/ vegetarian food, of which there is plenty of left overs to hove over the next few days.

The dogs were very active, I think they wore themselves out barking and wining at everyone that arrived.

My birthday cake was cut and distributed to everyone who had space left for a slice.

It was a large creation, even with a slice cut for everyone there is still plenty left over, so more for me over the next week.

Once it was over, a calm descended up the house, it was all about putting things back in their respective places and experiencing the peace and quiet. Even the dogs rested for the evening, rearing their heads only at the slight chance of some morsel of food to fall their way.

23rd November 2022

A friend of Kelli came round to discuss our kitchen remodel. I have wanted to update it since we bought the place. It has served us well but now it’s time to plan the future.

I had my own ideas, and Stacy, Kelli’s friend and interior designer was trying to sell hers.

We had to reign her in a bit and to focus on the worktop, base units and appliances.

It was an interesting session and I await to see her proposals.

Then we had to go and collect my birthday cake. I went for a carrot cake with a cheesecake icing, probably a bit wasted on the family being low in sugar and therefore a bit more healthier than some of the super sweet shit they usually eat.

It was a beautiful creation, it was big, so big it needed planning permission, it just needed Kevin McCloud to make an appearance then it would have been perfect.

Then it was off to the Social Security building to finally get a number so that Kelli can post her tax returns on line. This has caused long delays in the past, but more importantly I can now set up a bank account over here.

22nd November 2022

Well at least we could have the garage door open, it was sunny, but still cold round the kneecaps.

I did more work on the warped drawer front by setting in some strips of oak to help stiffen it up, not sure if it will do anything, but we’ll see.

Kelli finished painting the low entertainment unit, and she even dragged out an old chair and painted it orange. She likes the idea of have odd style chairs in different colours around the dining table, so this was a quick project to give us an extra seat at Thanksgiving. This is at odds with my style, I like things to match especially classic style furniture.

We had to get more drugs for Dhama, we had run out of the anti inflammatory tablets, and she was reluctant to get out of her basket.

We stopped off at the corner shop to get a few things and a bottle of red for my Thanksgiving sedation, it makes me less prone to talk about Trump, which would be the best way to cut short any family gathering, maybe I’ll do it anyway.

21st November 2022

With the temperature rising slightly, the snow would start to thaw this week.

Kelli didn’t have a very good night, my breathing disturbed her sleep, which in turn disturbed my sleep. This put us in good stead for a great day.

Kelli had a doctors appointment in the morning so another opportunity to sell more clothes at Plato’s Closet.

This wasn’t so profitable as she thought, maybe they have sufficient stock to last through the winter.

I was dropped off at Starbucks whilst she went back to collect the items they didn’t take, and look around to see if there were any future returns.

It had been a while since I had been inside, there was an inner thrill of being on my own, and time to catch up on the world news.

Then it was time to get back to the garage and work on the outstanding projects.

The misshapen drawer front was still a challenge and I had ideas to relieve any tension in the wood. I machined a deep groove along the line of the worst part, this allowed me to clamp it flat, ready for the next stage.

Kelli was busy on a low entertainment unit, but she wasn’t happy with the top, and stormed off in a huff, I took a look, and did a bit more intense sanding to get it in a better condition to paint.

20th November 2022

Happy birthday to me, happy birthday to me, yes, it is my birthday.

I got a new pair of slippers, which I really wanted, they replaced some slip-ons that made me shuffle about like an old fart. Now I have a pair that supports the heel, the arches and the toes, a real pair of grand touring slippers. I had FaceTime with both my sons and their families, and a string of birthday wishes from loads of people, some I hadn’t even heard of.

I managed to polish up the dining table ready to be collected.

The couple arrived eager to see their table, and they were delighted how it turned out.

That is alway a relief for me, although I always aim to do the best job possible you never really know what the customer expects.

We loaded it into their truck making sure there was nothing on the blanket that could do any damage. They sent back a picture later of the table in its place, and it looked good. Next will be the chairs once Thanksgiving is over.

Then we drove to Grand Rapids for my birthday dinner. We were joined by our English friends Mike and Lesley who introduced us to this fabulous Indian restaurant PInd. The last time we were there was pre Covid, and this was significant because this would be the first time Kelli had diner out since her health issues started. She did great, she drove us there and back, and had a tasty meal.

We got home a little later than she usually crashed out for the evening, but she survived, and that should boost her confidence a lot.

19th November 2022

One last push at Greer and Dylan’s new home, and braving the swirling snow storm to get there. I had to repair a internal barn door (the sliding kind) that had fallen apart, the good example of crap workmanship I had to deal with. I needed to get a few things, luckily there was a hardware store close by.

As I walked to the truck, I noted that next to the mobile home that I suggested be burnt to the ground, because it looked tatty, was a truck with its engine running, inside there were three people. I didn’t take that much notice, and headed off to get my materials. About twenty minutes later, when I retuned, the truck was still there. The engine was still running and the three occupants were still inside. I could only imagine that it must be some form of entertainment, or to keep warm. I don’t think they went anywhere because the truck was in the same place.

Not long after I returned the three people got out, the engine was turned off, and they all went back inside the tatty dwelling.

I managed to mount a stuffed deer head on the wall that apparently was shot by Dave in his younger days. He paid $140 to have it mounted back in the eighties, that was a lot of money in those days. I can’t imaging Dave shooting anything that stood still yet alone a wild animal, unless it had died of old age.

This was not the most pleasant job I had to do.

The other was hanging a shelf unit on the wall. With all that done we headed back through another snow storm which is far more scary at night, but with Kelli’s safe hands on the wheel, we made it back without incident.

18th November 2022

The amount of snow certainly caught me out, I had plans to get a cordless snow blower but I haven’t done it in time.

I had the job of clearing the drive using the push shovel and it nearly killed me.

The problem is the concrete slabs what the drive is made up with are at slightly different levels, so when I’m pushing the shovel hard, when it hits the next slab it stops, suddenly.

But I did the first clearing of the year, gasping for breath at the end. Snow always looks nice when it’s freshly laid, but give it a day or so it freezes and can be a harder to remove. The secret is to sweep it as it falls, get a snow blower, hire a man with a snow blower to do it for you.

We had a road trip today, first we stopped off at a shoe repair shop where Kelli wanted an old pair of warm boots repaired. There was a tear in the suede upper that she had tried to fix herself. These were long overdue to be chucked out, but she loved them because they were warm and comfortable and wanted to keep them.

The store where the shoe repair man had his shop was within a larger place that sold vacuum cleaners. To one side was a counter where the repair man worked, as we walked up we could see a red Trump sign. The date of 2020 had been crossed out, and 2024 was written over in a black marker.

As the details of the repair was being discussed Kelli made some remark about the amount of shoes he had stacked up for repair.

He explained that he did have three people working for him in the past, but one by one they left. Kelli then remarked “was it that they saw your sign?” This fell on stony ground but I thought it was cheeky and laughed.

We then drove to Goodwill, and found a few items that would be sold, and a couple of furniture items, a low cabinet with glass doors finished in a sparkling gold, yuck!

Then it was round to Kelli’s mother to pick up a mid century dresser to work on. It was not in particularly good shape, one of the drawer fronts had warped badly which will give me some head scratching, which I need to do quickly because it might already be sold.

Nothing like a bit of pressure to keep the blood moving.