Author: peterb51

28th October 2022

The atmosphere in the house was fraught, there was going to be a lot of activity in the morning with two pieces being collected.

Kelli was on the phone to a pest control company, because where there is one mouse there will be more, and the thought of other sleepless nights was not a desirable one.

The terminator was due in the afternoon.

We had to collect a free dresser at midday, it was another bloody heavy piece that we struggled to fit in the truck. We had taken all the drawers out so they were balanced in any available space, sliding around as we drove back.

We took it straight to our storage facility, now there is quite a lot of stock in there.

Kelli started work on another piece, a dresser with two side doors.

A neighbour stopped round and asked if I could refinish a small side table, I told him to drop it round sometime.

Kyle was the name of the pest control man, a tall bushy bearded guy with a big voice and broad smile. He explained the procedure and set about placing bait boxes in various locations, this will be repeated when he returns on Monday.

In between all this activity I finished the reassembly of the kitchen cabinet. It looked like a television unit, because the client wanted to fit a microwave oven in it, now we have to wait for it to be delivered.

I then drove down to Elaine’s to finally fit the roof panel.

She had upholstered it with a painting of the universe, so when you laid in bed you could see the moon and stars.

The installation was a challenge even though the pilot hole were done, I had forgotten the magnetic screwdriver, and trying to fit the screws without it was bloody hard.

I tried using masking tape to stick the screw to the screwdriver, that sort of worked, but until Elaine found her magnetic screw driver it all went smoothly, and the universe is now above the bed.

I picked up another task, by my own making.

At the front of the RV, just behind the driver’s seat is a structure that hides a lot of wiring. This goes up one side across the roof and down the other.

I convinced Elaine that it would be easier to make it in three sections, so I took her patterns and a piece of plywood home to experiment with.

When I got back home Kelli informed me that a neighbour, Scott, had seen a side table by the side of the road, and as I wasn’t home, he volunteered to go back and pick it up.

He turned up a few minutes after I got back with this battered piece of furniture.

It needs a lot of love but we can bring it back to life.

27th October 2022

It’s difficult to know where to start because there was a lot going on, most of it not that good.

First we both note a noise we think was coming from the inside of the wall on Wednesday morning. It is typical, there will be creaks and groans from timber frames houses as the humidity changes, but this was a little different.

Not being experienced in strange noises in Michigan homes I needed to think of what I should do, however I got out of bed, got dressed and cleanly forgot about it, big mistake.

Going to bed on Wednesday night we heard it again, it wasn’t constant, but enough for us to lay there waiting for the next one.

Kelli was getting agitated because she knew she couldn’t sleep with any sound at all. She once had to remove the battery from a clock that was on the wall of a guest house we were staying at, so I knew it was bad.

I first went down into the crawl space, which is exactly what I had to do. Like a snake I made my way to the area under our bedroom, but there was no way for any creature to climb up the inside of the wall. Making my way back and out, I needed to try a different tack.

I needed to find out exactly where the sound was coming from, there was no point in hacking away at all our walls without narrowing its location.

I spent an hour or so on my tummy with my head in the corner against the two walls listening intently for any sound.

Then I heard it, I had found the place where the sound was coming from.

I went into the garage to find my plasterboard saw, a square and a pencil then back into the bedroom to start the cutting.

Kelli was still not amused, and decanted herself on the sofa.

I drew a rectangular shape on the wall just above the skirting board and started cutting. I had the area lit by a torch and I made the neatest cut that I could.

I then removed the cut panel and shoved my torch inside to illuminate the inside of the wall.

At first I couldn’t see anything, then I saw the little critter in the corner transfixed by the light from the torch.

“ How do I get it out?” I thought, I rushed back into the kitchen to get a glass jar not thinking that the bugger might jump out of the hole and hide somewhere else. Luckily it was still in the same place, so I lowered the jar into the wall cavity hoping it would run into it, which it did.

I was able to cover the end with a plastic coaster, and removed the jar with the mouse inside.

“What shall I do with it?” I asked Kelli, she didn’t care what I should do.

Then I did what I used to do back home, I took them for a drive in the country and let them loose, and that is exactly what I did.

Dresser in my night shorts, T-shirt and slippers I carried the jar and friend into the truck and set off to rehouse the intruder.

It was three in the morning by now, I was concerned what it might look like if I got stopped by a cop on night duty, I sure they’re is a city ordinance which stipulates what form of clothing should be worn in the early hours.

The rest of the night was hell, Kelli still couldn’t get to sleep even though the noise was no more, and she let me know she wasn’t happy.

I just wished that I could go back into the crawl space to get some peace and quiet.

26th October 2022

More leaves fell overnight covering the ground I had cleared yesterday, I had to expect that.

It didn’t take that long to rake up the new fall, and with my leaf claw it made short work of collecting the piles and depositing by the roadside.

There was a bit of rain in the morning, but once that stopped we had pictures to take.

One was the desk that we found by the side of the road, another was a smoking table and finally the “Pigs ear” the biggest number of finished pieces ever.

25th October 2022

Kelli woke up at 5.00am which basically means so do I. Therefore it started a bad day, she was in a bad mood for most of the day. I wanted a bit more sleep but it was impossible. There was door slamming, alway gets on my nerves, as I don’t see the point.

I had to go to Elaine’s to dry fit the ceiling panel. She had done her homework fitting the pads and brackets, so it should have been a relatively simple job to offer it up to the frame in the ceiling and mark through the bracket positions, but it wasn’t quite that simple.

Firstly we carried the panel in the wrong way round and had a lot of trouble trying to turn it over, then the brackets had to be sprung to get then to fit correctly, and then, as always the pointed thing to mark the holes was out of reach.

Once we organised ourselves I marked the hole positions on my side maybe a little too hard as part of the frame came away. Now I had another thing to fix. I noticed that the screws were a bit short with very little thread sticking out. Some longer screws were found and the piece refitted.

The panel went on again and some temporary screws inserted. Elaine was happy with it, now all she has to do is upholster it.

I helped remove it for the umpteenth time, and set off back home.

It is that time of the year when the leaves fall and require raking them into pile at the side of the road ready for the city leaf collectors to arrive.

The downside of having a double plot is the amount of ground that gets covered, and I say it every year there is bound to be more leaves because the bloody trees get bigger.

I managed to rake half the plot before the rain came, I will continue tomorrow.

Kelli had been busy painting the heavy rustic dresser nicknamed “Pig’s ear” because it will take a miracle to turn it into a silk purse.

24th October 2022

I didn’t sleep particularly well last night, it was humid, the sound of thunder and lightning flashes seemed to go on all though the early hours. We got up later than we had planned, had a large breakfast because we knew we had a busy day ahead.

First on our list was to visit someone who had contacted Kelli about painting some dining chairs and the skirt and legs of a dining table. That then became a call for help because the table top was scratched, and they wanted us to look at that, and the best way to do that was to do a home visit.

I had already worked out a price for the painting part, but not fully worked out the price for the table.

The house was in a fabulous setting, surrounded but trees on a serious size of real estate. “Mmmm,” I thought, “there’s some money here.”

We were met at the front of house and led inside to the dining room where the unfortunate table stood. The husband was obviously blamed for the accident, and not allowed to forget it. Kelli said that we repaired furniture and mended marriages, that got us off to a good start.

I had a good chance to examine the damage, there had been a point of impact and a Z shaped scratch. I had watched many YouTube videos of people repairing cracks and scratches on guitars. The damage was filled with layers of superglue, this was then scraped back with a razor blade and buffed out. Often this type of repair will disguise the damage, and although it couldn’t be felt, it could still be seen. This was the one option, the other was a full refinish. I gave them a price for that, but I suggested that I try to disguise it first and if that didn’t work, I would do the full Monty.

They didn’t bulk at the quotation which was quite unusual, often there is the sharp intake of breath and quiet sobbing, so this made a change. The inside of the house had a high vaulted ceiling with windows that went the full height. On every available space were stuffed animal heads, “Oh a hunter” I thought, “ I better make a good job of this otherwise my head might be up there with them”

We agree a time I could start, and made our way out and back to the truck.

On the was back Kelli spotted something on the side of the road. It was on my side, I didn’t see anything, the first I knew was when the truck spun on a sixpence.

What she had seen was a solid wood writing desk. There was a note on the top saying it was free but had a broken leg, that became evident when I lifted it.

The piano lid top was separate, but the plug hinges were still attached, although it had been left out in the rain it hadn’t effected it much, and a good wipe down with an old shirt did the job.

We loaded the bits into the truck and drove off to our next address to collect another dresser.

A little way down the road we found another desk by the side of the road. A quick about turn and an inspection showed that it was a particle board construction, so we left that one.

What Kelli hadn’t told me was we were going to collect a free window that had been converted into a sectional blackboard (the glass had been painted black) that was quite a journey, not sure if it was worth it.

Then it was on to collect the dresser. It was the same house where we had collected the two mid century pieces yesterday. However we were early and there was nobody there.

There was no point in hanging about so we drove back home.

It was later agreed to collect it from the couple’s main house on our side of town.

We were able to see the extent of the damage to the writing desk as soon as we unloaded it.

The legs were screw in type, but the one that dropped out was due to the insert had been pushed further inside and the threaded stud was not long enough to engage the thread.

By pulling out the stud a bit from the top of the leg solved that problem, I was able to screw it in tight.

The plug hinges needed a bit of attention, they were loose in the holes, so a little bit of epoxy resin helped retain them.

Then it was a clean and a polish and the piece came to life.

We later collected the other dresser to add to our vast collection.

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.