Author: peterb51

29th August 2022

We had a storm last night, it didn’t seem so bad until the morning, when we saw the results.

By some miracle, or good fortune we escaped the carnage this time.

We noticed that the power lines that ran parallel to us were down and the pole had snapped and fallen in line with our back fence.

Now these are ten inch diameter wooden poles and it had snapped like a twig.

The only thing we had were a couple of cables hanging low over the garden.

Within a short time the area was swarming with yellow jacketed people from the power company assessing the damage. The problem they had was access. A number of pine trees had grown up surrounding the old pole, so they would have to be removed. Getting to those meant driving over a wonderfully flat green lawn belonging to a newish house next to the main road.

I had alway been envious of this lawn because it was alway green and well maintained, but now it was doomed.

No there was the sound of the chainsaw as it buzzed through one of the pine trees, that came down in seconds, then the trimming of branches of other trees around it.

Then there was the heavy squad, tasked with the installation of a new post.

A large crane the drove over the pristine grass sodded by the nights rain, it’s job it was to remove the bits of the old pole and install the new one.

I could see the tyre grooves from the road up to the fence, I felt the pain that it would cause the house owner, and I know what would have to be done to repair them.

The truck then put down stabilisers, more dents in the perfect lawn. One by one the broken pole was lifted up through the new clearing in the trees.

There was a lot of activity, hard hatted men were shouting commands to the crane driver as the fragments were removed. Next was the installation of the new pole.

That went quicker than I imagined, and within five minutes it was in place and in its correct vertical position ready for the next part.

The truck then drove back down the grass back on the road and parked outside our house.

Next a cherry picker drove back over the lawn, taking care to follow the tracks left by the crane. This enabled a guy to connect all the brackets that held the power cables.

At that time we had to leave for Kelli’s doctors appointment and after that a drive to West Olive to collect a single pedestal desk.

It was a busy day, we even got in a dip in the pool, and finished the long dresser ready for the customer to collect tomorrow, I think I’ll have a little lay down.

28th August 2022

We were determined to finish the long dresser and get it on Marketplace for the Sunday evening shoppers. It turned out pretty good with Kelli’s painted reclaimed knobs making it complete.

We had lunch at the mother in law’s where Kelli had made a wonderful loaf with eggs, rice, mushrooms, onions, garlic, spinach and sun dried tomatoes.

Although it was cloudy it was warm enough to float around in the pool for a while.

Cameron came round to do his washing and brought around a gift of an inflatable island, complete with a palm tree and coconuts. It was so large it took ages to inflate, and took over most of the pool, well it’s the thought that counts.

It looks like Kelli’s plan worked, she had two people after the dresser, and sold it.

27th August 2022

After yesterday’s near death experience, it was business as usual.

First a bike ride lasted all of two blocks before Kelly saw some furniture at a house selling sale. She spotted a pair of side tables that could be repainted.

Side tables are like buses, none for ages then four turn up at the same time.

We rode back to the house to get the money, paid the lady, then continued on our ride to the park.

Once back home we drove down to collect the side tables and a lump of wood with holes in it and a colourful watering can, Kelli has an eye for unusual clutter.

I was able to inspect the side tables only to discover that they had been made from a desk or dressing table, but not done very well.

So the first job is to repair them, strip off the bad paint and start again.

Kelli made good progress on the long dresser, painting the drawers and carcass whilst I finished the stained top.

We also managed a dip in the pool and I did a trip to Menards to stock up on sandpaper and primers.

I decided to try out the watering can, it certainly dispensed water all right, but not from the spout, it leaked like a sieve from its base. Oh well another repair job.

26th August 2022

It’s Friday and there’s stuff to do. Not stuff I want to do, just stuff to do. I look out on to my new lawn, a scene from Chernobyl apocalypse with all the dead patches of grass caused by dog piss.

“You have the special grass seed, go do it” my head tells me.

“But I have stuff to do” I tell myself, “ I have the front of the house to clean, furniture to finish, new pieces to collect, and even more other stuff to do.

The dead grass really annoys me, it wouldn’t be so bad if they did it in the same spot, but no, they bop down where they feel like it.

I thought about sticking spikes all over the grass to deter them, but they would just piss in between, then I would have to put in more spikes in between the original spikes, but they would still piss in between those, so I need to repair the lawn.

Today I washed up all the breakfast things straight after we finished eating. This was unusual, because things are put in the sink and left for my dear wife to do later, but this time, as I stared out of the window at the brown spots, I automatically started to wash up, thus making less stuff to do.

I have the new flower beds to dig, I have the bags of soil and compost to fill it, but other stuff gets in the way.

There are legs to make for furniture we’ve had for ages, this has been on the top of my list for ages but other stuff gets in the way again. Kelli keeps getting more things, then I get side tracked and start working on the new stuff “because they are easier” which is not alway true. But when I’m surrounded with stuff, I’m trying to piss in the corner of a barrel, hence spinning around.

We had to drive to Jenison and Hudsonville to collect a desk and a small buffet. Kelli also squeezed in collecting a couple of stools that “very cool” and would fit nicely into our home.

With the truck full we started our homeward journey.

We approached a set of traffic lights that had turned green, to turn left, as we moved forward, Kelli instinctively looked left just as a car crossed our path. We both looked at each other in disbelief, I checked that we still had a green light and the others were still on red, so the car had jumped the lights, and the speed it was going would have caused some real damage. It was a strange feeling knowing that we could have been snuffed out at that moment. I joked about what would have been worse, being broadsided by the car and killed, or being broadsided by the car and killed by the bloody “cool” stools.

Anyhow we were spared by the universe which means we have another purpose, which was just as well as we had someone coming to collect the low side tables Kelli posted yesterday.

Post thought.

I just hope that if the driver had a death wish they would find a place that wouldn’t involve anyone else

25th August 2022

Today was a complete contrast from yesterday, the temperature was down and it was raining. That was good for the garden anyway.

I had the latest delivery from my lawn treatment company, but it included a bag of dog resistant grass seed, I’m so excited to try it. It should be much easier to use than to put nappies on the dogs.

We carried the two low side tables in to the living area to take pictures, hopefully we won’t have them for long.

24th August 2022

We drove to Saugatuck to collect two side and a coffee table that I have to strip and refinish.

These are Lane style pieces because they have dovetailed inserts in the top, so stripping them will be tricky. I feel a bit intimidated because they are well made expensive pieces and I don’t want to screw them up.

We then drove back, and rode our bikes to the Way Cup cafe for some lunch.

Afterwards Kelli finished spaying the low side tables and I completed the composter.

I was eager to put the first stuff in it, so I cut the grass and put the cutting in bay one.

We will keep our original going just to rot down, but the new one will take over.

There was high humidity today which brought the sweat out of me, but a splash around the pool helped with that.

23rd August 2022

We got the two side tables finished and collected this evening, Kelli had already primed two more, and I stripped the paint off the top of a large black dresser we collected yesterday.

The lady from the city called round to check that the new GFCI was fitted and properly functioning, so we have to pay fifty bucks for the privilege. She did ask us to look out for a buffet, which might be a good endorsement of our operation.

The dip in the pool was short because the sun failed to co-operate, as soon as we settled down on our floating armchairs it went behind the clouds signalling the end of our soak.

The young chap arrived to collect the side tables, he was pretty excited with them and also what we do, hopefully we can sell them more.

22nd August 2022

There are a few things about American TV that I have grown to hate. I know hate is a strong word, but they drive me to distraction.

The main target of my hate are not the shows, but the audience’s reaction to it.

In particular, I watch a number of late night satire shows that are very clever, and I take my hat off to the writers who have to come up with topical lines to make the gags or comment work.

When the punchline comes there is a sudden outbursts of whoops, cheers and shouts far in excess that the line deserves. A good laugh? Yes, but this yelling is totally over the top. Now I cringe every time, and I aware it’s the same bloody person, I would like to put a bin liner over his head, and pull it tight.

We have also watched house restoration programs, the American version has the house owners jumping up and down crying, whooping, and shouting and generally going over the top. The British version has them saying “Oh that’s very nice” so much more refined, after all it’s mostly only paint.

We got on and finished the side tables, there are still a few blemishes, but we are being very critical, the buyers often throw them into their trucks, and when they get home throw shit in it.

We also finished a tall dresser, and got the two side tables out of the truck that we bought at the weekend.

There was a trip to Jenison to collect a dresser and supposedly a desk, but the seller had deleted the post taking all the correspondences with it, so Kelli did not have the name or address of the seller.

In the evening the person did send a message asking if we still wanted it. Kelli explained the problem, and arranged another day.

I even managed to erect the composter, so a busy day all round.

21st August 2022

We inspected what we primed yesterday and we weren’t impressed. There were indents that the filler didn’t do a good job, so this meant spending more time working on those.

The good news was we sold the entertainment centre to a couple from Grand Haven.

Kelli managed to complete the tall dresser that needs the top to be oiled.

We didn’t have time to use the pool, or any work on the back garden, or even go on a bike ride, what is happening to us?

However Kelli made an amazing quiche with a number of home grown ingredients, very satisfying.

20th August 2022

There is nothing like pressure to focus the mind.

We are working on converting two desk pedestals into matching side tables.

The pressure comes from the fact we have a customers house wants to collect on Monday.

All the repairs have been done, but we noticed that the original paint on the side panels hadn’t adhered properly, so had to be scraped off.

The heat gun didn’t do a very good job, it just made the finish go gooey, the only option was scrapping it by hand. The problem with that was the panel was a coated hardboard which, damaged easily, so these had to be filled.

We managed to get everything primed, but that showed up a few more flaws that will have to be corrected, tomorrow.

All this work meant no bike rides and no pool time which was convenient because it was a rainy day.