Author: peterb51

19th August 2022

We alway take a leisurely breakfast, sitting out in the morning sun, often we lose track of time, then we realise half the day is gone, and we rush to start our day.

That is the result of a lack of discipline, no one to report to leads to late starting.

I was considering this as I floated in the pool staring at the blue sky, thinking “I should be in the garage working”. Then I splashed away to the other side of the pool.

I do use the time constructively, I was planning the next part of the top garden renovation.

I plan to reduce the grass area on the upper part of the garden and create deeper flower beds and a meandering path to the back gate. Next to the shed will be a paved area supported by two four foot long gabion walls. This will be the bird feeding area ( and all the other furry critters who steal all the seeds)

Whatever happens, it will be a lot better than the burnt grass that we have every summer.

18th August 2022

There are a lot more flowers to water now. The new planting looks a lot better than it did, now they just need to establish. We packed in two bags of mulch, which is a dirty job. Some of the big houses close to us have this stuff delivered in bulk. These tankers turn up and pump the mulch where they need it. Usually there is a short Mexican gardener trying to control the hose, it must be like trying to control an angry snake.

Kelli found a cheap dresser on Marketplace, so we went to collect that. It was similar to many we’ve done before, so this will be a quick and simple redo.

We were able to take pictures of the low entertainment unit with the doors fitting properly, I have no idea why they didn’t before as I had to remove about 3mm from the width of the door.

17th August 2022

Fitting the new GFCI was not a walk in the park as the YouTube video made out. Instead I was faced in a much older type of device. As I removed the outlet bits started to drop out which I thought “this isn’t right”

Most videos showed a simple unscrewing of terminals and swapping out old for new, bish bash bosh!

But no, for me was snipping wires and baring them back ready to fit into the new unit.

I took careful note of where the”load” and “line” wires were terminated, and as I removed each, I located them into the new unit.

“Simple” I thought as I screwed the outlet back into the wall.

I had bought an outlet tester, so I plugged it into the vacant outlet. I then switched the circuit breaker back on.

Immediately the tester flicked off, it should have stayed on with the lights glowing.

Panic! I turned the circuit breaker back off and removed the outlet to check that the wires we tight in the terminals. Everything looked correct. As I said at the start, I had checked all the wires were going to the correct terminals, and I was certain they were correct.

Now it was reading through the troubleshooting notes on the instructions sheets. I located the problem that I had, it said that the wires were fitted incorrectly and they had to be swapped over.

How can that be? I made sure they were right, but reluctantly I rewired the outlet, plugging in the tester and turning the power back on.

Nothing happened, until I pressed the “reset” button, then all the lights on the tester lit up, it was working as it should.

Scratching my head, I refitted everything back how it should be, finally the job was finished.

I must be going crazy, I just don’t know what happened, the only consolation was I got the Earth wire correct.

The other big job was planting the flowers we bought the other day.

These were going into a circular bed at the front of the house that were filled with lilies and hostas, these had to be dug up and moved. The hostas were being re-housed in the hosta forest that we have under the pine trees in the back garden.

The lilies were surplus to requirements, so Kelli advertised them on a local neighbourhood site, and they were gone the same evening.

16th August 2022

After a largely sleepless night we both found it hard to get motivated, or indeed fired up about anything.

Not that there’s nothing to do, I have to fit a GFCI in the laundry room, there are the plants that we bought yesterday to replace those that are in the front garden.

That would have required digging up the old plants, moving them to a temporary home in the back then arranging the new stuff, after preparing and fertilise the soil, so that was put on hold.

I managed to finish the repairs to the desk pedestals, now they have stripped of paint, but I didn’t feel like doing that either.

Kelli finished the entertainment centre, but after fitting the doors found that they needed trimming so that they closed properly.

We didn’t feel like doing that as well.

We did manage a bike ride, not very energetic, but it was a bit of a workout, not that we felt like doing that.

Towards the late afternoon I had a sudden rush of energy, so I stapled chicken wire to one of the end panels for the composter, chicken wire is not the easiest to try stretching, but I managed it.

15th August 2022

Dreams can be strange things to experience.

Last night I woke up early to use the toilet and I found it difficult to get back to sleep.

My mind was churning around a fragmented thought of Robin Gibb.

This is not a person that is high on my list of people to dream about, but the trail I was following was bazaar.

Before he died he had composed a musical based on the story of the Titanic, fortunately he did live to see the first performance, but tragically died soon after.

Through technology his image was projected singing the Titanic Requiem. This was a moving musical piece that formed the theme of my dream.

In it I had to find this original piece of music that I knew existed, but all traces of it had disappeared. There was nothing on the internet, no CD available on any online outlet, everything had been erased.

This was killing me because the song was in my head, but no one else had heard it.

Needless to say I was not relaxed, and the attempt at sleep was torturous, but when I did awake, I had to check it the song was still there, and thankfully it was.

The rest of the day was far more predictable, a bike ride to the park, and major repairs to the desk pedestals and Kelli spray painted a low entertainment centre, and a visit to the garden centre to use up the vouchers that we had built up.

What a swizz that is. You have pay full price for the plants, then the voucher value gets taken off. So basically you wander around picking up a plant here and a shrub there not really knowing what the total is until you get to the checkout. After a time of scanning and repacking the amount hits you, then you discover you have spent far more than expected even with the vouchers taken off, I needed a little lay down after that.

14th August 2022

A trip out to deliver a dresser in Zeeland, and then on to collect a desk from Grand Rapids was the order of the day.

Now there are some beautiful areas of the city, many old factory buildings have been tastefully renovated and are jewels sitting in amongst the glass and steel landscape of modern GR.

Then there are the places we buy stuff from.

These areas I insist on leaving the engine running just in case.

The desk was sitting on the back porch, it didn’t look too bad, from a distance, but it had seen better days when I loaded it into the truck. I never understand how furniture can get in that condition. The conclusion I have come to is, they are often used to barricade the front door, or used as a battering ram.

On the journey back I was trying to figure out how I can repair the fluted detail.

I took the desk apart as soon as we got back, as we have a potential buyer lined up I wanted to make a start.

Once the pedestals were separated there were pieces of the fluted detail left over, so I should be able to insert pieces into the damaged areas, a great relief.

13th August 2022

“I couldn’t sleep because I was thinking about the dresser that’s being picked up at 1.00pm”

Kelli said.

“ why were you thinking about that?” Was my blurry eyed response.

“ Its the crack that I filled in the drawer front, I can still see it, and I’m not happy with it.”

So started a few frantic hours of rework to the faulty drawer front.

I got hold of my orbital sander and started to try to blend the surfaces. The problem was the levels were different, so sanding certainly helped.

Kelli then mixed up some paint and resprayed the front. After it had dried, we could still see the area that had been sanded. We weren’t sure if it was because there was no primer underneath or the tannins in the wood soaking through, regardless, it needed to be fixed.

I covered the area with a shellac sealer, and waited for that to dry. The use of a hairdryer was drafted into use to speed up the drying.

Then came more coats of paint and more forced drying, still the area was visible.

We had about an hour left, as I applied more paint, gradually the finished improved to the point of “ Stop! That’s it, get it dry”.

The buyer arrived with her son, a tall chap who didn’t really didn’t enjoy the one hour drive.

Apparently it was for him, he mother asked him if he liked it, and he just managed to utter a positive response.

I helped load it into the back of their vehicle, and they were off, another satisfied customer.

The day was full of rain with the temperature plunging to long sleeve wearing levels.

We off-loaded one of the pieces we picked up yesterday so Kelli has something to work on tomorrow.

12th August 2022

We had to deliver a dresser that had been purchased a week ago. The elderly couple didn’t have the strength or the vehicle to handle the piece. We not only delivered, but also carried it through the maze of their house.

The husband tried to offer some assistance only to be reminded by his wife that he had a bad back. After some careful manipulation we placed it into the spare bedroom. I had the impression that the husband was not keen on getting more furniture. There had been talk about us painting a bookcase for her, but that quickly changed to “ Would you like this to take away and sell?” When we offered to paint it for them, he intervened saying that they had too much furniture all ready.

We felt obliged to take it, it wasn’t that good quality, but with a splash of paint and some shelves it could be okay.

So we loaded it into the truck and headed off to the other side of town to collect another piece. This was also quite ordinary but will be transformed into something better.

We finished off the two dressers in the garage, and took pictures and Kelli posted them on Marketplace.

I treated the front lawn with an organic fertiliser as part of the treatment program I joined, I must say I’m not that impressed with the system, but I’ll give it a couple of years and see what happens.

12th August 2022

We had to deliver a dresser that had been purchased a week ago. The elderly couple didn’t have the strength or the vehicle to handle the piece. We not only delivered, but also carried it through the maze of their house.

The husband tried to offer some assistance only to be reminded by his wife that he had a bad back. After some careful manipulation we placed it into the spare bedroom. I had the impression that the husband was not keen on getting more furniture. There had been talk about us painting a bookcase for her, but that quickly changed to “ Would you like this to take away and sell?” When we offered to paint it for them, he intervened saying that they had too much furniture all ready.

We felt obliged to take it, it wasn’t that good quality, but with a splash of paint and some shelves it could be okay.

So we loaded it into the truck and headed off to the other side of town to collect another piece. This was also quite ordinary but will be transformed into something better.

We finished off the two dressers in the garage, and took pictures and Kelli posted them on Marketplace.

I treated the front lawn with an organic fertiliser as part of the treatment program I joined, I must say I’m not that impressed with the system, but I’ll give it a couple of years and see what happens.

11th August 2022

We ploughed on with the two dressers that were started yesterday.

We managed to sell the long dresser to a couple who came to collect it in the evening.

I had to machine a couple of replacement drawer guides and re-glue a couple of drawers, but that was it.

We managed to squeeze in a bike ride and a float around the pool.

A big truck arrived with two burly men to load it, they picked it up like it weighed nothing at all, but we were happy that they were happy, and a bit more money in the bank.