Author: peterb51

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.

17th November 2022

We carried the latest dresser into the living area to take pictures. It is a mid century style piece with walnut veneer drawer fronts and oak drawer bodies, so well made furniture.

I had to machine up two tops for the side tables that have been waiting for me to work on. The material that I hoped to use, made by cutting down the desk top, didn’t work, so I had bought a panel of glued up pine. I covered the dining table that I had been working on to keep it clean, and set about cutting the tops and machining a edge profile.

It had snowed most of the day, just the fine stuff that doesn’t settle very much, but the sky is dark and foreboding.

The news is full of Trump’s bid to become President again, I know there are people out there who can’t wait, but what the heck.

The man has so many potential indictments for criminal activity against him, plus he is such a big bully, I can’t believe they will let him run.

Well that’s modern America for you, heading down the shitter.

16th November 2022

Another early awakening with the city boys and their beep beep machine, that again didn’t go down well with Kelli.

We drove up to Allendale to do what we didn’t do yesterday.

I spent four hours laying carpet tiles, why should that tire me out? But it did. I expect that a lack of sleep didn’t help.

There was a lot of cutting, and trying to place the tiles in the order that he wanted was hard.

However I did get it finished, although Dylan’s choice of colours and pattern left a lot to be desired, and would make most interior designers give up and get a job at a checkout.

Driving back through a snowstorm was interesting, this is the first time since I’ve lived here that it has snowed this much in November, hopefully this might mean a mild winter.

15th November 2022

Kelli was awoken at 06.30am by the city boys clearing the leaves on South Shore. They could have done it quietly by not having the constant “beep,beep” of the grabber going into reverse.

That put her in a bad mood for the rest of the day.

The only bright point was the collection of the three piece set that was sold last night, but it started to get dark from there on.

We were supposed to drive to Allendale to lay the carpet tiles in Dylan’s office, that didn’t happen because there were too many other small things that we had to do that ate into our time.

It was best to abandon that for another day.

Kelli did some spraying on the dresser, but her heart wasn’t in it, it’s best to put it to one side in situations like that.

14th November 2022

We had to drive to Hudsonville to collect some free furniture. There was a combination unit with wardrobe and drawers and two matching side tables all in Maple.

There was the necessary stop for petrol, which is $4.04 a gallon.

When we got to the address, which was in a new development, it was like we’d be there before, but of course we hadn’t. It just highlighted that the layout and design of the place was identical to others we’ve been to.

There is the large lake surrounded by houses with large decks, each floor plan is identical but the finish and style is different. This is the new suburbia, little boxes, all the same.

Anyway, getting back to the story.

We had to wait for the lady to arrive, but when the garage door opened, we saw the furniture stacked in an immaculate garage, they looked brand new, hardly a mark on them. The reason they were giving them away was there were two drawers with the guide had fallen off.

We couldn’t get them in the truck fast enough. It was a tight fit, but we did it.

We sped off back, stopping at Menards to pick up some materials.

Once we were home I took out the two side tables, they looked fine, made in Canada and a good quality.

We kept looking at them, they were too good to paint, but Kelli wasn’t sure that the colour is current, I said, someone will love them the way they are.

So we took pictures of them in the failing light, and Kelli posted them on Marketplace. Throughout the evening there was a lot of interest leading to a sale, one of the quickest we’ve had.

Of course Kelli took credit for my decision which is typical.

I continued to add finish to the dining table. I had a small issue with one of the leaves. When I applied the finish after a short while small clear bubbles appeared. I would wipe over them so they disappeared, but then they would reappear. This was a head scratching time, I’m not sure what’s happening there.

13th November 2022

Well the snow was on the ground when we awakened. There were flurries for most of the morning, even the wild turkeys weren’t put off.

They flocked on mass at our wild flower bed, pecking away like their lives depended on it.

The crows weren’t impressed and tried to intimidate them, but the turkeys gave them the finger, and carried on pecking.

The heaters went on in the garage because I wanted to cut the tops for the side tables.

After the saw went through I could see what the substrate was, and I don’t think I have ever come across it before.

Inside was filled with large chunks of wood, it was like the contents of the planer was soaked in glue, it was the roughest particle board ever.

We drove to our storage facility to collect another piece that Kelli could work on.

She finished painting the side tables and the dining table skirt and needed something else to work on. She picked out a mid century style dresser in walnut veneer, so we loaded that into the truck and headed back.

12th November 2022

The cold snap bites deep, snow is expected this evening.

I delivered the small table to Mantesh (the Indian guy up the road) he was delighted with it, and it was another one out of the garage.

We had to open the garage door to do the spraying, Kelli painted the side tables in the same black colour that the table legs will be.

Then it was on to the table under structure.

I had set up the storage room as a drying room, and it is fine for small parts, but I’m not sure what we will do with larger items.

Kelli made a vegetable pot pie for dinner, just right on a cold wintery evening.

11th November 2022

I decided to have another leaf blower trial which is similar to the sheepdog trials but without the gates, sheep and of course dogs.

I find that leaves are like sheep, they have a mind of their own, so control of the nozzles is really important.

However this is not a skill I have, I wander around chasing the leaves, trying to direct them in one direction.

This would make an ideal winter sport, and another the Brits would be crap at.

I have watched others in the neighbourhood, with their back mounted power packs direct their leaves in well organised drifts, no stragglers.

I attack with full power sending debris in all directions trying to catch anything.

Anyone passing, would witness this exhibition and think, “Yep, he’s British”

I go until the batteries are exhausted, then I proceed to hit the remaining leaves with the blower itself.

We got the grey primer on the under structure of the dining table, and the two matching side tables.

I did more sanding on the top of another dining table we acquired some time ago.

I’m not sure what timber it is made from, possibly bamboo, it is difficult to get back to clean wood.

There is an expected wave of cold weather coming our way, I think it’s time to mothball the bikes until spring, really sad.

10th November 2022

Today the temperature was up in the seventies, a rare blip before the fall into the freezer. It was a good opportunity for a bike ride, and the chance to work outside.

The wind would suddenly lift all the leaves and blow them over to Larry’s yard, poor chap he was out sucking them up with is tractor, twice.

It must be costing him a fortune in fuel, and he looks so dejected trundling up and down his plot.

I sanded the Apron and legs of the dining table ready for priming tomorrow.

Kelli was doing her thing whilst listening to a podcast covering Quantum Physics and Biology. The subject is fascinating, there are a number of topics that I was aware of, but there are so many warning that we ignore. I am a great believer in self healing, and you are what you eat.

9th November 2022

It was back up to Allendale for yet another day helping with the decoration.

The plan was to lay the tiles, but there were other jobs that were far more important.

First stop was delivering a dresser to a remote farmhouse that was on our way.

The husband mistook me to be Kelli’s father , which has happened before, I’m used to that.

Kelli put him right, and I added “I hope you’re embarrassed “ with a smile of course.

Back at the mobile home there were rooms to finish. I took on the main bedroom, up on a ladder cutting in to the ceiling. Up there I noticed all the areas where the painted line wasn’t straight, so I took time tidying that up.

Kelli, Greer and Dylan were in his office finishing the painting.

His choice of colour was a bit dark, no it’s really dark, it’s night two hours earlier than anywhere else.

All this painting did take longer than we thought, meaning that we ran out of time to lay the tiles.

There will have to be done on another day.