Author: peterb51

10th August 2022

We delivered the small dresser to one of our regular customers this morning, always a good start of the day. Then we stopped off at Goodwill just to see if they had anything that we could transform. There was the usual array of junk and crap furniture, but hidden amongst all that were two Equa sled base chairs priced at five dollars each.

They were in good clean condition and would require just a wipe down to resell. If we could get thirty each for them for no work it would be worth it. We have found other Miller products before in various thrift stores and sold them very quickly, so it will be interesting to see if it happens with these.

Kelli finally got an appointment for Dhama to see a vet. She had been limping on her right back leg for a couple of weeks, but to get an appointment has been difficult. The only option was to call when the surgery opened at eight in the morning. It was a small window of opportunity that we were lucky to grab.

The vet twisted and felt around Dhama’s back legs for any signs of arthritis, but nothing seemed wrong, so instead we walked out with some anti-inflammatory tablets and a sizeable bill for our troubles.

We were instructed to stop her trying to jump up, and down from places in case she had damaged a muscle, so whilst we were out Kelli picked up a dog step that she had advertised for on a local site, and someone responded.

Now all we have to do is get her to use the blooming thing.

9th August 2022

With the humidity down, out came the bikes, it was time to hit the road again.

It was great giving my leg muscles a work out without the battery help that Kelli uses all the time.

We rode past the lake on the Heinz broadwalk down to the park, did a quick circle then rode back. It was short, but it was good exercise.

Kelli had spent over an hour waiting to speak to someone from the inland revenue. She had a question over the amount of tax refund she received being a lot less than she thought.

The answer was down to the stimulus payment she had received last year. Apparently that money was an advance against the following years tax refund. I guess that was why there was an hours wait on the phone.

I did another coat of white paint on the latest dresser, whilst Kelli sold the small dresser posted yesterday.

I managed to repair two damaged drawers and made two side panels for the composter, so I was quite pleased with myself.

My hacking cough is still with me, I really sound like an old fart, I can’t wait for that to be gone.

8th July 2022

Living in the US has taught me a lot. When I first came over in 1986 everything was wrapped in a halo of perfection. Everything seemed wonderful, my stay at Marigold Lodge with its original Nelson furniture was inspiring.

The grounds, bordering Lake Macatawa were beautifully manicured, the grass cut to very close tolerances.

Subsequent visits, after the Design Yard was built, showed attention to every detail, a perfect place to work.

But over the following years I noticed the flaws, the rotting window frames and the flaky paint. Of course the interiors were perfect, but it was all part of an image. This I leaned is how things are over here, a veneer covering the real picture. Houses that have seen better days are hidden by overgrown gardens. Front porches that should be great social spaces are full of rubbish, other places look vacant. I am fortunate to live in a respectable area, but I am always aware that I want the place to be better. I try to keep the grass long, but cut often, the wild flower garden looks great at the moment because everything is in full bloom, but come the autumn the area will look quite different, and the challenge will be to make make it acceptable.

7th August 2022

The predicted storm and rain was pathetic, I was excited to get the garden soaked maybe even saving the grass. There was a sprinkle of moisture and that was it. I raised my fists to the heavens, it made no difference.

There were a few jobs to a dresser that we had already posted. I was concerned about a smell inside, the carcass was made from cedar, but this was not what it smelt of.

There was a lot of heat gun action trying to extract any essence from the timber, and a lot of sanding. The finishing touch was a coat of beeswax that I applied into the grain with a stiff brush.

It was a great improvement, not perfect, if I had noticed it before, I wouldn’t have taken it, a lesson for the future.

Kelli was keen to get at least one coat of final coat on a large dresser, that we agreed we’d paid too much for, but it will be okay, and we should get a good price for it.

On a completely different subject, we were both shocked at the size of one of the daughters of the family that live across the road. Both the mother and father are on the large size, so it seems inevitably that the children with have little choice. Cheap food is evil laced with sugar and corn syrup young Americans are doomed. As a late night TV host noted “You never see a ninety year old fat person” of course he meant that all of them would be dead.

6th August 2022

It’s still bloody hot! I know I shouldn’t complain, but it’s drying out my new grass and I can’t keep up with the watering. There is old grass growing through the turf that is resilient to the drought, and I hope it spreads quickly.

We had to go and collect a dresser this morning, it took a bit of organisation to align timelines but today the stars were in alignment.

It was in pretty good condition apart from a few of the drawers, but nothing too serious.

We decided to have lunch out at our favourite cafe, a veggie panini easily slipped down my throat.

We used the excuse to jump into the pool, the water was warm, but a lot more refreshing than the perspiration beads that were running down my back.

We floated on our inflatables in endless circles watching the butterflies and the sparrows constantly grabbing seeds, but there was no rush to get back to work.

5th August 2022

Phew! The heat continues.

I had a couple of pieces in progress, and we wanted to get the small cedar dresser on Marketplace in time for the weekend.

I needed a hearty breakfast to start me off. Kelli made a hash brown omelette, but was disappointed that she couldn’t flip it in one piece, I didn’t care, I would eat it off the floor, even fighting off the dogs to do it.

She made a smoothie and I cut up and segmented a grapefruit. We carried it outside and sat at our bistro table, it was bliss.

I only manage one cup of coffee these days, gone are the constant visits to the canteen making endless cups of the brown stuff.

I still like my tea in the afternoon with a couple of chocolate biccies, I try to maintain my Englishness.

I checked the filters in the pump, I wanted to convince Kelli that it actually did something.

I had to block all the pipes so that when I took the lid off the pump I wouldn’t get sprayed with water.

I showed her the filter that had dirt in the fins.

“There, it is doing something, it might take a while to suck up all the dirt that’s still sitting on the bottom, or, we have to stir it up”

4th August 2022

It was an early start, even before breakfast a lady had come to look over our latest dresser.

She was a nice happy oldish person, who loved the piece.

I had rushed to get the the garage ready, moving the piece into the driveway along with all the other furniture in various stages.

The other important item of the day was the inspection by the city who needed to check out the garage to see if there were any potential health and safety issues. So moving extension cables and hoses were the order of the day.

Kelli cleaned the small toilet and sink in the laundry room as a customer could need the facility.

The inspection did go well, considering what we did, there was nothing serious found, other than an outlet in the laundry did not have a functioning safety cut-out. I need to pick one up on my next trip to Menards.

The weather continues to dry everything out, the humidity is sapping, and I really do appreciate the air conditioning.

My new pool filter pump turned up a day early.

I opened the box and it was full of some serious parts, and well written instructions.

I followed them closely, connecting hoses and clamps then came the great turn on.

Now compared to the other pump, it was as different as night and day, but I thought the extra power would send a tidal wave across he pool like a couple of outboard motors, but no.

There was a noticeable movement of water on the input side of the pool, but not the bow wave I was hoping.

Kelli wasn’t that impressed either, she was expecting that any grain of dirt that had settled on the bottom would somehow be sucked up and removed. Maybe a turbo version, if it exists, would do that job, but I don’t think it would be safe to sit in the water with all that action going on.

3rd August 2022

We had to drive to Zeeland to the new surgery of her doctor. He had decided to run his own practice, and Zeeland was the promised land.

Kelli also had more old clothes to sell at Plato’s closet, so that was the first stop. This place has a lot of stock, and they alway get more people turn up with bags of stuff hoping to convert it into cash.

I needed to get a centre slide for the latest dresser, there was one missing on the bottom drawer.

We had taken pictures of the dresser outside, and as usual there was someone on it straight away putting pressure on me to repair the faulty drawer.

Stopping off at Menards to get the parts I needed, and to cash in my discount vouchers, I, of course chose the wrong length. I bought a 16” slide when really I needed a 14”. I had to go back and exchange the damn thing

Now the pressure was on to get it fitted and working perfectly.

The lady who wanted it was coming round early tomorrow, I needed to get fitted before I finished for the day.

I had to contend with humidity and poor light, but miraculously it worked first time, I almost passed out from the shock.

2nd August 2022

We had a sale and a delivery to Saugatuck.

Our latest dresser had a flurry of activity, and in the end a person who runs holiday cottages bagged it.

Whilst we were in the area we decided to stop at the Farmhouse Deli for a sandwich. We got there only to be told there was a forty- five minute wait, for a sandwich? I should have guessed at all the dead bodies that we had to climb over, that the wait was long. Not only that but they didn’t have any gluten free ingredients, what is Saugatuck coming to? A so called progressive town with little food choices, that was disappointing.

We grabbed a tuna salad and some potato crisps and sat outside munching away. I did grab a French stick from the freezer thinking that would go nicely with the salad, but little did I know it was frozen solid. I tried to snap a piece off but it would have broken a bone if I had tried break it over my knee.

1st August 2022

I was eagerly awaiting delivery of the filter pump for the pool. We were hoping to keep the water sparkling, and even though we have chlorine tablets and regularly vacuum the floor of the pool, the filter would also help.

I opened the package and removed the content. There were two hoses, the pump and filter and various clips and nozzles.

The instructions were in Chinese English, but even without them it was fairly evident how it all went together.

I made all the connections, attaching the hoses to the correct inlet and outlets, so now it was time to turn everything on.

I did expect a lot of movement of the water, especially where the clean water was pumped back into the pool, but there was decidedly nothing happening. Well what was happening was the pump was leaking, there was more water escaping from the pump then returning to the pool. I wasn’t impressed.

I disconnected everything and tried pumping water from the pool and to see how much ran through the pump. The answer was nothing much. The pump didn’t have any power to move any water at all.

That’s now being returned.