Author: peterb51

4th June 2022

The customer came to collect her two purchases, in total she has six of our pieces.

It was a relief to see them go as we now have a bit of space to move around.

I did a bit of finishing to the end board of the bed frame and then we had another place to go.

Kelli had arranged to meet Greer and Dylan at a large garden centre in Allendale.

They wanted to buy flowers for their outdoor space at their apartment, and Kelli wanted more plants.

This place is huge, the size of an aircraft hanger with stuff in long rows and baskets hanging from the roof. We were looking for Fuchsias to attract hummingbirds. Greer was picking succulents, which I do not like, they always look dead and covered in dust.

We left laden with an assortment of flowery things and headed off for something to eat.

This was a rare event, and one the has been difficult for Kelli, but she did well and survived the ordeal, in fact, it felt normal again.

3rd June 2022

Dhama is a disgusting dog, well no more than other dogs always on the scrounge.

However she was particularly bad today on a walk around the lagoon.

Laying on a metal manhole cover at the bottom of the road baking in the hot sun was a dead mouse. It had been there a long time, it had been flattened many times by the tyres of SUV’s that go up and down Central Bay, including ours. It was almost transparent, but Dhama spotted it and scooped it up, all I saw was the tail sticking out of her mouth. We leapt into action holding her nose and trying to force her mouth open. To passer by it might have looked like we were abusing the animal, but we didn’t want her to swallow the bloody thing.

I grabbed the tail, trying desperately to pull it out. Finally with a flick of the wrist it was airborne, now laying on anther part of the road.

It’s not as if our dogs are starving, they get a treat every time they come in from doing their ablutions, which is about fifty times a day. I wish that could happen to me.

We were working desperately to get the table finished. There was an issue with the drawer, it wouldn’t slide in correctly. I discovered that one side was badly out of square on one side causing it to “crab” and jam before it was fully closed.

The only thing I could do was knock the bad end off and modify it. Fortunately a knock with a mallet sent it flying. Then there was a desperate rush to correct it. With a bit of cunning manipulation and a machining, it went back together much squarer. Now the glue has to dry.

2nd June 2022

Walking round the garden seeing how things we had planted have taken root and flourished.

The elderberry Bush I planted as a stick has gone crazy, it does my heart good to see it so well established.

I gave the new lawn a good soak, there are a couple of dead looking spots that I might have to replace, but otherwise that’s looking good.

I have noticed a lot of ants around the cherry tree that I will need to deal with, and I have to prepare for the attacks by the Japanese beetles. The pond needs to be cleaned out ready for filling with water, and a solar pump and fountain will be arriving soon, so the gentle sound of water trickling will remind me that I need to use the toilet.

Kelli pulled a master selling stroke by getting our recent repeat customer to buy two of our pieces. Well one she had already committed to, but for a one off special price,she also bought the other dresser that had attracted interest but no serious inquiries. As both we had got free it was a nice start of the month.

1st June 2022

Well summer is here, and it’s colder than yesterday. Even though, I forced myself to wear shorts with my legs still sickly white.

It was back to work, I continued to work on a bed frame that I have to strip and stain. There is decent money on it, so it’s a priority.

We finally sold the small desk/table that was converted from a sewing machine table. That had been hanging around for ages. Kelli even repainted the legs white (to match mine) in an attempt to sell it, so I guess it worked. We had to meet the buyer at a car park on the north side, a small price to pay.

The thunderstorms predicted overnight didn’t materialise so I had to set the sprinkler up the water the new lawn, which was a drag, I don’t know how long I have to do it, but I can’t allow it to dry out.

Kelli decided to cut the bamboo down from the metal pots we had at the front of the house, it was looking a bit sad and dead. Some have started to grow new leaves, but once the cane changes colour to straw they’ve gone to the great bamboo forest in the sky.

31st May 2022

Another stonkingly hot day, just the day to prune the wisteria and lilac trees. I’m not an expert pruner and I apologised to the trees before I started. There was savage cutting at the base revealing plants that had been stifled, and kept in the dark, but now they are exposed to the sun at last.

Kelli had a doctors appointment this morning, she has had problems falling asleep, and needed to get “tuned”, after that were went to the landscaping place to get a few more rocks to finish the pond support. These had to be specific sizes to fill the gaps, of course they are not in any size order, so I had to dig around until I found something close.

Another ten bags of dirt from Menards and our errands were done.

I had a video chat with my sister Nicola, and Evelyn who was visiting from Germany.

It was her birthday and is two years older than I. It was great to see her, it had been three years since we met up last, and this time I was able to introduce her to Kelli.

After that it was a bit more pruning, and preparing the area at the bottom of the garden with the new dirt.

It was strange not working on furniture, it felt like I was skiving school, but it all starts again tomorrow.

30th May 2022

It’s Memorial Day, and what a glorious day it is, up in the mid eighties it’s really too warm to do anything strenuous, so I’m not.

We carried the latest dresser into the house to get pictures.

We took a drive to the cemetery to water the flowers, it was quite moving, all the graves of veteran servicemen had American flags on them, it was a shame as Dave served in Korea, but didn’t get a flag, we need to look into that for next year.

29th May 2022

It was a hot day, I had planned to work on the garden and set the pond in position building a front wall to support it. I laid out the stones we got a couple of days ago to check if I had enough. It was close, I need a few extra large stones to fill in areas to match the shape of the pond, so that will have to wait a few days to get those. Kelli planted the grasses, and sowed wild flower seed, the garden is gradually coming together.

We took the dogs for a walk early to avoid the heat later in the day. We met a couple of the neighbours that we saw around but didn’t know their names, now we do.

We finished sanding the drawer fronts for the current dresser that we got free, they are birds eye maple I think, they were hidden by layers of paint and dark stained lacquer, now they live again.

28th May 2022

We had to drive to Zeeland to collect a furniture piece from Molly. She has bought several of our reloved pieces, and runs a business organising estate sales. She had found a few pieces that she gave us, which was great. Kelli’s eyes lit up when she saw them, my thought was “where are we going to put them”. We loaded everything into the back of the truck and drove to Menards to purchase things I should have bought yesterday, but forgot.

It was not a good time being a holiday weekend but I needed stuff to finish some projects. As expected the place was full with bodies buying anything and everything to do with summer, mostly grills and barbecues.

I saw several Mr and Mrs Large, a few family Gigantics and a couple of “Please don’t go out in public. The holidays bring out the best examples of unhealthy people in this area.

I had to be quick choosing the checkout that had a large lady operating, she had a special seat made from old scaffolding, which was a little difficult to get past.

I emerged into the sunlight, and we drove home. We had a friend of Kelli’s coming to collect a small bookcase, and I needed to finish putting the handles on the two matching side tables for a customer who was arriving at 6.00pm. She has bought several pieces from us recently to furnish a rental property she is buying. Kelli saw an opportunity to show her the black desk we got yesterday. She wanted a table to put a TV on and the desk would be perfect, so that’s on the list to work on.

27th May 2022

We just can’t keep away from the garden centre. We agreed that today was the best time to get a few plants for the new wild area of the garden. This weekend was pre Memorial Day so everywhere would be busy, as it is the official start of summer all the crazies would be out buying new summer tat and blocking all the roads. The plan was purchase enough stuff so that we could work on the garden without ever going out for the next three days.

First stop was the landscaping centre to buy stones for the pond surround. Kelli was instrumental in choosing the type of stone, it was the most expensive, as I would expect, but the block sizes were ideally suited. We loaded them on to a cart to take to the weigh station. Of course we had to off-load them, get the total weight, and whilst I went off to pay for them, Kelli loaded them back on to the cart. When I came back out she was trying to pull the cart towards the truck. Then we had to load them into the back of the truck all two hundred and sixteen pounds of them.

Next stop was Menards to buy another ten bags of top soil. Gradually the truck’s back end was sinking on the springs.

Then we drove to Jonkers as I wanted some wild grasses to start the planting off. We had started some grasses off from seeds in the greenhouse, but they were taking an age to grow to something decent we could plant in the ground.

Also we felt it was time to buy a flower container to mark Dave’s grave. Kelli chose an urn and selected some red, white and blue plants to put in it. The trouble was the weight of the thing. I loaded it on to the trolly,but when turning a corner the whole thing overturned meaning some careful driving was required.

We selected some grasses, and headed backroads the truck. Even more weight was added to the poor Toyota as we drove to the cemetery. As we had the urn, the plants and the dirt it was expedient to fill the urn and carry it to its location complete with the flowers, which we did, but the urn, plus a cubic foot of dirt and the three plants make it heavier. There was the sight of two people staggering towards Dave’s headstone carrying this bloody urn. Every so often it slipped from my fingers (there was not a lot to hold on to) finally we reached the place of final location, and placed it next to the headstone, there was a moment of silence, and a smile. Dave would have had a laugh watching us struggling with that urn.

26th May 2022

The dustcart struggled to lift the yard waste bin, and no wonder, it was full of the spoil from the garden churnings. There were lumps of dirt and grass, and the off-cuts of turf. I’m gradually clearing the area ready for the planting and seeding to complete the project.

I had twelve drawers to stain and seal, while Kelli set up the sprayer ready to paint the carcasses.

The wet afternoon predicted never happened, instead it was very humid which made paint and polyurethane drying take for ages.

I decided to start filling the yard waste bin with more stuff, I’m hoping this will tip the dust cart over next week.