Author: peterb51

19th October 2022

The big machines trundled along the road in front of the house, they were heading for the only undeveloped plot in Central Bay Avenue.

There were big trucks, a bulldozer a tree eater and various tree cutting equipment. The plot had been available for quite a while, much to the relief of the people occupying the houses either side, but that was about to change.

All through the morning the big trucks passed full of tree wreckage, taking away the habitat of the wild animals that we see wandering about. We see this happening so regularly, vast housing estates are devouring the once farmlands and closing up the spaces. In the years I have visited the area I have noticed the expanding urbanisation of the town. Try to find a parking space in downtown, it’s now got to “find a space, now buy a car”. Holland now has its own rush hour. As we travel about collecting or delivering furniture we are so often aware that the townships are merging, Kelli feels that Holland is growing towards Grand Rapids. The big corporations are fuelling this expansion by wanting to employ highly educated workers from outside the state, and most of these live in these estates, it pushes up house prices taking them out of reach of the first time buyers, a familiar story.

We were fortunate to get our house at the price we paid in the location so close to the lake, if it had gone on the market it would have been well out of our reach.

By mid afternoon the heavy machinery had left, the area was stripped bare, including the roots, now it is ready for the builders to start their jobs.

18th October 2022

We had to deliver the dresser to Jenison today.

The address led us to a brand new housing estate. All the floor plants looked the same the only difference were the roofline, and there seemed no logic to the order in which the structures are build. The house that we delivered to was surrounded by unfinished shells, and there was timber and trusses stacked all over the place. One shell was full of window units. I could not believe nothing gets stolen here. If it was in the UK it would be a different matter, even a box of screws would get nicked. Maybe the builders here have a sniper located in the tree to pick off potential thieves.

We made a pit stop at Goodwill, mainly because I needed the toilet ( cold weather you know) Kelli found three pieces of furniture, and because it was old git’s day she got a good discount.

I can’t believe just how cold it is, I was trying to select stones for the last gabion but my fingers froze. It also didn’t help that the stones near the bottom of the heap were covered in thick mud which was also wet and cold. I manage to do a bit before I gave up.

People whose job it is to work outside in all weathers get my appreciation. I could never work on framing a house in the wintertime, as I’m not that good at hitting nails in straight and I’m more likely to hit my fingers and not realise it.

17th October 2022

It was expected to rain all day, meaning no painting today. Kelli continued work on the white painted cedar dresser. I ducked in and out repairing a drawer and sanding fronts and top.

The rain would come in waves, at one point the temperature dropped and we were hit by a hailstorm. This is what we had to look forward to.

Late afternoon we had buyers for the large dresser, they had traveled an hour to collect it, with that gone there is a little more space in the garage, and, another piece that we sold yesterday goes out tomorrow.

16th October 2022

Dhama continues to struggle getting around.

Her early morning constitutional takes much longer, but as soon as food is available she still moves like a missile. It’s sad to watch her struggle, and you would think of the number of dogs Kelli has gone through she would be use to it, but it’s still upsetting for her.

She did find a harness that straps around the back legs so that it can be lifted to make moving around a little easier, we tried it out on a short walk, it seems to help a bit.

We did a bit of gardening, planting out the things we bought yesterday, now we will draw a line under anymore gardening until after snow goes, I am now waiting for the deluge of leaves that will happen very soon.

The wonderful colours of the trees that we can see is amazing, Larry’s maple is beautiful this year.

There was an inquiry for the long dresser, where we had to shoot a video of the drawer opening action, then nothing seem to happen, we will wait and see if they reply.

Kelli was also concerned that the white dresser with the maple top and teal knobs had been posted FOR A DAY and hadn’t sold. She was convinced the it was the knob colour that was putting people off, so she was determined to do something about it.

After playing around with different combinations of knobs and colours she finally settled on dark grey.

After painting them and posting new pictures it sold tonight. Was it the knob colour that did it? We might never know, but, I didn’t care my wife is brilliant, and she also sold the long dresser, all from a seated position.

15th October 2022

Dhama had trouble getting about, it appeared that both her legs were giving her problems.

We had visited the vet a two weeks ago but nothing could be determined, so we continued to give her anti- inflammatory tablets, but they were all gone.

Kelli managed to get through to the surgery and arranged to see one of the more experienced vets. This meant getting Dhama into the back of the truck. Usually she doesn’t like being lifted, but this time there was no objections, a sure sign the something was wrong.

The vet met us outside and watched as she was walked around. He did a bit of probing and feeling around her back leg joints. He then dropped some water in her ear that made her shake her head, immediately she fell on her back legs. This meant she had little feeling in her back legs and the vet suggested that she had a nerve problem in her spine.

All this was not good news, he gave us more anti-inflammatory and muscle relaxers plus another supplement that would slow her down a bit, and take pressure off her back.

We weren’t sure what that meant, but after giving her just one she was out, almost sleeping where she stood. They seemed very powerful, I might even try one of those myself.

I pressure washed the end of the garage that had become covered with green stuff, a problem because it was facing north. It alway happens that it gets done when it’s cold, never in the summer when getting covered in spray is quite pleasant.

14th October 2022

“Kelli! Kelli! We’ve been burgled, someone has stolen all the measuring cups from the drawer, hang on, I’ve found them, they’re all in the sink”

Kelli had a baking time, that means she uses every conceivable container and implements in the kitchen, but she did make fantastic chocolate chip biscuits, nothing like home made biscuits. They are so good that I have to limit myself to just one per up of tea, it’s a struggle.

We were expecting someone to turn up to buy the long dresser, but yet again they chickened out.

We finished another dresser, it had been a hard job because it had been finished with an armour coat, but underneath was solid maple.

13th October 2022

There had been quite a storm last night, the front lawn was littered with leaves, twigs and branches. When the sun eventually shone the light filtered though the changing colours like stained glass, this is a fantastic time of year.

Of course what I’m not looking forward to is the massive leaf dump.

We drove to Zeeland for Kelli’s doctors appointment, he said she is continuing to get stronger. This whole episode is teaching me a lot about how the mind and body works, I never thought about the person’s frequency and vibration effecting our relationship with others, I always believed that it was “Chemistry“ that worked or didn’t work between people. Therefore “Tuning” is the secret to healthy living as well as good food.

So in a way I’m also benefiting from Kelli’s journey, although like an old violin I might need a bit of tuning myself.

12th October 2022

A great day to work outside, a rare day in the coming week according to the weather channel.

We had a call from the optometrist that my new glasses were available for collection. So we rushed round to get them.

I had one reading and a bifocal set which I have not had before. Putting them on for the first time felt strange, the fringing effect disturbed me, but I guess I will get used to it.

I finally got round to planting the English bluebell bulbs I had found online. I decided to plant them under a tree in the front where all the wild flowers are. I scraped three concentric circles around the tree trunk, and set them three inches apart, if they all grow it should look fantastic.

I finished filling the second gabion, it is always a difficult job to fit the top panel when the sides are bowed out. The joining connector is a spiral wire that is wound down the corner holding the panels together, a clever idea.

I have just one left to do, then the diminishing rock pile will disappear, about time to.

We took pictures of the large Afghan dresser, boy! That is a heavy beast.

11th October 2022

The long dresser is now finished. Kelli painted it in a very pale blue that I bought from the bargain shelf at Menards. These are paints that get mixed for a customer who then decides it’s wrong, and they return it.

They charge nine bucks for a gallon which is a great price. We scour the shelves most time we go there, often there are colours that no sensible person would chose, not even us.

We also had to go to the north side to collect some free stuff.

The person had three dressers to dispose of, two of them had badly blistered tops that we gave a wide birth, choosing one that might be okay, although heavy was made from particle board. This will either work or get put on the bonfire.

A lady came to pick up a long candle holder, well it was a long piece of four by four with a load of holes in it. I never thought we would sell the thing, but I should never underestimate my wife’s ability to make money from nothing.

10th October 2022

Off to Menards to buy some primer and sandpaper the most used commodities in the garage.

It’s sad to say that a visit to this store does fill me with joy, although nothing really changes in the place, at least I know where everything is, and there is still 11% discount on everything.

With the primer bought, Kelli can get on with the large dresser we collected from Mohammed the Afghan.

Within a few hours she had transformed it. I had to repair a drawer, so I searched around for some material. There are advantages and disadvantages of keeping scrap timber, the good thing is finding the right size, but the bad is tripping and falling over all the rest.

Note to self, clean the space again.

I also started priming some parts of the kitchen unit, thats a bit of a drags as I will have to remove all the plywood back and floor panels.

This is the time of year when we are chasing the weather. We can’t rely on warm sunny days anymore, and the week ahead is not great, but that’s what we have to deal with.

We managed a bike ride down to the big lake, the water was calm and the sun reflected on the surface and almost blinded me as we turned the corner. The snow fences are up on the beach, getting ready for the white stuff.