Author: peterb51

25th May 2022

It was a shit day from morning to night.

Kelli had a bad night, leading to a bad day, her hormonal rage complimented the rain storm.

I tried to work in the garage but didn’t “feel” it.

Kelli went for a drive, revving the engine, and racing along the road burning up what fuel there was left in the tank.

I had to get out of that toxic atmosphere so I went for a walk. It was a long walk, as there is no bar very close, so I headed for the cemetery to visit Dave. He had left this world for a few years now, but it’s one of the few places of peace. Kelli turned up a few minutes later, I guess we shared the same thought.

There was another school shooting in Texas, there is shock and sadness, but nothing ever happens. The thought of gun control comes up, but there are alway politicians that disagree with any form of restrictions when over half of Americans want it, I don’t get it.

“ It would effect jobs” that’s all I hear.

American is a dangerous place to live, that is obvious, schools and churches should be the safest places, but they’re not. Woe betide I get on the wrong side of someone at Menards going after the same plank of wood.

24th May 2022

We had the nod from the customer that she wanted the two tall side tables with a stained walnut top and drawers. So we went all out to get the pieces stripped. Layer after layer was removed, just leaving the factory finish that was as hard as nails. With a lot of elbow grease, it was down to raw cedar.

But first there was the matter of collecting a furniture piece that Kelli had bought from Goodwill whilst she was out shopping with Greer. After the last long heavy dresser that we did, I suggested that we stop doing them because of their size and weight, and also the space they take up in the garage. Well she took note of that, folded it up and filed it away in the waste basket, and bought one anyway.

Getting to Goodwill and seeing it I couldn’t contain emitting a squeal of shock. After taking the drawers out, it was still bloody heavy, but we got it in, along with all the drawers, yippee bloody yippee.

23rd May 2022

We drove to Jenison to collect a pair of tall side tables, to find a matching pair is quite rare, so we shouldn’t have much trouble selling those.

On the way back I stopped off a Menards to buy some bags of top soil for the new planting area. I loaded ten bags on the trolly struggling to push it to the checkout. By the time I spread it out on the garden, I wondered where it had all gone. I recall what six cubic yards looked like, I would need 216 bags to equal that.

Back in the garage Kelli immediately started work on the new side tables but removing the old knobs. They were a fleur de lys style which is okay if you are French, but in America? Not a hot selling point.

Kelli was also doing a selling job, contacting the recent customer who had already bought a couple of pieces from us to furnish a rental house. There was definitely some interest there, so she will continue to subtly push.

22nd May 2022

As it wasn’t raining I did a bit of gardening, working on the new planting area. The newly turfed lawn has grown, but I have to leave it another week before trimming it.

We had another sale, this time it was the cabinet with the baskets that was bought by the lady who purchased the long dresser.

We also had the couple who bought our old bed frame. I did a short tutorial on how it went together as I couldn’t find the assembly instructions. We helped them load it into their truck and off they went.

Kelli started on the latest acquisition a tall white dresser covered in a bad paint job. I sanded off a drawer front to see if it was good enough to be refinished in a clear coat.

Sometimes there is a hidden gem under bad paint, but often there is a ugly stain, hence the reason for the paint. These were salvageable fortunately.

21st May 2022

After all the excitement of bed building yesterday, today the headboard was delivered.

“This shouldn’t take long “ was my optimistic thought, I was wrong again.

Because the bed frame and headboard were manufactured by two different companies the attachment holes were slightly mid-aligned.

Fortunately there were enough plates, bolts and washers to make the assembly work.

Next job was a leaking toilet. Since I replaced the cistern there was a slight leak coming from one of the fixing bolts that hold the water tank to the pedestal, I had followed the installation instructions, but I needed to stop the water getting on to the wooden floor.

I disconnected everything, and rebuilt it moving the rubber washer to places I thought might be more effective, and it was!

So two success’s in one day, things could only get better.

Sales for the month had been a bit stagnant, but suddenly there was a flurry of activity on the large dresser. This was eventually sold, and we also sold one that wasn’t even posted thanks to brilliant salesmanship by Kelli.

20th May 2022

It was all change at 593 Central Bay because the new bed was due.

We had bought a mid century style bed frame last year it was far more stylish than the previous one. It was a long job to assemble and once the mattress was installed it was a bit low. So the first modification was to increase the height by a couple of inches. This was a great improvement, but the main disadvantage was the shelf that ran around the perimeter. This was something that we always banged our legs on, Kelli more than I.

Therefore it was decreed that it would have to go. There was then an intensive research period, well actually it was an evening scanning the internet. Kelli found a more modern design, and ordered it.

So it was delivered, a relatively slim box with a bit of weight to it. The FedEx man stumbled up the driveway and laid it down.

I had to stop what I was doing and assemble it outside, then once assembled I had to disassemble the old bed and swap it over.

The first problem was moving the mattress, this is a king size that was heavy and the rigidity of a half inflated barrage balloon. It was so difficult, it didn’t want to go in the direction we wanted, it had a mind of its own, it decided to fall flat on the floor just outside the bedroom

I commenced the disassembly, removing screws, slats and frame elements and handing them to Kelli over the floor laying mattress. A good vacuum and a clean and we were ready for the new frame, but first we had to move the mattress.

With all of our combined strength we managed to lift it from one edge and rest it against the wall, but Kelli had to support it to stop it collapsing. This meant I had to carry the frame by myself carefully avoiding the light fitting above the dining table and the doorway.

With the frame in place we were ready, so I thought to fit the mattress. Kelli reminded me that the slats had to be fitted first. That could have been embarrassing watching the mattress fall through the frame.

I started fitting the slats, some had double sided tape on them, presumably to stop the mattress from slipping, well I’m sure that was wishful thinking on behalf of the manufacturer because once the mattress was on top of the frame, just the weight made it impossible to move.

After a bit of a struggle, we managed to position it properly, after all that effort I felt like I needed to lay on top of it for a while.

19th May 2022

I was ready to sit down at lunchtime to enjoy a cup of tea and a couple of mini muffins, a treat I allow myself twice a day. It would probably be many more times, but I have to do some work to pull my weight.

I placed my treats on the coffee table and walked over to the kitchen to collect my brewed tea. When I returned there were no sign of the cakes, I looked around to make sure I didn’t put them somewhere else, I even looked under a book, why I don’t know, I was desperate. The muffins were particularly attractive because some of the blueberries were visible on top, whereas others are buried inside, so I was looking forward to stuffing those down my neck.

I noticed Dhama, the old dog was looking a bit sheepish, I therefore deduced that this animal had helped herself to my treat, paper case and all. This was not something she has done before, I have often left food on the table, which was obviously not tempting enough.

I did think of eating her food before she got to it, but decided it was foul, and better left to the dogs.

18th May 2022

I eventually got round to doing a job I should have done a couple of years ago. In the bathroom the cistern was a bit dodgy, and every so often it kept running, which was annoying, and a waste of water. So armed with a replacement kit that I already had bought, I set about the task.

I’ve replaced cisterns before in England, but the was the first American bog that I had worked on.

Turning the water supply off was easy, there is always a tap at the entry point. Things went south from there. With most plastic fittings they are hand tightened, but the lock nut holding the float column in place was rock solid. I tried every type of adjustable spanner to loosen it to no avail. I had to resort to drastic measures, the hacksaw. It was difficult to cut because of restricted space, but finally I used a chisel and a hammer to crack it.

I followed the instructions carefully, and slowly each old part was removed and replaced with a brand new one.

After about an hour the job was finished, the careful adjustments to the input flow and the flush were made and all that was left was the inaugural turn of the handle to check there were no leaks.

A good job done.

Kelli had a doctors appointment this morning, but before that we had to go shopping for a new DVD player an Best Buy. We pulled into the car park and the place was deserted, we checked the opening time, it was 11.00am.

What stores open at that time? We now had to kill three quarters of an hour. First stop was Goodwill, usually a good place to start time wasting, but there was nothing worth spending our money on there.

Returning to Best Buy we selected a new player and headed back for her appointment.

It had been a rainy day which put paid to any paint spraying so I worked in the bathroom instead.

17th May 2022

We needed to get back to the furniture business, the turf laying was a distraction but there was a garage full of pieces that needed working on.

I had been scratching around on a dresser removing the paint, but it was a sunny day so we decided to get the spray gun out and blitz a couple of dressers.

We started on the drawers, Kelli mixed the paint, I taped up the sides to avoid the overspray. Everything was connected up, the trigger was pressed, but no paint came out, plenty of air but no liquid.

I took the gun apart and cleaned it again just in case there was any clag left in it, but it appeared okay. Tried it again, still no paint.

Now it was resorting to YouTube to see what we were missing. Getting on to the manufacturer’s videos we finally found the possible answer to the problem. A tiny air hole was blocked, this stopped the jug from being pressurised. Once that was cleaned out it was like a new sprayer.

Kelli finished all the painting really quickly which was just as well because of all the faffing around we did trying to get the system to work. So two dressers and twelve drawers had been primed, ready for the top coats.

We did have someone interested in the off-cuts of the turf, so I stacked them on the drive, but he ducked out, typical, even free stuff is too much for some people.

16th May 2022

We drove to the local garden centre for the annual purchase of flowers, most of which will be dead in five months. They certainly brighten up the back garden and anywhere Kelli can find to plant them. It was a glorious day, warm, but not blistering heat. The garden centre certainly looked different than the last time we were there, driving down the path in the truck.

We chuckled to each other as we walk around the same route.

It was different this year, last year Kelli had to force herself to get there, and she dressed for the occasion. Typically one of the staff said to her “Oh I like your poncho” which floors me every time. Okay, next to me Kelli always dresses fashionably so I should expect her to get the compliments and not I.

Once we we back I did my new daily job of watering the lawn, whilst Kelli planted out the new plants making the deck pleasant and colourful.