Author: peterb51

9th June 2022

Well the solar powered pond fountain arrived, five minutes later it was gushing water. It would have been sooner but there was a box within a box which added to the delay. The fountain was impressive, when the sun shone, but when it was obscured by clouds it dwindled away, quite amusing. I had to adjust the flow rate to stop the area around the pond becoming waterlogged, but once that was done it was well under control.

I visited several establishments dealing with exhaust systems, or what they call mufflers over here.

The first place, the guy didn’t even get off his seat, he just called from his office. He asked me what the problem was , I told him, his reply was “ well what do you want us to do?” I was stunned, I waited a few second, “fix it?”

I took an instant dislike to the guy, lazy bastard.

I then went to The Muffler Man. I pulled into the car park, there were twenty or more cars parked, gone was the expectation that I could drive in and get it fixed while I waited.

The girl behind the counter said that I would go on the list, and get done in turn. I suggested that I get on the list then go off and get other things done. “Oh no you can’t do that, you might miss your slot, then the technicians will go on to the next job, and you’ll miss your place”

They all use the term “Drop off” meaning you leave the vehicle, I can do that, but what do I do?I do not have a spare. I would have to wander about like a homeless person killing time. These places are situated miles from anywhere decent and there only so much coffee you can drink. So I had to leave it to another day, and continue on to collect another free piece of furniture that Kelli had found. This was way over the north side on North Lakewood drive, where the posh people live. I pulled into the entrance to the house. It’s driveway was like a ski jump, I wasn’t convinced the old Toyota could make the climb, so instead I carried the piece to the truck. As I’ve said before, these people obviously have money because of where they live, but they have crap furniture. I have yet to find anywhere throwing out a Nelson or Eames piece because it had a scratch.

8th June 2022

Good day for sales, both the side table and the large heavy bugger were purchased rekindling our faith in people.

The rain stopped a lot of our outdoor activities because a lot of seeds that I ordered arrived, with the rest tuning up by the weekend there would be enough to cover half of Holland.

I did more stripping/sanding of the headboard although I would have preferred to do it outside, but the weather, you know. Instead I cut down tops for the two side tables that were once a vanity unit.

It was a testing day, Kelli had a bad night and was not feeling her best, and neither was I.

I did manage to ascertain what was wrong with the exhaust system on the truck, the clamp at the manifolds end has rusted away, so a trip to The Muffler Man is needed.

7th June 2022

We needed some supplies from Menards , I would take the opportunity to pick up a few bags of black mulch. Of course the weekenders must have purged the place of the stuff. Every other colour was there in abundance but the bay where the black mulch was stored was completely empty, not even a stain on the concrete was left.

So a little disgruntled, we drove back home to start on some jobs.

Kelli prepared for more spraying and I continued to strip and and the headboard.

We took a break to move some plants and to level the pond ready for filling.

The wildflower garden at the front of the house is starting to show signs of life, a few small flowers have appeared, hopefully more will follow.

We did share a strawberry from the newly protected bed, which was pleasant. There is still a lot to do on the wild gardens at the back, I’m a bit frustrated that things take so long to grow, I guess at this period of my life time is precious and I want to see results.

6th June 2022

It was hard to watch anything about the platinum jubilee without feeling homesick. I’m not the staunchest royal fan, but I do love my country.

I like that the royal family are what makes the country what it is, the history and the tradition.

The coverage here is limited, what I have seen made me teary, when it comes to celebrating, you can’t beat the British.

Kelli did some spray painting of a large dresser whilst I pottered about sanding and weeding in between the showers.

Kelli asked Larry about his new buddy that he has staying, we have nicknamed his place as Larry’s halfway house. To me he looks like a psycho killer, with this wild music and a hoody always covering his head, even in the hot sun.

I will keep a great distance between us.

5th June 2022

I spent the day not doing what I planned.

There was early morning rain that had finished by the time we finished breakfast. Kelli had made something out of nothing as we had run out of our regular breakfast ingredients.

I managed to finish the bottom bed board, and grabbed the headboard to start on that.

I also cut up some pine boards ready for another job.

What changed the dynamics of the day was the discovery of a half eaten strawberry in the bed. This was the ripest, largest and most desirable fruit in the garden, so we were both pissed at this.

I looked around for some timber, finding a number of pieces leftover from pieces we got from a disassembled sculpture in Saugatuck.

We needed some cages that could cover the beds, so I spent the rest of the afternoon build these. There were a number of polypropylene mesh pieces that were used as separators between the paving slabs that I had bought. We saved these, thinking they might be useful sometime. I built the frames and stretched the mesh tightly over the structure. The final act was to fit the cages and stand back to admire.

I just managed to have enough mesh to do the job, if I need anymore, then I would have be buy another dozen paving slabs.

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.