Author: peterb51

21st March 2022

I have barely the strength to tap the screen on my phone because today has been frantic. The temperature was set to hit the high sixties meaning I planned todo a lot outside.

First I had to remake the floor frame for the greenhouse. That didn’t take long, just a few cut downs and re-screws and it was done.

The next job was laying more paving. I decided to lift up what I had already put down as I wasn’t happy with it. Therefore it was starting again, this time I wanted to make a better job of it.

I mixed the cement a little sloppy this time and spread it out evenly, I dampened down the back of the slab and set it down, to my amazement it was level in all directions. Whilst on a run I laid more, and they all went down level. Then I ran out of readymix, all I had were two bags of cement that I must have bought in error as they were in a similar colour bag.

I managed to lay about a quarter of the area so that was okay.

Just to finish me off, I carried ten bags of hardcore that I had left over to fill in the frame of the greenhouse.

On top of all that we had people collecting furniture and handing over money, a great day.

20th March 2022

It was working outside day, and the sun was shining. We wanted to put the plastic cover over the greenhouse frame, it looked pretty simple according to the instructions, but we all know how rubbish these really are.

It should have been like putting on a sock, and so it was, but only if it was one size smaller.

We struggled for quite a while until we thought it was as best that we could achieve. Then we tried to re-zip the door shut. There was no way it was going to happen without some serious damage.

I decided to remove the wooden frame that I had made to control the size and squareness of the greenhouse, this would allow the sides to move in so the door would close. I would the then re-size the wooden frame to fit.

The other job I wanted to finish was the raised bed.

This required lining with landscaping fabric and filling with dirt.

The fabric is very light and difficult to control when there is a breeze, so I did all the cutting inside, and carried it out to fit.

That went surprisingly well. In between all this Kelli kept needing help with her tasks, so I was flirting around back and forth trying to get things done.

All the grasses had to be cut back at the front of the house, that has improved the curb appeal, now just waiting for the lawn to make an appearance.

Last job of the afternoon was to start filling the raised bed. That consisted of filling a barrow with dirt and wheeling it to the area of the bed.

God that was tedious, I decided to add a few inches of dirt first, then empty the five bags of compost into this cavernous pit, then call it a day.

19th March 2022

The cold dreary weather has returned. I had started sanding a top for a six drawer dresser that had a powder coating which was proving difficult to remove. It was impervious to heat and chemicals, so the only option left was sanding.

I still had a drawer to repair, this one was pretty bad. As well as the side the back had the bottom grooved section had broken off, and someone had glued the floor into the remaining side pieces with hot melt. How do people think that’s a good solution?

I replaced the missing portions with new wood and cut new grooves, so now I was ready to reassemble. Now if I were an octopus it would be easy, but my fingers were cold as Kelli had the garage door open to give plenty of light in order for her to paint drawer fronts. My numb digits did not work very well, coupled with the floor panel being wavy, made it hard to align with the groves in the drawer body. There was a lot of bad language, and feeble attempts, but eventually I managed to get it all together.

Several nails later to hold everything together and I was done. Our customers will never know the pain and suffering I endure, and I doubt they even care which is one reason why I get pissed off when they try to get a deal on our furniture pieces

18th March 2022

I had the letter informing me of the date for my residency interview, that was a relief, I thought that they had forgotten me. It’s the middle of next month, so a bit of time to get my shit together. It may still be difficult for Kelli as we have to go to Detroit which is about three hours away, we might drive down the day before and stay in a hotel, just so we don’t have to set off too early, but I am excited to get this over.

We finished a couple of pieces today, one was the stacking drawers, the other was the matching side tables.

We are nearing capacity in the space we have.

The two mid century dresser have yet to be collected, plus the new pieces all make moving about perilous. I had an encounter with a broom that nearly ended badly. I caught it with my clown shoes causing it flick up and hit my chin. This has been the week for injuries and cracked thumbs, and I’m fed up with it all.

17th March 2022

Another early spring day, the sound of birds chirping away against the noise of the paint spraying pump. Kelli was on a roll. She was busy painting a cluster of drawers and side table carcasses. I, on the other hand was trying to stretch chicken wire over the base of the raised bed. I was successful in sticking a piece of wire in my finger, suddenly the stapler looked like a murder weapon. There was blood running down the handle, it’s amazing how much blood comes from a small wound.

With my finger wrapped in a shop towel, I soldiered on.

It is not easy trying to pull the wire taught, but I did the best I could.

When I fitted it into the frame of the raised bed it did stretch.

We managed to sell the two mid century dressers to a single customer, oh the sound of cash registers echoing in the garage.

16th March 2022

Another trip out to purchase timber, ready mix cement and a load of compost.

I want to make a start on all the big outside jobs whilst Kelli paints and prepares other pieces.

On my journey back I was waiting at traffic lights opposite Bob Evans, otherwise know as heaven’s waiting room. I can see how it got it’s name, there was a constant stream of old dears shuffling towards the front door. It must be the only restaurant to have a walking stick rack. I used to go there with Dave, he was an older guy, but most of the waitresses were older than him, but he used to flirt with them all the time, I miss that.

I have often thought that I should go there once a year as a tribute to a great chap.

On the way back, I passed a house with a flagpole that had a large Trump flag flapping in the breeze. It must be an absolute nightmare when you want to sell the house next door to it, and that was what they were trying to do.

The sudden devaluation of your home is bad enough when there is an economical downturn, but to lose value due to the person next door being a douchebag is unbearable. I will be checking on progress.

Kelli was busy spraying and I was outside working on the base for the greenhouse and building the bottom frame for the raised bed. That extra hour of daylight is a great incentive to get things done

15th March 2022

This was the first day we could comfortably have the garage doors open without freezing our assess off. The sun was shining, a really pleasant day.

This was just as well as we had to do some spraying of the mid century style dressers. Kelli was keen to get them on to Marketplace today.

The race was on. A rub down with some fine sandpaper and wiped off with a tack cloth and it was ready for the paint.

I tackled the tall unit, it was going good until a drop of paint dripped out of the sprayer landing onto the freshly covered surface.

I mopped the blob with a piece of shop towel, then had to let it dry. In the meantime Kelli successfully painted the rest of the tall dresser and the long unit.

Once the tall unit top had been resprayed and fully dried in the sun we carried them both inside to take the pictures.

The lady turned up to collect the child’s kitchen, a good one to get rid of, and it did surprise me that we sold it so quick.

I now hope these two dressers get snapped up just as quick.

14th March 2022

It makes a change not to see snow covering everything, what is left will be gone in a couple of days.

We had someone interested in the toy kitchen, they were expected at around five, so that got the day off to a good start.

We had a lot to get going, Kelli wanted to make a lot of progress on the two mid-century dressers, and I had to repair three drawers.

Mid afternoon Kelli had a doctors appointment, consisting of the usual tuning fork and some joint manipulation. I’m still on the fence regarding the body tuning, but I sort of understand how we respond to vibrations in other people. I used to think of it as “chemistry ” but it make a bit more sense that if our vibrations don’t match we won’t get on.

13th March 2022

The clocks went forward so there is only four hours time difference with the UK.

There was more snow last night, another two inches, by lunchtime it was beginning to thaw.

According to the weather forecast it should start to get warmer now, I hope so, I want to get my outside work done.

Kelli didn’t have a good night, her sleep was disturbed by the next door neighbour playing music rather loud. I sure didn’t hear anything, but it was my job to go round and ask the to turn it down in future.

I put on my bulletproof vest, as you can’t be to sure how people react to this type of complaint, people have been killed for less.

Fortunately they were okay about it, so I didn’t die, which is always a good result.

We worked on some of the new stuff. Kelli had mixed up a good colour for the two mid century dressers, so we ploughed on with those. However there were a number broken drawers which is a drag, but it will keep me busy.

12th March 2022

Well more snow came, not the quality stuff, this was fine farty dust that settled on the frozen ground.

By rights, this should be the last snow of the winter, you certainly won’t get any complaints from me.

Kelli finished the toy kitchen, it took longer to revamp than the full size installation of the kitchen in my cottage.

We took pictures and posted it on Marketplace now we await the deluge of inquiries.

I wasn’t in the right mood to do much in the garage, it happens sometimes, I’ll get over it.

I recently re-connected with someone from my old school, I now know it was probably a mistake because most of her correspondence has been rather right wing conspiracy bollocks. I had a tenant at the cottage once who used to spout the most outrageous claptrap, I had to hold my tongue because, to me, was absolute rubbish, and I couldn’t believe anyone could take it seriously.

Of course being in the US there is all kinds of crap flying around about everything, I try to just smile and ignore it.