Author: peterb51

19th February 2022

We received a couple of offers on the dresser, so in line with our first come first serve process, it will get picked up Sunday.

There was another short flurry of snow this morning, I hope this is the last as the temperature is due to rise next week.

Another visitor was a cardinal, it’s red body standing out against the white wilderness.

I had an email notification that my passport application has been approved, I should be receiving the new one soon, that will be a huge relief.

There was an amazing display of wild birds in the garden. There were many Robins flying around from our pine trees to the fence and back again, a very unusual occurrence to see so many at one time. The little sparrows that occupy the holly bush were darting out and back in doing their circuit of the garden.

It is magic to see the amount of activity at close quarters, why do they like our space so much? Could it be the amount of bird seed that we buy each month? Yep! Probably, it may have something to do with it.

I was helping Kelli with the small dresser, sanding all the drawer fronts whilst she painted the carcass. We needed to move quickly on this, to make room for the one still in the truck from yesterday, and we need the space in the truck for the dresser we’re picking up tomorrow. The whole process never ends.

18th February 2022

We carried the dresser that had the replacement drawer into the house to take pictures. It turned out good with the solid top made from the left over desk worksurface.

Additionally we finished the upholstery for the bench and took pictures of that as well.

To make the day complete we had to go to Zeeland to collect a free dresser. The house had a massive barn that was full of stuff. The owner was moving and trying to get rid of as much stuff as possible, and I’m sure if the truck was any bigger Kelli would have filled it.

The piece was okay, a quick paint job will be needed, and then out, I hope.

If Kelli finds anymore furniture, I might have to lift the roof of the garage as we are up to the rafters on this one.

During the evening, the dresser received a bit of attention but no offer yet, I guess people like to sleep on this kind of decision.

17th February 2022

Thawing snow is great, I can see grass again, the downside is all the dog poo that has been hidden is finally exposed. The back garden looked like a zoo, it filled two, five gallon buckets, what a wonderful experience that was.

There a trip to God’s township, Zeeland to collect a small dresser. We entered what could only be described as Heaven’s trailer park. It was perfectly laid out, and each mobile home was immaculate, not the usual trash pile that we have collected from in the past. The dresser was compact, just what Kelli wanted to compliment a headboard that we have been sitting on for a couple of weeks. It is hoped to sell them as a set which we have done in the past.

A lady came to collect the small side table that went quickly.

We also started on the upholstery for the bench, the fabric was some of the big roll we were given by a friend of Mike and Lesley. It is a mixture of cotton and wool, the wool part is very thick and a bugger to cut.

I measured out the piece, and Kelli hacked through it with the sissors.

I had bought an electric stapler specifically for this job, I learnt from the last upholstery job a manual one is painful to use on this fabric.

I had a delivery of a lead paint testing kit, this was something we should have had a long time ago. It was the pot belly baking table that prompted me to buy it, as the piece was around a hundred years old the paint was bound to be lead based, and sure it was. As I rubbed the swab on the paint, it turned purple, a sure sign. This means the table will have to be stripped very carefully, probably with a chemical stripper to avoid an airborne particles. Along with protective clothing that would have to be disposed of easily, the table was not the super piece we hoped for.

16th February 2022

Well a thaw is on the way, first we had the big winds then some rain, and the gutters started to overflow. Within a few hours most of the snow has gone from the roofs of most houses. The noise of the wind woke Kelli up, so that ruined her sleep, and her mood for the whole day.

I got on with sealing the top I stained yesterday. There was good news, we sold the wardrobe/dresser that we got let down on, we are due to deliver on Friday.

We also finished a small side table, took pictures of it and sold it straight away.

Whilst Kelli painted the dresser with the new drawer I got on with re-assembling the bench that we had stripped down. The original was a real piece of shit, that I wanted to rebuild differently, but Kelli wanted to reuse the reeded panels. I found a better way to fit them making the inside a more acceptable.

I still have my swollen gum, it only hurts when I sneeze, and boy does it hurt. It happened a couple of times today, it scared me in case the stitches broke.

We unloaded the desk and I proceeded to take it apart. Typical of that type of furniture it was held together with glue blocks and nails, so carful tapping with a large rubber mallet soon dealt with that.

15th February 2022

Another day for old crater mouth. Fortunately there was no pain just the swelling, but that didn’t stop the work.

We had to collect a desk from a house just along South Shore Drive. Kelli had to message them when we arrived so they could restrain their dogs.

Being savaged by a German Shepard is not a good look, and as we walked to the front door there was the sound of a large animal trying to get out.

The desk was made of solid wood with a terrible stained finish. As always our plan is the remove the two pedestals and make them into nightstands.

I managed to stain the large top for the dresser that had the missing drawer. Kelli made a good job of the drawers with just the carcass to paint. It’s a large beast so it would be great to finish this and get it out.

There was a little disappointment over the wardrobe/dresser that we thought we had sold, that was supposed to be collected last Sunday. Kelli was messaged to say they had a family emergency, and couldn’t make it, but despite other requests they failed to respond, not even reading the messages that were sent.

We have had that before, there are strange people out there, they say how it was just what they’re looking for and they were so excited, and then this happens.

Therefore back on Marketplace it goes.

I did some veneering to three drawer fronts from a mid-century style piece we have. I was pleased to have matched all the drawers vertically, but when I came to fit them, what I thought was the top drawer was in fact the middle one, so all the veneer match was all wrong, bollocks!

I guess I will have to do them all over again tomorrow.

14th February 2022

IT WASN’T SUPPOSED TO SNOW TODAY! But it did all day.

This was just the start of Valentine’s Day, a lot was happening today.

The main event was a visit to the dentist to have a tooth extracted, not my most favourite experience.

I did a little work in the garage, mainly getting the next dresser ready for Kelli to get started on painting.

My appointment was two fifteen, I had time for lunch, and get ready.

I had to brush the thick covering of snow off the truck which I started to warm up the inside.

The snowstorm obviously was not expected as the roads hadn’t been ploughed or salted, meaning I had to be careful out there.

As I got into the truck the low fuel light was on, bloody typical! now on top of the dental visit I had to worry about running out of fuel.

I decided to take the highway as it is a direct route to the surgery rather than going through town with all the traffic lights.

I got there with about five minutes to spare, I was booked in and waited for the ordeal to start.

The assistant took my blood pressure, it was high, well what do you expect? So I had to wait a short time to take it again, and again, eventually it hit the acceptable numbers, and the procedure started.

With the right side of my face numb the dentist started work.

It was bloody horrible, for a tooth that was supposed to be loose, it put up one hell of a fight.

All sorts of tools were placed in my mouth, there were levers and pointed things, all came into play, I expected him to call for a wedge.

All the time I kept thinking “ Don’t die” as my blood pressure must be sky high by now.

After a bit of drilling it came out, and he dropped it on the tray with a clunk.

He then sealed up my San Andreas crater with a couple of stitches and that was that.

I was cast out into the blizzard with my face frozen with the task of finding a petrol station, and be able to speak coherently.

Fortunately there was one just around the corner, all I had to do was find the entrance.

It was Monday, it was snowing, and everyone in Holland was on the road, I found the way in, parked at an available pump, and went inside to pay( pre pay is the norm here)

I managed to say “Forty on pump 6” and it actually understandable even though I had a gauze pad in my mouth I must have sounded like Marlon Brando.

Then it was back on the highway, and home with the snow still falling.

13th February 2022

I have a number of pencils in the garage, but most have entered the other dimension that I cannot find the way into. Therefore the ones I still have are very precious, and they usually reside behind my ear. At the end of the day I will often have one behind each, and they get removed and placed on the coffee table. The next day I forget where they are and start looking for them in the garage. That is often where I’ll find a different one that I had cast aside because the lead had broken. This encourages me to sharpen it and place it behind my ear.

Now this pencil is even more precious, but whilst marking out a cutting line I placed it on a small space on the end of the bench, the place where everything I had just used gets placed.

When I came to use the pencil again it wasn’t there, I moved a few things about but it had disappeared. I was then looking in every other place I could think of, but I couldn’t find that, or any other one. This made me angry because I knew where it should have been, it was only placed there seconds before I put my combination square down. That was my clue, I lifted up the instrument and there, perfectly aligned was my pencil, all bright yellow and sharp. That got me thinking, I should look out for very fat pencils that cannot be obscured by tools.

There was another four inches of snow last night. I think there is a city ordinance that stipulates that snow can only fall in two or four inch batches.

It is about time it goes away so I can start work on the redesigned rear garden, that should be a fun project.

12th February 2022

We carried the wardrobe/ drawer combo into the house to take pictures. It turned out well, Kelli had stained the top with a pickle wash to hide some of the colour variations. These can be difficult to sand out without going through the veneer, so the wash is the best answer.

We took the pictures and it was posted on Marketplace then we stopped for lunch.

Before we finished, it was sold, due for collection tomorrow.

It is amazing when this happens, high fives all round.

I continued work on the new top for the dresser that I had to make a new drawer for. I used the solid oak top from the desk that was stripped off, unfortunately it was not quite long enough.

I added a strip of oak to each end using biscuits to align everything.

The next job was to clean out the dust bag on the extraction, what a shit job, I had enough wood crap to go into chipboard production.

I scooped everything into Aldi paper bags and put it into the rubbish bin, I need to research if I can dig it into the soil.

11th February 2022

There was more snow overnight, but it had turned slushy by the time we had to go to Kelli’s doctors appointment.

A lady that had bought the cabinet with the two doors came to collect it. She was a repeat customer who didn’t know where she was going to put it, but she wanted it anyway. That’s the kind of customer we want, driven by the desire to buy our stuff.

I spent a lot of time searching for screws to fit the knobs Kelli wanted for the wardrobe/ drawer combo. The collection of screws I had did not have the correct thread, I only found four that would work, I only needed four, so success!

I started work on the pot belly table by removing one of the pot belly drawers. This was in a bad way, the plywood had de-laminated. I removed it carefully, but I’m not sure that I can save it.

I will look around to see if I can buy a sheet of thin ply and just make new parts.

10th February 2022

I had my dental appointment this morning, what I thought was a cavity was a cracked tooth that, in the dentist’s option can’t be saved, what a drag.

So next week I’m losing the tooth, then embarking on another dental experience starting in April.

I got back in time to meet the lady who bought the coffee table. We explained how to attach the base, a little different as it was a revolving type. I loaded it into her vehicle and off she went.

I managed to finish the dresser I had been strengthening before Kelli got a call from the lady who bought the coffee table who was confused on how to fit the base. I was handed the phone and tried to talk her through the procedure. It quickly became evident that she didn’t understand. I suggested that I drive to her house and fit it, which is what I did.

She lived nine miles away, so it didn’t take that long. She had it in her basement , the lighting was bloody awful, thank goodness for the torch on my phone. In a short time it was all together, the lady then realised that the top rotated, which was a novel feature.

As a reward she gave me a bag of cherries, which was appreciated, and eaten during the evening.