Author: peterb51

1st December 2021

Larry’s friends are much like the vehicles he works on, old and needing constant maintenance. The one old guy that turned up today was the epitome of that. He was like the typical Woodstock survivor, long white hair growing into a long white beard with no noticeable difference, I thought he was wearing a white burka.

He arrives whenever his van needs attention, so Larry sees him once a week.

So whilst the bonnet is up and being worked on the old guy wanders around with his dog, his Gandalf locks blowing in the breeze.

The completion of the job is signalled by Larry coughing his lungs up, and the shuffling of the old guy communicating with the usual grunts and groans.

We had to drive up the lakeshore drive to collect a free dresser. This takes us past some of the most desirable properties in the area. Therefore I was expecting something of interest, an Eames of Nelson piece in search of some loving restoration. What was waiting for us in front of the garage was a cheap piece of crap. I was disappointed, but amazed that they would show their neighbours the rubbish furniture they must have in their home.

For us it was to be expected, this type of dresser is the kind that we can quickly repaint and sell, and it was free.

On the way back we stopped off at a thrift store we hadn’t been to in a long while.

We were immediately drawn to a selection of artificial Christmas trees, or rather I was led to where the trees were. Kelli had been hinting that we should get a new tree, as our old one was too small. Now when Kelli hints at something beware, it is likely to be delivered the next day by Amazon.

The lucky tree chosen was tall and bushy, at over eight feet would sit well in our high ceiling . It came apart in three pieces, which was just as well because it was heavy, but we managed to squeeze it into the back of the truck. We were fortunate that it was old git’s discount day. Kelli found a number of strange items that she planned to sell, but I had the unfortunate honour of carrying them around trailing behind my wife.

I was thinking, “Is this is what my life has become, a sad person carrying tat on old git discount day?” I guess it is.

There was a lot of activity on Marketplace this evening, we managed to sell the fully restored train wreck and the buffet that went on this evening, getting sales for December off to a flying start.

30th November 2021

Well my new nickname is “Turbo jet dip shit” due to me deciding to jet wash the north side of the house. First there was a desperate search for the instruction booklet. Kelli had moved it from my pile to somewhere else, the trouble was she couldn’t remember where that was. I had hooked up all the hoses and power leads ready to go but I didn’t have the nozzles, they were with the instructions. We tried everywhere we could think of, and even places that it could never be, like right in front of my eyes. I was ready to abandon the whole exercise, but in a last ditch attempt to find the missing articles, I checked the cupboard in the garage where I keep my stains and adhesives and there it was wrapped tightly in an elastic band, success!

I read through the instructions and selected what I thought was the correct nozzle.

I turned on the water that ran through a hundred foot hose( note to self, get a shorter bloody hose). I turned on the power, pointed the wand towards the stained sidings.

Out trickled the water with the force of a sneeze, I needed the turbo nozzle.

I fitted the device and aimed it at the wall.

Now this was better, the jet was forceful but not enough to move the green stains. I had to get much closer to increase the water pressure. I was about two inches away, now it was working, and also I was getting drenched with the spray that the instruction sheet failed to mention.

I stuck to it, the siding was the proper colour, so I turned my attention to the mock shutters either side of the window. I aimed the nozzle and the green slug washed off easily, however the presser was enough to blow off the corner of the plastic shutter, so now I will have to buy another pair to replace them. (Note to self 2, do not use excessive presser on plastic shutters)

I successfully completed the task, even washing the garage doors, but I was cold and wet, I can see why more sensible people do it in the spring and summer, but that is another lesson I have learnt.

Next I will have to go to Lowes for new shutters.

29th November 2021

Back on the road again, first to Kelli’s doctors appointment and then on to collect a pair of desk pedestals that we will skilfully turn into side tables.

At the doctors, Kelli wanted to know if her current sleeping issues could be something he could treat. She regularly wakes up around five in the morning, although she goes back to sleep it is unsettling, and she wants it stopped.

The doctor, rubbing his hands referred to a book and declared that it could be spleen related, and set about tracking the various points on the body that controls the spleen.

This was quite interesting because using acupuncture points he found certain places on the feet reacted when he manipulated them. Unfortunately for Kelli this usually meant pain.

Poor girl she had to suffer all this abuse, but on the brighter side, she might be able to sleep right through the night now.

28th November 2021

Still no bites on our latest posts, maybe everybody has spent all their money on Black Friday. I can’t imagine any retail business is back in the black during this crazy time. I even get emails from HM with offers for me to buy stuff, they must be desperate to expect me to stick my hands in my pocket for misery fifteen percent discount.

I made a start to drilling all the dowel holes to rebuild the bookcase. I don’t have a lot of luck with the doweling jig I have. Although the centre points are there, by the time I drill the hole it has drifted slightly, so then I have to plug the holes and start again. It doesn’t help that the planks are slightly dished. I made my own fixture to stop the drift and it seemed to have helped, woo hoo!

It was another day of not going out, light flurries of snow occurred for most of the day.

Kelli was well on the way finishing the painting of another buffet, of course I have another top to stain.

27th November 2021

It was a day of memories being the anniversary of the passing of Dave. In fact ever since Thanksgiving, Kelli has been on the hunt for memorabilia of her children’s childhood. The problem is some of it is easy to find, others impossible. Today the search was on for a needlepoint that Greer had made for Kelli one Christmas. She looked all over the house without success, leading her to fear the worst. When we moved into our house, she had to donate a lot of things that there wouldn’t be room for, and she believes that’s what happened to the needlepoint.

She was upset that she did such a thing, and spent the rest of the day trying to locate the pattern so that it could be done again.

She also reached out, using social media if anyone had actually bought the piece from Goodwill, this may be a long shot, but stranger things have happened.

I finished scraping and sanding the bookcase, and whilst in that dis-assembled condition it would be easier to stain and finish it. Kelli got in touch with the owner who came down to discuss the idea, she agree to pay a bit more to have the bookcase finished properly.

That was a good decision, a good walnut stain would even out the colour and turn the piece into a nice item of furniture.

26th November 2021

They say nostalgia isn’t what it use to be, however today it was all bundled up in a hat and woolly scarf.

Yesterday Kelli found a pile of Christmas LP records that she remembered as a child at her mums house. As her mother no longer had a record player, she bagged them and brought them home.

Today was the day when she decided to play them. There was Bing Crosby and a mix of Carpenters plus a collection of Christmas carols. I first thought there was something wrong with out record player, it was muffled and winey, then I realised what it was, it was poor Kelli, sentimental and emotional, sobbing, the memories were too strong

Eventually she calmed down and I was able to reminisce, as all of the music I remembered also.

There were all the old black and white films showing snow, burning log fires and armfuls of presents, they were the Hollywood images of Christmas. My memories were slightly different, mum would emerge from a steam filled kitchen trying desperately to synchronise all the food to be ready at the same time. The same kind of music was in the background accompanying this typical English chaos.

We took pictures of our latest two dressers. The “Train Wreck” came out pretty good, that was a Labour of love, and very sore fingers.

Kelli posted them on Marketplace and as it was Black Friday it would be interesting if people had any money left to buy them.

25th November 2021

It’s Thanksgiving, a totally pointless holiday that lost its relevance once people understood it’s true meaning. But Americans celebrate it anyway, tagging it on to their greetings. “Happy Thanksgiving “ they say, “ And to you” is the only response I can think of.

It has now become a launchpad for high powered retail therapy, if the shelves are not already empty, or stuck in containers at the docks. People love spending money, even if they haven’t got any, the plastic cards certainly get flexed tomorrow.

We went up to Kelli’s mum for Thanksgiving dinner, there were only four of us, the kids had other arrangements and Matt’s wife was on her way to the Netherlands.

The day was a little flat, there was no controversy or arguments, I was hoping to stir things up by mentioning being thankful that Americans had seen sense and got rid of the bloated orange abomination from the White House, but I didn’t get the chance. I guess the family balance had to be maintained.

We finally sold the blue dresser this evening.

A guy offered us twenty five bucks less than we advertised, that’s typical, bloody bandit. But we accepted it as it was a piece we got for free with no additional material other than my repairs and sanding.

Towards the end of the evening the snow came down, we have to look forward to more of it over the next few days.

24th November 2021

All the leaves I had meticulously raked into a pile by the side of the road had mysteriously disappeared. Well not really, I knew instantly what had happened, they were evenly distributed over Larry’s front lawn. That’s the result of the windy conditions that have hit Holland. Poor man he had to get on his mower and start all over again.

Yesterday the last nose pad on my glasses fell off. I have only had one for the past year, and the frame would slowly slide down my nose which was really annoying when I had to look down at something. When the last one bit the dust there was nothing to grip my nose, making them impossible to wear.

Now the problem was to find an optician who could repair them. The glasses were manufactured by Lindberg, so I looked on line for the nearest stockist. The nearest being quite a distance away.

Kelli volunteered to call the optometrist in the town called Globe. They did repairs which was promising. I drove into town hoping they might be able to fix them. As I walked into the shop I approached an older man, and explained my problem. He immediately recognised the make and took my glasses off to his work bench. Fifteen minutes he was back with my glasses fully restored, and what was amazing about the experience was, he didn’t charge me for doing it. That was like winning the pools, nothing is free here, and I had to check my ears to make sure I was hearing correctly, that made my day.

I scrapped another part of the bookcase, I decided to do one piece a day so I didn’t get bored with it. The paint is tough and requires a lot of down force to remove it, and I cannot have too much of a good thing.

23rd November 2021

Kelli didn’t have a good night, she was awake early, and it effected how she felt for the rest of the day. There was plenty of things to do in the garage, I started off by scraping the paint off the bookcase just to see what the timber was like. It was supposed to be over seventy years old, therefore the pine should be dense and good quality.

The scraper did a good job, but the difficulty will come when I have to strip the inside. My thought was to knock it apart and do each plank one at a time as it is just nailed together.

Another task was to add a sealer to the drawer fronts and top that I had stained last night.

The train wreck dresser is moving on, with the side inset panels painted and the top fitted.

Kelli ordered the handles from eBay, so early December it should be finished.

Larry had the job of working on Kelli’s mother vehicle. It had been suffering from irregular ignition, so the first thoughts were on spark plugs or leads. Larry went off of a test drive and to get it hooked up to a diagnostic unit to locate the problem. The result came back indicating a faulty engine sensor. Once that was replaced the roughness had disappeared and was running nice and smooth.

That job gave Larry some pocket money to buy his cigarettes, that he puffed away whilst sucking up the mass of leaves that had landed on his front yard. Last night was a mild frost, and as the temperature increased, the remaining leaves would just fall even though there was no wind, it was a fascinating sight to see. By midday most trees had shed all their leaves, meaning another couple of hours raking ahead.

We finally sold the light green dresser tonight at a knockdown price, don’t get me started on that.

22nd November 2021

It was an emotionally charged day, which is the beginning of an emotional week.

It is also Thanksgiving week, which is a bundle of fun.

Today would have been Dave’s eighty-third birthday, so Kelli had that thought in her head when she awoke.

At the end of the week it will be two years that he passed, so talk about getting it all over in one foul swoop.

There was also a drive to Allandale to collect a furniture piece that had been waiting for us for a week or so.

We also had a lady drop off a bookshelf that she wanted stripping of paint. We did give a high quote for that, which she accepted, so we are sort of committed. I

There was a visit to Dave’s grave to lay flowers. It has been easier to find since the headstone has been erected, up to then, I’m sure we left flowers on a different clump of grass, much to the confusion and maybe the amusement of the cemetery staff.