Nothing to celebrate today, although the remnants of the cake still occupies most of the fridge. There is over half the cake left which at the current rate of consumption could last a very long time. The only criticism I would make is that it is too sweet, a real Black Forest has real cream and not buttermilk icing, apparently that’s how they do things here. Their biscuits are far too sickly, thank goodness for digestives.
We had to deliver a dresser to the north side, a welcomed break.
Kelli went into the storage room to look through many of the plastic crates containing much of her early memorabilia as well as her children’s. The idea was to select items that he could put into scrap books so that they could be catalogued and be more accessible.
All I could hear was chuckles and sniffing, meaning she was overcome with emotion. She emerged all red eyed and puffy with a box full of memories.
I smiled and carried on sanding, my favourite pastime.
Happy Birthday to me, and what an amazing day it was.
Kelli excelled by giving me a gift that I would never had thought of.
There was a story that I had told her a few years ago about a time when my mum had bought me a Corgi model of a Ford Thunderbird. I was eight years old and was sick and confined to bed. My mum went into Bath to go shopping, she bought me this toy to cheer me up. It was an amazing model, and became my favourite. As I grew older the toys were confined to a box under the stairs. After a few years they were given to other children possibly less fortunate. It wasn’t until I had children of my own that I wished that I kept them to hand down. I never forgot about the turquoise and cream Ford Thunderbird, and I often tried to find one at car boot sales with no success. This was years before EBay, I had found some that were advertised, but failed to buy them.
This was the story I told Kelli who put into her memory, and turned it into reality for me today.
This was start of a fun day.
We collected the Black Forrest gateau from the cake shop, then off to New Holland for a Birthday lunch with members of my US family.
Our reserved table was decked out with balloons tied to a plant, a gift from our florist friend. Kelli’s brother Matt and his wife Petra plus mother Georgia joined us.
Between many picture taking, eating and drinking, with a bit of health debating it was a good time.
I had FaceTime with my boys and sister, so all round a different kind of day, and a memorable day it was.
We managed to complete and post two dressers on Marketplace, which I hope will go over the weekend.
There is another that Kelli is putting the finishing touches to another. Soon we can offload the dresser that is still in the truck.
I took a break from woodwork to sweep more leaves from the front lawn. I noticed that the city worker had put a tyre groove on the grass tearing the sod, bastard!
I was awoken at 3.30am by my wife whispering in my ear “Did you leave the side gate unlocked?” The banging noise had woken her up and as it was my fault, I would have to deal with it.
She did not believe me when I said it was the dogs sneaking off for a night on the tiles, and neither did she find it amusing.
I searched around for my slippers and ventured outside in the freezing cold, the wind blowing through my lower peninsula.
I could have sworn that I had put the bolt across, but there it was swinging in the breeze.
I pushed the bolt across, double checking that it was fully engaged, then tottered back to the warmth of my bed.
After months of waiting, my paving slabs were finally delivered. The big truck arrived just as it started snowing. The delivery came on two pallets, one with about ten slabs, the other with close to sixty. That one was almost the limit of the fork lift. I could see it’s back wheel lifting as it came off the truck.
The driver settled both pallets on the driveway close to the rubbish bins, ready for the installation day.
As the snow settled on the delivery, I was looking ahead to a day I could start the laying, but it doesn’t look too promising for the next few weeks.
Still work in the garage was drawing to a climax, five dressers are well on the way to completion, possibly two should be ready for tomorrow, just as well because there is still one in the car and another due for collection tomorrow.
I learnt that the floor standing Anglepoise lamp I ordered a month ago, and was due for delivery on the second of November has been rescheduled for sometime in bloody January.
I’m not feeling my best today. As I’m approaching my seventieth I get scared. I think about the time I have left, and I worry that I won’t get everything done that I want to. I miss my family and friends, and until all this residency shit gets finished I can’t be with them.
Normally I put it to the back of my mind, but today it’s in my eyeline and I have to deal with it.
The weather matched my mood, it was dull and wet, but at least it was not cold. We were able to keep the garage door open bringing a bit of light into my gloom.
The city sent a man with a truck with a plough on the front, his job was to push all the piles of leaves that we collect, in one big heap on the side of the road. Of all the places he had to choose it was outside the house. It loomed over us like a grim slag heap awaiting the collection by another city man with the tipper truck.
James Dyson came under fire again from Kelli because the replacement battery pack that I bought in March seems to be failing. I always seem to be stripping down the sweeping head to remove miles of her hair that has wound tightly around the rotating brushes. There is often enough to stuff a pillow. I had anticipated the battery issue and already purchased a replacement, so fitting it was some light relief.
Off we went again, this time another drive to Hudsonville to collect a free dresser in need of some repair. All of the drawers need some work from reattaching a front to a complete rebuild.
Hudsonville is the kind of place that you drive through to get to somewhere else, a bit like Belgium. They do have a micro brewery and a winery, both of which are good, but apart from that it’s a bit dull.
The sun was shining, making autumn bearable, but once in the open, the cold was a reminder that it was November.
There was another million leaves that needed to be raked up. It took nearly an hour, and put a lot of strain on the wrists.
It always amazes me how much leaves weigh, and dragging them to the side of the road raises the sap in me.
Kelli had a doctors appointment in the afternoon, her progress remains good, but slow. Even though her liver is functioning well, her adrenal system still requires attention. The positive thing is now her vertigo has been cured she will be able to lay on the table and get manipulated.
With this activity, work in the garage was limited, but I managed to repair a few more drawers. I wasn’t in such a raving mood today, I took it slow, and made the improvements to the drawer boxes making them more rigid.
We took the dogs for a walk down to the small lagoon close to us. The wind was biting, and only a few weeks ago we were complaining of the heat.
We had the first snow fall this morning, not much, and not enough to stop the dogs rushing out to do their ploppies, but they didn’t stay out long.
Poor Phoebe, couldn’t wait to get out, but she didn’t realise that I hadn’t opened the outer door. Thump! as her nose hit the glass, but it didn’t stop her enthusiasm.
We had to go out to get some supplies to carry on with some projects.
Even selling two large pieces this week the garage is still full.
The dressers that we picked up from the dodgy area have been cleaned and the drawers taken out for inspection.
Most of them will need some degree of work, but most of them are just cheaply made rubbish. If I worked in the factory that produced this crap I think I would have topped myself. It seems the only tool required is a hammer to bang nails to hold the drawers together just long enough for the poor sap who bought it to get it home.
At least when it leaves us it will be everything will be held together and rigid. Not that anyone will really notice, but these dressers will be better than new.
We had a buyer for the large dresser we posted yesterday, but as usual I had some work that had to be done before they arrived to collect.
One of the central drawer guides was badly chewed up on one end. Usually the trick is to turn it round, but this needed something more drastic.
The clock was running, I had to cut away the damaged area and add some new wood, leaning it close to the heater to dry the glue.
Once it had cured, I machined it to shape then fixed it in place into the dresser.
Panic averted.
Kelli couldn’t wait to work on the radiogram.
She wanted to plug it in to see if it worked. I was hesitant, it had been out in the rain for a couple of days and it needed more time for the electronic to dry out.
That was not her plan, she went straight out into the garage and plugged the thing in.
There was no loud bang or clouds of smoke, instead the tuner lit up and the turntable worked.
Her face lit up in triumph, she rushed back into the house to get a disc.
She plonked it onto the turntable, switched it on, moved the arm on to the record and lowered it. Music blasted out of the two speakers, more smiling and cheering.
Cosmetically it had a few scratches and marks but generally it was solid.
We took some pictures and soon it was posted on Marketplace.
We then stopped for lunch. Very soon her phone was pinging with someone who wanted to buy it. Within an hour they we standing in front of it excited with what they saw.
The buyers were a mother and her son who immediately wanted it. They weren’t concerned about the marks, they felt it added character and couldn’t wait to get it home.
Kelli was overjoyed that the piece had been saved and gone to a deserving person.
Their enjoyment meant a lot to us, Kelli was inspired to go though her record collection and picked a few she wanted to give to them.
I never know what to expect when Kelli says that we have something to collect. This happens often, and today was a classic.
First we had to unload the piece we collected yesterday. This was in good condition, the only area of damage was the bottom edge of the side panel where the veneer had splintered.
I decided to tackle the non functioning oven. I had looked on-line at possible faults, and it came down to a faulty heating element.
It was simple to remove, after turning off the power. As soon as I extracted it I saw what had happened. The push on connector had fried and disintegrated. Now I had to find the wire and remove that and get a replacement.
Pulling the cooker out and removing the back panel, it was easy to find and remove.
We then set off on another furniture collection expedition, stopping off to get a new element and cable.
The man in the parts department was helpful and soon found a replacement part but didn’t have a cable, but he gave me a push on connector that I could add to the old cable.
So fifty three bucks lighter, we set of to pick up the furniture.
The north side is the dodgy end of Holland, with lots of apartments and condominiums that aren’t the most desirable places to visit.
We arrived at the address, the garage was open and we could see the pieces that Kelli wanted. The garage had a lot of odd furniture in it, including another white tall dresser that she liked the look of.
The person selling was not home which meant corresponding by text. She was on the way but suggested that we loaded up the pieces and leave the money by the door.
We started with the larger brown dresser with strange things painted on the drawers.
I pulled open the bottom drawer which had no bottom panel. We carried the piece to the truck and loaded it. Then we decided to take the tall white dresser instead of a smaller brown one. This had been agreed with the seller, so I opened one of the drawers, and it was full of stuff, they all were. I searched around for a box to empty it into. There was all kinds of crap in them, paper, clothes and worst of all mouse droppings.
We carried the piece to the truck and loaded it.
Then we drove home feeling very dirty, and ready to burn our clothes.
On the was back Kelli spied a mid century style radiogram by the dustbins next to a keep fit centre. The piece had been left out in the rain for a couple of days, and we had a lot of rain, so the expectations weren’t great.
We pulled up next to it, and Kelli took a look, and announced that she wanted it, but as there was no room in the truck we would have to unload what we had and then return for the radiogram.
We found some space in the garage for the tall white dresser, and unloaded the brown one.
This was one we hadn’t checked all the drawers of, and yes there was crap in them which I threw straight into the dustbin.
Then it was back to snag the radiogram.
Fortunately it was getting dark, we pulled up next to the piece and jumped out. By now I was wearing bright yellow gloves which in the low light must have looked like floating hands.
Kelli looked inside and everything was there.
It was a heavy bugger and took most of mine and all of Kelli’s strength to lift it.
Normally we can load things quick and easily, but for some reason the piece got jammed on the door hook and we couldn’t move it. Panic took over, this was supposed to be a slick operation not a fumbling farce. Adrenaline kicked in and we managed to unhook it and slide it.
We made our getaway, and arrived home with this relic of the sixties in our procession.
My day hadn’t finished, I still had to refit the new heating element into the oven.
This was easy, apart from fixing the element into the oven. The door was so big it was difficult to stretch my arms inside to tighten the screws, it was so dark inside with only the light from my phone to help. Finally it was done.
I switched on the power, and tested it, it worked, now I need a rest, it’s been one hell of a day.
Another Lifetime to go 