Author: peterb51

12th October 2021

A drive in the rain to Hamilton to collect another piece of furniture. Thank goodness for GPS I don’t know how people lived without it. The property was a mobile home set in a wilderness, my question, what do these people do all day?

There was nothing around, if you didn’t have transport you could die and never be found.

The piece was a double door with a single drawer, and the kind that sell quick, but not for a great profit.

As soon as we got back, Kelli couldn’t wait to get started on it, grabbing the heat gun she set about stripping the top.

We had a buyer for the dresser we posted yesterday, due for collection Wednesday.

That meant there were things that had to be finished, I had to fit the back panel, and a few paint touch ups.

There is alway pressure to have projects for Kelli to work on, but most things we buy cheaply require repair work that only I can do.

So when we get new stock I am alway conscious that the repair works has to take priority. As I look at my current workload, apart from the chair stripping, I have a drawer in the piece we bought today to repair, and a worktop to sand and fill some holes, all that I have to do to keep the production going.

There is a dresser that I want to dis-assemble in order to repair an end panel, and I’m itching to get started on it.

11th October 2021

Another appointment at Kelli’s doctor for another session of tweaking and tuning. She left totally unscathed, not a bruise to be seen.

We had to get back home quickly because there was a potential sale of our latest dresser.

We did a few final tweaks and a polish and it was ready.

The buyer arrived and immediately loved the piece, we quickly helped her load it into her truck, and off she went.

We finished the third of our dresser collection. This was one we bought back in July, it was parked in the back of the garage because we didn’t fancy working on it. It was black and badly painted, it hadn’t had a primer over the original finish, so the black came away in strips. The original handles had been lost, and replaced with wooden ovals that covered the recesses where the handles would have been.

We set in painted wooden knobs that gave it a more contemporary look.

Kelli posted it on Marketplace, now we sit and wait for the interest to start.

We heard from the heating and AC guy letting us know that they will start the installation on Thursday, can’t wait for that.

10th October 2021

I had to polish the top to the dresser that hopefully we would sell today.

The stain I used was call Provincial which had more red than the Walnut colour that I usually use. But it was better than I expected, and the final waxing made it wonderfully smooth.

The black stained top had dried completely so that was ready to refit to the carcass. I also added another coat of finish to the third dresser top.

We took pictures of the dresser with the black stained, it looked great with the bluey grey carcass.

We then had to go and collect yet another dresser Kelli had spotted on Marketplace.

The people were selling all sorts of house stuff, they were moving, and everything had to go.

Kelli handed over the money, and we loaded it into the truck.

It’s was in reasonably condition, although something had been attached to the top at some time. There was a light mark where what ever was there had cut out the light, so this would mean sanding back the top and refinishing.

The couple arrived to collect the dresser, they were thrilled with it. They handed over a stack of five dollar notes, saying that the ATM would only distribute that value note. We didn’t care, Kelli paid for the pine dresser with some notes and a pile of quarter dollar coins that I empty out of my pocket and leave in a dish on the counter top, because money is money.

We ended the day preparing another dresser for spray painting tomorrow, whilst I continued to sand parts of the third chair.

9th October 2021

Another drive to Zeeland to collect a dresser that Kelli had bought, from her big chair the previous evening.

We were warned that there was some damage to the back panel, and it was shown laying on the top in the pictures.

Normally that isn’t a problem because older dressers have back panels that are made up of sectional panels.

As we drove into the driveway the dresser was waiting in the garage, it looked good, but as we looked closer the extent of the work ahead became apparent. One of the side panels had de-laminated with parts of the veneer missing.

Also some the pieces of back panel were missing, but the top and drawer fronts were in good condition.

As we lifted it into the truck, the floor became detached and a side panel was loose, and there was a danger it would fall apart.

Getting it out again, once we arrived home the floor panel fell out, this will definitely be a rescue project.

8th October 2021

We moved things around in the garage, Kelli was working on a piece covered in thick black paint. We had since July, we hid it away because there was a lot of work to do on it, and at the time I wasn’t inspired to do anything with it, but as we had caught up with a number of pieces, there was no other option.

It was not possible to use a heat gun on it as the paint just turned to mush, so the trusty scraper came into use. So much black paint had been used, including the sides of the drawer boxes, which is a job I hate. We managed to do a lot of paint removal to it.

I stained the top that I had sanded, and finally the finish on another top had finally dried, meaning I could apply another coat.

Kelli had purchased a modular storage system from Amazon that would fit into her wardrobe to store her massive collection of clothes. I had the job of assembling it.

“It didn’t come with any instructions “ she said.

Leaving me with just an image as a guide to fit together.

The product was okay, another example of China’s ability to supply things that are affordable and aren’t made in America.

It took me a couple attempts to fit the corner moulding correctly, but once in my stride it was together in no time.

I had reservations that it was strong enough to withstand the weight of all the garments that she squeezed into the cubes, but so far it’s still standing. I was pleased, out of the three and a half fitted wardrobes int he House, she has three of them.

Note, there were instructions, but they were hidden under the pile of panels, typical.

7th October 2021

Kelli had another appointment with the vestibular therapist. She had not dared to test out if her last visit had been successful, trusting that this visit would reveal the answer.

The therapist wanted to repeat the Epley manoeuvre, but as he laid Kelli’s head back he noticed that her eyes were flickering side to side which meant that the crystals were in a different canal. Therefore he needed to perform a different manoeuvre to move them back to where they belonged.

There were more extreme movements that appeared to produce an improved result.

She will wait until the next appointment to see if it worked, although she could do the necessary head positions herself, but she didn’t feel ready to do that.

I have got rid of the snowblower that I bought from Larry last year. I only used it once, and as we are trying to stop using petrol driven garden machines it made sense to sell it. It was also a good opportunity to gain a bit more space to store things.

Kelli put it on Marketplace and very quickly someone came round to look at it.

I tried to get it started before he arrived, but I was not quick enough, and the fricken thing didn’t want to start. The chap was friendly and also tried to start it, bringing his own petrol.

Still no luck, I was thinking that he would walk away, and I’d be stuck with it for another year.

He offered me ten dollars less to take it as it was. Inside I was cheering, he handed me the cash and I helped him load it into his truck, and off he went.

6th October 2021

Every morning, and I mean every morning the dogs gather at my feet as I am eating my toast. They look up with those big dark pleading eyes that say “feed me I’m starving”.

It’s like they know my habits, I pour my coffee, get a plate from the shelf, pop the bread into the toaster, and the spread on to the toast. They are around as soon as the toaster pops up.

I usually end up giving them the crusts which they inhale.

I have made it a mission to eat my toast without disturbing the dogs.

I nearly made it this morning. Both dogs were in the sunroom no doubt trying to scrounge some morsels from Kelli.

I almost got to the table, and was just about to take a bite when there they were, looking up pitifully. I think they must be “in tune” with the bread.

I will beat them in the end, and I will do it again tomorrow.

We put the finishing touches to the dresser that we have already sold, I screwed down the top, and Kelli added the knobs.

We have another beauty well on the way to completion if only the stained top will dry.

I managed to complete the second chair two days early, I hope my fingers will hold out for the remaining two.

On a down note, we arranged for an engineer to visit and service the furnace.

She arrived promptly and set about taking the covers off. The first thing she noticed was the motor driving the exhaust was noisy and drawing a high current, meaning it was ready to pack up. There was also a leak on the AC side in the floor space. I knew the AC unit outside was also old and limping along. Both the furnace and the AC were installed when the house was built in 1982 so they’ve been going for thirty nine years.

I heard a lot of banging and clanking, which was either the engineer pretending to work on something, or there was a problem.

She then announced that the exhaust motor had stopped working meaning the furnace would not fire up. Bummer!

I had planned to replace the system in a couple of years, but it looks like it needs to be done much sooner than that.

5th October 2021

Today was Kelli’s appointment with the vestibular therapist to treat her vertigo.

The building, which is part of Holland hospital looks like a normal building that has been flattened, so it appears squat, like a grey pancake. The inside continued the uninspired architecture with the treatment room finished in a dull grey.

The therapist had twenty years experience, so he should know what he’s talking about. He spent a lot of time explaining the condition and the treatment. Then it was down to the action.

First up was the Epley manoeuvre done by the professionals. We had done this so many times we we thinking of changing our names to Mr and Mrs Epley Manoeuvre.

It confirmed that she still had vertigo, meaning what we had done several weeks ago hadn’t worked.

The procedure was almost the same as we had practiced, we allowed a good minute between the different stages, so we were disappointed that we hadn’t got it right.

After an unpleasant re-run of the manoeuvre, Kelli had to repeat the careful head movement restrictions for another day.

She got five further appointments allocated, meaning if at first you don’t succeed, you have to go through it all again.

4th October 2021

I have noticed how loud the crows are around here, I can barely hear myself think.

Added to that the hundreds of sparrows that inhabit the holly bush next to the sunroom that have a daily chirping festival.

To say we are at one with nature is quite an understatement.

On a good day there is Larry grinding away in his workshop, the crows circling above squawking both competing to make my life hell.

We made another sale today.

It was getting near the point of wondering if it would ever sell. Kelli had re-posted it as a weekend sale, but nobody rushed to nab the bargain, so she reposted it at the pre sale price.

Someone made us an offer that was much too low, we countered with the sale price and the deal was struck.

The chap came over to collect a couple of hours later.

Kelli was keen to get started on the new dresser we got on Saturday. I unloaded it from the truck onto a trolly and wheeled it towards the garage, she almost started on it before I got there.

I continued stripping the second chair, having done the legs, I started on the spindles. I’m pretty sure the enthusiasm will have evaporated by the time I get to the forth.

3rd October 2021

It was going to be a gardening day, but torrential thunderstorms put paid to that. Instead I decided to repair a wood top that had cracked into three sections. That was my first mistake, I managed to bond the wrong pieces together, and I didn’t realise until I took the clamps off. As I laid the third strip ready to glue, the mistake became obvious. I set about trying to split it along the fresh glue line using a heat gun. What a plonker! Instead of finishing the job, I wasted the whole day.

In between I stripped the finish off the legs of chair two, I can’t have too much of a good thing.

The rain was good for washing off the oxalic acid off a dresser top that had some bad black stains on it.

At least that was successful.

Kelli was busy priming and finish painting the carcass. There is no better incentive then to have a buyer already in the bag.