Author: peterb51

13th August 2021

We had to call the Air Conditioning man today because all last night Kelli complained about the house not being cold enough. When she is too hot, everyone will hear about it.

The man arrived and went straight round to check the condenser unit where the pipes were all covered in ice. Fortunately there was no sucking of teeth, he hooked up his gauges and added some Freon, and Bob’s your uncle, it was done. A quick $300 and he was off, and Kelli was happy that she can now freeze her arse off.

I delivered the chairs this evening, Mantesh was delighted at the result and showed me the table he wants me to paint. That’s a project for two weeks time, I’ve got to clear the backlog that Kelli has been building.

Talking of which, we had to go and collect a table from a house that was located in the historical area of the city. These houses are older and architecturally influenced by the arts and craft movement , and usually quite expensive.

We arrived at the house, Kelli was told by the seller that the table was in the porch. Rather than just walking in to the place, she rang the doorbell. A downstairs window opened and an old chap stuck his head out and shouted “what do you want?” The tone of his voice was abrupt and angry. I wanted to reply “some politeness would be appreciated” but instead, Kelli explained why we were there. The old goat muttered something then closed the window. This is the first time I have come across someone who was hostile, and luckily don’t come across them very often.

12th August 2021

Today was a day for deliveries, not counting the poor postman who delivers boxes and parcels everyday. Kelli recently restarted ordering from Imperfect Foods, giving them another chance, so there was a delivery of two boxes from them.

Next was a box from a speciality bread baker who supplies loafs made from ancient grains organically grown and gluten free. We had been waiting for a couple of weeks for these. Apparently there was a shortage of ingredients, so it had better be good.

I finished painting the chairs about five times.

Each time I thought I’d done it, and washed the gun out, I would find a small area I had missed. I would start again, touching up, and cleaning, only to find somewhere else once it had dried. I thought I would never finish. Eventually I applied the final clear coat and declared the project finished.

11th August 2021

The parcel I was waiting for arrived, I furiously tore the tape and threw out the packing material and there was the prize.

The front panel for the CD player that I bought on EBay was staring back at me.

Having got our old player working after a bit of internal cleaning, I was still excited to change it for the newer one.

I rushed into the spare room to collect the player, and removed the screws holding the cover exposing the innards.

I fitted the front panel into place then connected up the power leads and various ribbon cables, my heart was pounding as I switched on the power.

Nothing happened.

I had a sickening feeling in my stomach, “have I wasted $15?” I thought to myself.

I checked all the connections again.

There was a bit of movement on the mains terminal of the small circuit board that held the power switch.

I could see that the solder points had broken loose on the circuit board therefore not making a good connection.

Luckily the one on the faulty panel was firm so I was able to remove the two screws holding it and swapped it over.

I reconnect the connectors, and pushed the power button again.

The display burst into light, success!

I pressed the tray opening switch, nothing happened.

So after all that I have a player that wants to play, but I can’t open it to load the CD’s, it’s so frustrating.

The next step is to download the service manual to see it I’m missing something.

I’m disappointed, because I have never had any problems with Sony equipment before, I would like to get it to work properly at some time.

I managed to get a coat of primer on the two chairs whilst Kelli nearly completed the dresser she had started before rain stopped play.

10th August 2021

There is nothing like popping open a cold beer on a hot evening, it is something I relish after a hard days sweat.

Kelli was putting the finishing touches to a fifties style child’s wardrobe, whilst I finished sanding the last carver chair.

As part of her rehabilitation we take a walk around the block with the dogs, they haven’t been for a decent walk in ages, but for the time being it’s the best we can do.

It was so hot in the garage that it was difficult to breathe, the hint of a breeze made it bearable.

The plum trees are starting to grow new leaves, which makes the devastation caused by the Japanese beetles a distant memory.

I have caught a few of the blighters, but it has dropped to about two a day. In addition I have sprayed the trees with neep oil which is a natural deterrent.

9th August 2021

We pick up a free dresser that was possibly the worst condition a piece of furniture could get into.

To say it suffered from flood damage was an understatement, Noah could have thrown it from the ark and it would have been in better condition.

We both looked at it as we drove up to the garage where it was stored.

The sun was reflecting off the rippled veneer, the drawers used to be drawers but now were flat pieces of wood. One of the drawer back panels had de-laminated and separated and looked more like the Dead Sea scrolls.

Naturally there was a story behind it, not the one about it coming across on the Mayflower and falling into sea whilst bringing it ashore.

It belonged to grandmother of the lady giving it away, no doubt turning in her grave at the condition. It probably survived world wars and the Great Depression, not the Trump era, the one before that.

It turned out that the lady had bought several things from us in the past, including a bed post that was so tall that they could have been stolen from Twickenham rugby ground.

Anyway she was very complementary about our work and was happy that we were going to do something to it.

We loaded the wreck into the back of the truck and headed home.

I started working on carver chair number two, scraping and sanding until I got bored, then went on to scraping and sanding a top to another dresser top, my life consists of scraping and sanding.

8th August 2021

It was a real steamer today, it was difficult to do much without pouring with sweat.

I wanted to finish the first of the carver chairs, I found the most shady part of the garden and sat crossed legged scraping the paint one strip at a time.

Two gallons of perspiration later I had removed the bulk of the old paint.

We had finished a small bookcase that we posted on Marketplace, it’s not a masterpiece but we should get a few bucks for it.

Kelli was busy sanding drawer fronts whilst I was preparing a maple veneered top ready for staining.

Mid afternoon meant we needed to cool off, so we jumped into a small kids pool, not the big beast that we had last year. That couldn’t be inflated because the area is still waiting for the paving. Kelli bought it for less than $20, so it’s just right to sit in.

Disaster struck this evening, I broke one of Kelli’s hand painted Italian diner plates. There were a number of strange cosmic disturbances, one, the plate should not have been in the sink, two, my coffee mug has never slipped out of my hand before.

Kelli had interfered with my washing up regime by placing most of the washing up in the dishwasher, but not the Italian one. I went over to the sink to start my hand washing procedure. I had just rinsed my coffee cup when it slipped and hit the plate, I didn’t even have a chance to say “Oh noooooo!” As it shattered into three pieces.

Kelli knew immediately was had happened and what it was, so I couldn’t hide it and glue it back together.

She then spent time scouring eBay looking for the exact same plate.

She found a set for two hundred and fifty bucks, I like them but not that much.

Then she found a single plate and put an offer on it.

Now we wait to hear from the seller.

7th August 2021

The corner unit that we posted a few days ago had attracted no interest at all, this was worrying, the only solution was to delete the current post and re-post it.

This did the trick, within a short time we had two people interested, and collected by midday.

I started the long stripping process on the first carver. I set it out in the sun to warm it up, this softens the paint making it easier to scrape off. It is a tedious job, I’m thankful I only have two to do.

The humidity is in the high eighties for the next few days making it hard to do much physical activity without becoming a pool of perspiration.

Kelli is slowly improving, she is learning a lot about herself, trying to plot a positive route to full recovery. That sounds easy to me, but I understand that self doubt is always a thought away, and that is the enemy. She is learning about how the mind works, which, when I listen to the podcasts blows mine.

I realise I’m just a simple soul, just give me a piece of wood, hammer and nails, eventually I would manage to bang some of the nails straight.

6th August 2021

I got quite a shock when I got to the UPS office, and it wasn’t the torrential rainstorm that I was caught in, it the cost to ship the faulty CD player back to the seller.

“That will be $62.67 to ship” said the man.

“That’s more than it’s worth” I responded.

“Can you re-pack it into a smaller box” he said trying to be helpful.

“ Only it it was run over by a steam roller” I said smiling, only to realise I was wearing a mask so he couldn’t tell.

“ I guess I won’t be sending that” I concluded, picking up the box and walking out.

I had made a special effort to pack it properly, I had used up a lot of the polystyrene that was used in the packaging for the fire pit, good recycling I thought.

I contacted the seller with the shipping information, he suggested a web site for pre-paying shipping packages that he used.

When I tried to download the application of course it wouldn’t load. Kelli tried it, and it worked, but the cost was about $24. I advised the seller, and asked how he would refund me.

That is where the transaction changed. He thought that I would swallow the cost of shipping so that I would get a replacement unit.

I reminded him that I should not have to pay more to get a machine that worked, so he then agreed to refund the cost of the transaction and I could keep the faulty unit.

I immediately went to YouTube to see if there any videos that dealt with the carousel problem. I watched a couple and soon became confident about repairing it myself. I collected a number of different screwdrivers and set about taking it apart. Naturally the model I have was different to the ones on the video, but I thought the principle would be similar.

How wrong I was, the carousel was the only part the same, so I had to poke about until I understood how it worked. Then, there was several hours of me mumbling to myself, arguing at times as things that should have worked, didn’t.

I managed to get the tray to close as it should, but not to open.

Then I saw the reason. I noticed some cracks on the circuit board. On the front of the facia was a knob, that protruded forward.

The machine must have got dropped or hit causing the cracking. That is why the display and the open/close button didn’t work.

Not being defeated, I went on eBay to see if someone was selling spares.

There, hidden amongst broken machines was a front facia panel for the same model.

I quickly made an offer, and after a short wait, it was accepted, now I have a few days to wait until the replacement part arrives.

I also managed to deliver the four dining chairs to Mantesh, and collect two carver chairs, that’s this weekend work sorted.

5th August 2021

It should have been a good day, the four chairs had the final clearcoat finish ready for delivery tomorrow. Kelli was working on a small bookcase that needed more “Bondo” spread around than we first thought. We should have a cement mixer going the amount we use.

I removed the back panel with a bit of difficulty so there has to be a bit of repair on that one.

The best part of the day was the expected delivery of a CD player that I bought on Marketplace. The one we had expired, so music had been limited to what we can get on our phones.

The UPS truck pulled up, and the driver staggered up the driveway with a large box.

I was halfway through a job, so I couldn’t immediately hook it up, I opened up the box to check the condition, and it looked good.

When all my jobs were done I thought I’d get the CD player working.

I pulled out the cabinet that houses our music equipment so I could get to the back and disconnected the old unit. I replaced it with the new one. I plugged in the power and the output cables then moved round to the front for the grand switching on.

I pressed the power button, NOTHING! Bloody nothing. There was a rumbling, but the tray would not open.

I was really pissed off now.

I searched for the name of the seller and fired off a message to him.

Of course there’s not much that can be done, it doesn’t bloody work, so what can he do about that?

He replied asking if I checked all the connections, which I had done. He told me that he had another identical unit that he agreed to send to me, and I agreed to return the faulty one, so I hope that will resolve the issue and I will have music again.

4th August 2021

We needed to finish the corner unit. I had repaired one of the bottom doors that had come apart, and fitted wire netting in place of some tatty louvres. I needed to add some wooden edging to neaten up the back.

Once all the doors had been re fitted the piece was ready for pictures.

But, before that happened Bob, a friend of Larry ambled over. Larry was not at home at the time, so either Bob got bored waiting, or his booze had run out, but he came over and introduced himself.

He was a decorator, not just any decorator THE BEST DECORATOR in these parts.

He preceded to tell me what was wrong with the corner unit.

“The paints wrong, should be satin, the hinges are the wrong colour and all the gaps should be caulked. Do all that and you’ll be able to sell that for eight hundred dollars”

“ it would need to be made from gold to be able to sell at that price” I replied.

What began was a long drawn out conversation about everything. How he was related to Mary Queen of Scots, to his arts degree from Chicago.

He was pissed as a fart all right.

I was hoping that Kelli would come out to save me, but she kept the door closed, locked, and bolted. I was left to be savaged by a drunken decorator.

I was desperate to get back to my chair painting as the paint was already in the pot, awaiting spraying.

In the end I had to explain what I needed to do, so Bob staggered back to his van probably waiting to Larry to return.

I got on with my chair painting. It was bloody hot, even hotter in the tent, I had to watch the perspiration running down my face didn’t drop on to the surface I was painting.