She had a lot of positive things to tell him, and he was delighted with her progress. He did his usual checks and kept her on her current supplements, these will eventually diminish sooner rather than later.
I had a go at assembling the portable spray tent. The assembly instructions were not the clearest, but after a struggle I got it to look like the picture. I wanted it erected so that I could paint the three dining chairs.
I’m sure it will confuse the neighbours, they had got used to us splashing about in the pool, now they can see us in a tent.
We had to meet up with the lady who had brought the missing drawer for the dresser we collected yesterday.
We had our first sale of the month, not much, but a sale is a sale.
The small dressers are popular, and tend to sell within a day or two. We got it from the lady who bought a small dresser from us. It was in the garage looking rather sad. Kelli jumped on it, did a deal, and worked on it as soon as we got it back to the garage.
Earlier we drove to Hudsonville to collect a free dresser, it was a big beast that I had to move it
from a basement, up a grassy slope, across a lawn to the truck. Fortunately they had a dolly which helped a bit, but pulling it up the slope was harrowing, but it was FREE.
Heading back to the house we stopped off at Jonkers, the garden centre near home to look for some aquatic plants. We have been watching “Gardeners world” and Kelli got the ides to create a mini pond. We had a small galvanised tub that was going to be the prototype. It was good that Kelli had the energy to create this pond, it is definitely going to help her recovery.
As we drove into the driveway I was greeted by a large box containing four elderberry trees.
Now I had to get them into the soil straight away, but that meant getting some manure to treat the soil along the border where the trees were going to be planted.
We quickly off-loaded the dresser,putting it on a trolly for easy moving.
I refitted the drawers and discovered that one was missing, I checked all around, looking in the back of the truck just in case it had slipped into the adjacent dimension where all the tea spoons and single sock go, but nothing.
A quick phone call establish that the missing drawer was still in Hudsonville full of children’s clothes.
We should be able to collect it tomorrow as they were coming to Holland in the mid afternoon.
I bought four bags of manure and planted the bushes.
“ I don’t know how much more we can squeeze into the garage” I wined, learning that Kelli had found two more pieces for free on Marketplace.
We set off to collect the first piece, a small bookcase covered in wall paper. The area on the north side was quite posh, where the grass is not allowed to grow a weed. We pulled up to the property, and outside on the drive was this excuse for a bookcase, if this is an example of what taste in decor they have maybe we should root out the rest of the crap they have on the inside.
Thankfully the other piece Kelli acquired is being picked up tomorrow, that I believe is a monster.
I worked on the last chair, sanding off the bad paint, and getting it ready for priming tomorrow.
I took an early day, and sat in the swing chair with a can of beer, letting the breeze cool me down, and contemplate the rest of the day.
We just managed a last minute sale for the month. The cabinet that I had been working on for a few weeks, was sold, collected and in someone’s home by mid-day today.
We pottered around on a couple of projects, but it was Saturday, so we bunked off early.
I had an email to confirm shipment of my elderberry bushes due early next week. I will believe it when they are in my hands.
The attack on my plum trees by the Japanese Beetles has reduced considerably, there are new leaves appearing on the smaller, more damaged tree, which is encouraging.
With all Kelli’s issues we haven’t been to the beach at all this year, this has to be one of the new goals for August.
We have at least started taking the dogs for a walk around the block, they were starting to get fat and lazy.
My latest root filling has settled down, which is a relief, now I can concentrate on other things. I will leave it a month before I have the crown preparation, I should have my courage back by then.
Kelli found another furniture piece in Zeeland, like we need another piece, but it was decent, although there was a bit of veneer missing, so a bit of patching is required.
I only had one vital thing todo today and that was to drill holes in four drawer fronts. Kelli showed me the handles she wanted to use, and I had done some the same earlier in the week. I marked them out, double checking each one. When Kelli came to fit them the attachment screw was too short, so I counterbored the back to allow the screw to sink in and protrude enough to fit the handle.
As I was checking the depth, I held the handle against the front only to find the centres of the holes I had drilled were wrong. I didn’t realise that the handles Kelli gave me were 65 millimetres, I had drilled mine 76mm the same dimension that I had used before. I cursed, and threw things about in frustration.
To solve the disaster we found handles in our handle cupboard that fitted, although not what she really wanted but they work fine.
I have been expecting delivery of some elderberry plants that I ordered months ago.
First they were scheduled for this week, but a month ago I was informed they would be delivered during week of June 20th, they weren’t, so then they were rescheduled every week since then.
Larry started work replacing the two rear disc brakes, I could tell, the sound of frantic hammering echoed across the avenue.
We completed another dresser, this one was the heaviest I think I have ever tried to move.
We couldn’t face trying to carry it into the house, so we shot the pictures outside.
Kelli posted it on Marketplace, and an half an hour later it was sold, and collected a couple of hours later.
This was the second piece that Kelli had worked in and both sold this week, so it’s great to have her back.
I continued work on the chairs that have to be re-finished. These had been hand painted and showed all the tell tell signs of a bad brush job.
There were bad runs and areas of pooled paint, these have to be removed.
I have concentrated on the areas that are the most tactile, the seat, and the back, these are sanded back, the spindles and the legs are just lightly sanded.
The dreaded day arrived when I had an appointment for another root canal filling.
I knew the procedure, I was there on time, and it was pretty much routine. I had a bit of an infection in the tooth a couple of weeks ago, but I had a course of antibiotics and it seemed to clear it up. However there must have been hidden cavern in my gum because the amount of stuff they sucked out was enough to collapse half my face or so I thought as I watched the muck flowing down the clear tube. The dentist then got on with filling the hole, then came the painful bit, the bill. It was just over a thousand bucks, but a small price to pay for saving a tooth, and not to have to eat my food through a straw.
Later on, with half my face still numb we had to deliver a small dresser to a lady in Holland.
I put it into the garage next to another dresser that was going to be sold or thrown away. Kelli jumped on it quickly, giving the lady eight dollars for it. I loaded it into the van and saw that it was nearly identical in construction to the one she had just bought from us.
So watch out for another quick turn around dresser.
On the way back I was able to pick up the parts for Larry to work on the truck, and the inevitable visit to Nature’s Market for another magic potion.
I had a hairdressing appointment at 10.00 so it was an early start. A quick shearing and it was done. There is a shortage of licensed hair stylists in the area, most were laid off during the quarantine, and have not returned, choosing to take the $300 dollars a week Covid support payment, they have learned that they can live without working.
Kelli had found a free corner unit very close that we had to collect. It was a bit sad, with a door that was barely holding itself together.
Then it was back to the garage to finish the dresser that I have been working on for ages.
We took pictures outside and Kelli posted it on Marketplace. I’m not happy with the final result, the door alignment is not right, so I might play around with that tomorrow.
Kelli had her first experience with the sprayer on a large dresser, and she did great.
I asked Larry to look at the rear brakes on the truck, he concluded that I needed two new discs and pads, so not a cheap job then.
We finished another small dresser, and Kelli started on another beast of a dresser.
I was spraying parts for the grey dresser that feels like I’ve been working on for ever.
I also repainted the parts I missed on the chair.
I set up a spray area outside so I can see things better, that was much more successful.
I managed to apply a clear coat to the chair to help protect it from wear, and it provides a satin finish.
Once that was done I took a walk up the road to knock on the door to tell Mantesh (the chair owner) how things were going.
Unfortunately I had lost the card with his address and phone number so I had 626 in my head, so I set off looking for this house number.
Of course there was no such number, there was a 624 and a 627, and as I knew the person at 624 it had to be the other one. Just to be sure I checked with the guy at 624 who happened to be out in his garden.
“ Oh the professor, yes that’s his house over there.
The house was the only one without some flowers of landscaping features, it was plain and dull. The windows at the front had shades pulled down, and generally it looked deserted.
I rang the door bell and Mantesh opened the door just wide enough to squeeze his head through, being careful not to allow too much of the inside of his home to be viewed.
I explained what I had done, and invited him to come and view the first chair.
He was excited, and promised to come down the next morning, and that was it.
Speaking to the neighbour, he said that they keep themselves to themselves, and even their children weren’t allowed to mix with local kids.
It was going to be a hot one. I had to get into the garage early to cut some patterned paper to line the drawers of the dresser that was going to be collected this morning.
I needn’t have rushed as they turned up around mid day. They were excited, “It will be perfect for our cabin” as they loaded it into their SUV.
We had to go out to get some “real” chicken for Phoebe, she had gone off her regular food, and the vet suggested giving her chicken and rice, whilst we were out we collected a free dresser from a storage facility on the north side of town.
It was big, it’s length just fitted into our truck, I didn’t really want anymore pieces at this time, “But it’s free” Kelli exclaimed, “ I don’t know where we’re going to put it” I replied.
I guess it will go on a trolly so we can move it in and out of the garage to make space.
I wanted to get a coat of black paint on the chair, it went okay for a first attempt, it was later that I found that I had missed a few spots.
The light in the garage is not perfect, and I don’t want to use the work lights as there is enough heat without adding more.
We made good progress on another small dresser, a lot of the drawers needed repairing and the top had to be finished, although the profit on these pieces are small, we have no problem selling them.
Another Lifetime to go 