Author: peterb51

25th May 2021

I drove to the surgery of the root canal specialist to make an appointment for my other tooth.

Boy! The receptionists was a bit abrupt, no pleasantries just a “What do you want? “ the experience was almost as bad as the procedure itself, but without sitting down.

Eventually I explained what I needed, and a date out in July was agreed.

Kelli needed more supplements from the kinesiologist’s surgery so on the way I picked those up, I’m getting used to collecting and dropping off things, maybe I should get a job with Amazon?

24th May 2021

I finally put a “finished” note on the project piece we got for free back in October last year.

As I hammered in the last nail into the back panel, it was a relief to get it done.

I got the strimmer out to trim all the edges of the lawns. There is nothing fun about doing that task, I know for the first ten minutes I’ll be untangling the cable. No matter how neat and careful I am coiling it up, when I come to use it’s alway a mess.

The place always looks tidier when it’s done.

Kelli is still suffering with her vertigo even though we’ve done the Epley manoeuvre several times, she read something on line about keeping her head steady for five days.

This sounds crazy to me, but if that’s what she wants to do, I’ll go along with it.

I was busy sanding all the chair parts when I noticed that I was also wearing away my thumb, it got sore after awhile, then I remembered, it happened the same last time.

23rd May 2021

The buyers of the dresser arrived to collect, they were a young couple with a grizzly little kid. The kind of child you could accidentally slam a door on his head just to give it something to cry about.

They were suitably impressed with the piece and so they should as Kelli had reduced the price by twenty-five bucks.

We fiddled around trying to get it into their SUV. In and out, in and out, finally we slid it on its back, and bungee’d the hatch back closed.

Off they went back to Grand Rapids grizzly kid as well.

I wasn’t planning to anything else, but the allure of the other Adirondack chair drew me in.

Stripping it back to its compound parts is quite satisfying until you see the bad bits, and there were a lot of rot in this one.

There are other things I want to do to the back garden, new steps to the upper level, and the pool pad on the lower patch.

The grass in the back is very rough and patchy, and just needs to be dug up and re-seeded, but that’s a job for the autumn.

22nd May 2021

I finished repainted the blue dresser, thank goodness, it was a warm day, and the paint was drying super fast. I also finished painting the Adirondack, and started the re-assembly.

I went to buy another 15 gallons of river rocks to finish the gully around the deck. They are used to seeing me with the exact right money ready, I told the guy that they can leave the rocks in the river because I’ve got enough. Whilst I was there I saw a family of large people wandering around. It was into the eighties and they were dressed like it was winter with coats and sweaters, I perspired just watching them.

Then it was back to grass cutting and weeding.

I now get it, you reach a certain age when all there is in life is pottering in the garden. I used to mock my mum and dad for doing it, although I don’t think dad had any hobbies, he was too bloody exhausted after cycling to work everyday.

I was just finishing my days work in the garage, when our English friends Mike and Lesley knocked on the door. They had just returned from Grand Rapids after having dinner at our favourite Indian Restaurant.

The handed me a bag with two samosas and a left over eggplant curry. They thought as we could go with them they would bring it to us.

That was so thoughtful, they are great people, and I hope it won’t be long before we can share a few bottles of red with them.

21st May 2021

A moment of panic almost overwhelmed me.

I was preparing Kelli’s protein drink, and I had to put three scoops of protein powder into a jug that I fill with yogurt, fruit, honey and almond milk. The container with the powder was nearly empty which meant that in order to get the scoop full I had to put my whole hand inside. The neck of the container was just a little smaller than my hand, but with a little manipulation I managed to get it inside.

However getting it out, and holding the scoop, was difficult, the more I tried, the hotter I got, making my hand swell up. The inside surface of the neck had sharp edges which dug into my wrist as I tried to pull it out.

All kinds of things went through my mind, I could try the hospital, but driving could be difficult, but do I was to run the risk of humiliating myself by arriving at A&E with a plastic bottle attached to my arm.

I could try to cut it off, but it was hard plastic and knowing my luck I would probably severe a artery.

In the end I used my other hand to compress the trapped one just enough to extract it.

I’m not trying that again, now I have tied a stick to the handle of the scoop so that it will reach the bottom and collect the powder.

We had someone else enquire about the dresser, Kelli advised them of the colour, and they didn’t mind, but I had just finished repainting the drawer fronts, so they will have to have white.

20th May 2021

I had an appointment with the dentist to discuss what to do with two of my back teeth.

Not long after I got here in November 2019 part of one tooth cracked but was still attached at the gum. I nursed it carefully thinking I’d be back in the UK in February when I had a dental appointment booked.

However that all went to pot, with Kelli’s family issues and then the pandemic, needless to say it didn’t happen.

I had another tooth problem so I went along to a dental clinic and they gave me an assessment on the treatment I would need.

That came to a whopping five grand, since then I have been planning what treatment I would have, and when.

At the time the dentist said I would need a root filling in the damaged tooth and the one next to it, but they didn’t do root fillings at that practice , so he recommended a specialist. It took a while to get an appointment and when I saw him he would only do one filling at a time. He didn’t think it was worth treating the damaged tooth so he worked on the other. His reason was that there was not a lot of tooth left to attach a crown to, and his advice was to have it extracted.

I didn’t want to loose the tooth, so I went back to the dentist guy to discuss my options.

He recommended having a crown that covered both teeth that way it would be well anchored down, and under normal circumstances would last a long time.

That was a relief, so now I have to go back to the specialist and have the filling done to the tooth that was not worth saving.

19th May 2021

I wasn’t going out, so I was a slob all day. I had Albert Steptoe facial growth, and my hair, was like wild desert grass, thin and dry.

I had Funky Frog painted parts spread around the garage on every possible surface. The stained dresser top had several coats of finish and was starting to look good.

I finished painting the dresser and turned my attention to the drawer fronts.

For some reason the two small fronts were trapezoidal rather than square, so I added strips of timber to the ends, and then cut them all square. By the end of the day these had been painted, so a productive day.

We had people coming to view the “blue” dresser that has been languishing in the garage for longer than usual.

At about six they arrived, at first things were promising, then they said the soul destroying words “Oh I thought it was white”.

They debated among themselves for a few minutes then came to the decision to pass on it.

I didn’t blame them, the walls of the room that it was going to be installed into was Olive green. So I agreed with them, even with my naive sense of colour combinations, that a light blue would not go with olive green.

So that dresser will be repainted before the weekend, mark my words.

18th May 2021

Phew! It’s warm today, and about time to.

I may have to get the shorts and tee-shirts out of storage.

It was a morning of getting stuff and making an appointment at the dentist.

It had been a while since I had my root canal and as there was only a temporary filling in the tooth it was about time to get it finished.

The rest of my tasks included saw blades more rocks and paint for the Adirondacks.

“What colour should I paint them?” I asked, although Kelli wasn’t particularly interested as her night was not good and she was still suffering the after effects of the attack by the kinesiologist.

“You chose” was her response.

“Oh dear” I thought this is risky, leaving me to my own devices could be a disaster.

Once I got to Menards I was faces with a million choices from three or four paint manufacturers.

I looked to the sky for inspiration, should I go red?, or yellow. Kelli reminded me that bees and wasps are attracted to that colour, so strike that one.

In the end I went for “Frog in a blender” or by its proper title “Funky Frog”.

“Do you want good, better or best?” Asked the assistant.

“I’ll have the best” I replied confidently.

That took her by surprise, that was when she realised that I wasn’t from around here.

“Dutch Boy or Pittsburg?” Yet another choice.

“ I don’t really care” was my answer, how would I know the difference?

She scurried off to her mixing machine, after vibrating it for several minutes handed me the quart of Funky Frog.

17th May 2021

Kelli’s vertigo is still a problem, she managed to get an appointment with the kinesiologist for a late afternoon appointment, she didn’t want to do anymore home treatment until after she saw the doctor.

I kept myself occupied as I alway do in the garage. There is little I can do to ease Kelli’s discomfort other than making her protein drinks and topping up her water jug.

I had the final delivery of spare parts from the patio seating people. It was too late to cancel the order, so what arrived was another left hand back panel and another end panel. I have nearly enough part to build a third left hand sofa.

They sent me an email saying that they didn’t want them returned, therefore I could donate or trash them.

Alternatively I could become Mr Big in supplying spare parts for BLOODY patio seating.

I need to decide what to do with them as the boxes are filling up the garage.

The visit to the kinesiologist was the same as it usually is with Kelli being beaten up. Normally, ordinary people would be charged with GBH, but not if you’re a doctor.

There was treatment for sinuses as well as the normal adrenal areas.

I still get shocked at the severity of the treatment, if that happened to me I would probably hit out and seriously hurt someone.

16th May 2021

Kelli is still suffering with her vertigo, it’s maddening, but it’s putting her back mentally.

She was just starting to sleep better, and this had to happen, it’s like she’s cursed.

We repeated the Epley manoeuvre on her left side as she wasn’t convinced it worked the last time. Once completed, she is very conscious about it, and just wants to sit motionless for the rest of the day. With nothing else to do she then thinks about every twinge she has, thinking that it could be life threatening. She needs constant re-assurances that it’s not really the case.

If I worried about every ache and pain I had every day I would be out in the garage building a coffin.

There is definitely a difference between British and American’s mental health, it is so inbreed over here.

In America almost everyone I have met has some issue or other. Anxiety is everywhere, once you have it, it breeds and spreads to all young people, and starts them down the never ending wormhole.

The American dream is still thought of as something that is attainable by everyone, but that is not true. For a person to survive on their own they have to take two, or three low paid jobs just to pay their bills. Coupled with that the healthcare worries, its understandable that these pressures mount up, and manifest themselves as mental health problems.

Worries of the parents, pass down to their children, it heredity.