Author: peterb51

5th May 2021

The leaves are bursting out of my new plum trees, the raspberry bushes have defied my death fingers and rooted, displaying new leaves. Even though the temperature has dropped a bit, it warms up in the afternoon, I can’t wait to lose my flannel shirts.

Kelli decided to ditch all the soy based food in the freezer because she was concerned that it was having an adverse effect on her progress. As soy seems to be in most things we eat, the future looks grim.

I have been looking up recipes for making sawdust into appetising food, as that I have in abundance.

There was a time when fish fingers and spaghetti on toast was seen as a good goto snack, boy I look forward to that now.

I went out to get more rocks for the decking, not wearing the correct shoes I didn’t feel like risking lifting the buckets, in case the handles broke, so I had to load the buckets with them in the back of the truck, not easy but it had to be done.

I had some money to deposit into Kelli’s bank account, including the stimulus cheque, this meant negotiating the sucking tubes which confuses me still.

You have to press a button to open the door to get the plastic container, add the money, and place it back in the holder. You press “send” to close the door, then it’s off.

Once the transaction is complete the teller sends back the receipt.

Taking the piece of paper out, I returned it to the holder, but the door remained open, I thought I would lose it by pressing the button, but all that did was send it back empty.

I bet the teller thought”dumb shit”.

4th May 2021

I had to tackle the upholstery for the six dining chairs that have been stored in the shed for the past year.

I had finished painting them, and Kelli had recovered them a long time ago, but the colour was not appropriate. We had been given some black and white fabric, so we decided to use that.

I have not done much upholstery since I made furniture for my first flat. I was working at Arkana on the lower Bristol Road, next to Herman Miller factory one. I saw how much scrap they threw away, each day I would collect all the off-cuts of foam, vinyl and leather. Each evening I would sew pieces together to make giant floor cushions, filling them with foam chunks. That was a lot for my poor old singer sewing machine, but they turned out great, my first foray into furniture design.

The seat pads were simple in comparison, but the fabric was thick and difficult to cut. It was also hard because being left handed I could only use the right handed scissors we had.

I spent the afternoon banging in staples and try to get the corners neat.

I wasn’t in the right frame of mind to do them at the beginning, but the challenge to make them look neat was too much to take up.

I managed to cover the five standard chairs, the carver is for tomorrow.

3rd May 2021

I’m not cut out to be a chief/cook/ preparer of food or anything really remotely to do with cooking. I used to have my standard dishes that I would make for myself, and I managed to survive. With Kelli out of things, I have been trying to keep us both alive.

A lot of the time Kelli has made things in the morning, when she feels strong enough, for dinner, and I have chipped in where I can.

Most of the time I have tried to keep the furniture side going, then making simple things to eat at the end of the day.

The vegan lifestyle does not easily suit my approach to food. Looking in the fridge and just seeing green things does not stir me to think of anything appetising. Although we have added fish into our diet(mainly because the kinesiologist said it would provide us with omega 3 and many other minerals the body can’t make for itself), so there are things I now recognise.

There was a piece of salmon in the fridge that I agreed to cook. It went wrong the moment I decided to use the frying pan instead of wrapping it in tin foil and baking it in the oven.

I looked for a simple recipe to make a sauce, but everyone I looked at did not have any measures, how are you supposed to make the bloody stuff. I was starting to lose patience.

I eventually found something and started the experiment.

I had to melt three tablespoons of butter in a pan(of course we don’t use butter, so I had to use the vegan stuff). I used garlic powder instead of real garlics, half a cup of chicken stock, (I had to use vegetable broth) some lemon juice, ( I had that) and some honey.

I should have used the runny sort, but I must have bought the wrong kind, it was as thick tar. Needless to say I wasn’t impressed with my effort, even after watching all those cooking shows. With that performance I wouldn’t even had got to the car park yet alone the tent.

Kelli wasn’t having a good day, and that got me down, there is no pattern. She is sleeping better, but nothing else is improving. I thought the sleep issue was the key, but it hasn’t made any difference, there is still no pattern, so still frustrating.

2nd May 2021

Kelli had a better night, meaning that myself, and the dogs were not treading on eggshells. Although knowing the dogs they would have eaten them.

It was great that she was able to sit outside in the new hanging egg chair. This was the first time she had ventured outside, so a milestone.

It got up to 75 degrees today, but this is Michigan, it would snow tomorrow.

I did a little work in the garage, putting a finish coat on a dresser top, but I wanted to take advantage to the sun.

We had fun trying to coax the dogs onto the new deck, something they have avoided getting on to. With the help of a dog treat they edged their way onto it, one paw at a time.

Now they associate the deck with food, I’m not sure that is a good thing.

1st May 2021

I was out weeding the front flower bed, the next door neighbour had bought a new truck, it looked immaculate, all black, shiny and polished. He then spent the hour, washing and waxing it, I know we all do it, we like to make sure all the dirt from the previous owner has been removed, so we can start afresh, and cover it with our dirt. The whole event made me want to wash our truck, mmm, maybe tomorrow.

I was eager to tryout the strimmer as I had a load of new spools had been delivered by Amazon, I now have enough to last me the rest of my life.

Kelli didn’t have a very good night, she was plagued with thoughts of an ocular migraine which is a distortion of sight. A sparkly kaleidoscope, it moves though a person’s vision, getting larger, before slowly disappearing. A lot of people can suffer from it due to stress or even caffeine, but Kelli had awoken with one, and she was worried that there would be a repeat episode.

I have had a few, but I am able to rest, and work past it, it can dwell in Kelli’s mind for days.

30th April 2021

What a difference a day makes, after a bit of change to Kelli’s daily routine her morning was a lot brighter. It was by no means perfect, she didn’t sleep for a whole eight hours, but with what she did last night, gave hope to build on.

Firstly the magnesium tablets might have contributed, and also we found a hypnotherapy video dealing with sleep.

This was all about conditionings the brain to slow down, and by focusing on the dialogue and the mood it was created, she didn’t allow her brain to dive off in a different direction, or get fixated with not being able to drop off.

She had short periods of sleep, without the anxiety that interrupted the quality.

She awoke, although early, with a much more positive attitude.

Hopefully we can build on this positivity.

I bought more river rocks to carry on filling the gully around the decking, three five gallon buckets are all I can manage. I need to hurry up and finish before my strength gives out.

29th April 2021

When I started this blog my intension was to document my journey into the unknown. To observe things that I encountered in the future, however long that might be.

Some observations are interesting, some strange, and some even dull, but I never thought I would be witnessing the slow downward spiral that Kelli is going through.

This morning she demonstrated the frustrated anger of insomnia. From birth, sleeping is normal, it’s what we do for nearly a third of our lives, but not being able to travel to the land of nod, for most of us is unimaginable.

Having decided that she didn’t want conventional medical treatment, and opted to visit a kinesiologist instead, we are going through a bi-weekly series of consultations to work through what herbal supplements will work on her.

However without really tackling the root cause which is lack of sleep, progress has been slow, and if I am honest, I am still not convinced of that line of treatment.

The helplessness that I feel at not knowing what to say to someone who craves sleep so much that death would be welcomed alternative.

I have done research into Acupuncture, hypnotherapy and hypnosis as well as the good old NHS web page on sleep degradation, but that is only valuable if the patient is willing to try them.

Her visit to the kinesiologist this morning focused on the non-sleeping part, and after some physical manipulation she came away with Magnesium tablets, let’s see how these work.

My motto of “There is humour in everything” is not something that can be applied today without getting my face kicked in.

Output from Bristol Cottage Furniture has been bleak, I have managed to finish one or two pieces, the latest of which was sold this morning.

28th April 2021

With what strength Kelli had we dragged the latest furniture piece into the living area to take pictures.

This had been hard work stripping off the badly applied white paint, and then refinishing it back to light wood.

At the same time I started painting the latest dresser, and applying stain to the newly veneered top.

It was back on with the coat today as a cold wind blew through the garage when the doors were opened.

27th April 2021

Well I was right, the replacement for my patio furniture arrived on the back of a FedEx truck.

The guy carried it up the drive and placed it by the front screen door.

My heart sank immediately.

I opened the box, and no there wasn’t a right hand back panel, there wasn’t even a left hand back panel, there was a side panel, and I’ve got one of those already.

I got on the phone and contacted the customer service person, this time it was Sharon.

“Hi Sharon” I said cheerfully, there wasn’t any point at ranting and raving at her, it was not her fault.

I went through the story slowly, explaining that I had two left hand sofas instead of a left and right hand.

I gathered she understood the problem after bringing up a picture of the configuration I had ordered.

She repeated back to me her understanding, which was spot on.

She pulled up the installation instructions, so did I.

We agreed that we had the same version that showed six pictures of the different ways the furniture could be arranged.

We agreed that picture one was the one I wanted to build, so she printed out a copy and circled the part I needed. The other five pictures showed configurations using two left hand sofas.

We agreed that something was wrong with that logic.

She assured me that she will pass the markup to the person in the warehouse.

I will wait another week or so to see what turns up.

26th April 2021

It must be a national scare people to death day because all the advertisements on the radio was all warnings of imminent death. If you didn’t have a heart condition at the start of your journey, the chances are you would have by the end of it.

I went to a landscape supplies to purchase some small rocks to fill the gully around the decking. It felt wrong asking for it in gallons rather than cubic yards, but it applied to the buckets that you can use to carry it, and five gallons of rocks are heavier than you think.

I struggled to lift those into the back of the truck, and the echoes of those adverts reverberating around my head.

I did my usual mooch around Menards, I could spend a fortune at that place, but I have learnt restraint.

Once I got back I wanted to start filling up the gully’s with the rocks. Fifteen gallons sounds like a lot, but when poured into a deep hole, it quickly disappears. At this rate I will need about ninety gallons, which means my arms will reach the ground.