I am another step closer to finishing the kitchen island, and quite frankly, I’ll be glad when the bloody thing is delivered.
Everything has been painted, and we pulled the top out of our store room, and applied the first coat of a food safe wax oil. When the thing gets delivered, I will have to fit the top on site, it will be just too heavy to handle.
Of course we had rain this afternoon which put paid to doing anything outside, so I spent time on my laptop trying to get an install disc to work.
To most people it’s probably a simple task, but to me it will always end in failure and frustration.
In the end I decided to install the back up, just to prove that I can do that, which was successful, but I still can’t access my emails on it. I re authorised the laptop which I thought would solve the problem, but it didn’t.
I farted around with it for a couple of hours before closing it down, I’ll pick it up maybe tomorrow.
Kelli was invited by an old school friend to a launch of her first book. It’s called Breaking Free , and her name was Ronda Busscher.
It’s a true story of her difficult life, Kelli knew a lot about it during their friendship, so now that it was in print, she wanted to attend the event.
I was happy to go along, as I’ve never been to a book launch before, I thought I might learn something.
Well the first thing I learned was to hold an event that is easy to get to. In fact I suggested that it would be a good second book to write.
It was way out in the sticks, the route was arduous, and without GPS we would still be looking for it.
Eventually we arrived at a place called Sandy Pines, primarily a golf course, but also an area of weekend cottages.
The launch took place in the club house, and as we entered, Ronda spotted Kelli, what followed was a selection of squeals and laughter, as I stood by, the silent observer.
There was a very nice cake on offer, and many people sat around cheerfully munching, holding their copy of the book.
Kelli had a copy presented to her, which was a nice gesture. I did feel a little strange, but I had a second piece of cake by way of an excuse to do something.
Then it happened, Kelli was aware of this guy hovering in the background, thinking it was someone who wanted to talk to Ronda she thought nothing of it.
Suddenly this guy came into my view, “are you Peter?” He said.
I took one good look and recognised him immediately, “Don Thomson!” I exclaimed, then we squealed and shouted, I couldn’t believe it.
Out in the wilds, at an obscure event, and there was someone I knew, it was amazing.
It was even stranger, because we were due to meet up for a beer with Jim Vandragt a couple of weeks ago, but that didn’t happen because Don couldn’t make it.
For those who don’t know who Don and Jim are, well they were both IT support for engineering at Herman Miller, Don was the manager and Jim did most of the work. I have known them since the 90’s and once we got into CAD they helped install and supported us.
So was it fate? Are we all connected by six degrees of separation? It’s a weird thought, but I seem to agree with it after it happens.
Another doctors appointment for Kelli, so another trip to Zeeland, stopping off at the Goodwill store for good measure. Today there was no furniture , but that didn’t stop Kelli finding thirty seven scoop handles, guess what we will be putting on the dressers in the near future?
I was due to meet up with Lloyd for our regular chat and drink, so my time in the garage was limited. I was leaving the painting of the island to Kelli, so I worked on another tall dresser, scraping off the paint and applying a special primer.
I drove into the town, as summer has officially ended there wasn’t many people about, not that we ever had to fight for a table, but it was noticeable.
Lloyd is very knowledgeable on American history so it a learning experience for me, but I do try to throw alternative theories at him occasionally.
I have concluded that he believed everything he has been taught, read or told without question.
I suppose that’s where we differ, he is a bit older than me, and I have to respect how he thinks, but it does lead to some interesting discussions.
When I got back home Kelli had given the island a second coat, so I hope we can finish it over the weekend.
We finally got some paint on to the kitchen island, at long last, finally some colour.
The first thing we did this morning was a bike ride to the big lake. As it isn’t summer anymore, there wasn’t any security guard that we had to blag our way in.
It was a perfect day, clear blue sky, and water to tempt you in, until you felt it, it’s cold.
In the next week or so the snow fences will be erected and then it all downhill to autumn.
The last job on the island was drilling the holes for the shelves, of course they have to be accurate otherwise there would be a rocking shelf, and nobody wants that.
So in the blazing sun, I had to lay down with a ruler in hand and a pencil in the other, marking the first hole position. I had bought a drill jig to use to bore out the others, that is a time saver.
Then Kelli started on the painting, first the doors and drawer fronts then the big bugger.
Luckily it is on a trolley, that makes it much easier to move. Tomorrow will be the second coat, then out will come the top, I can’t wait for that one.
Finally the dresser that we’ve been holding for the past month was picked up. Now we have a bit more space again.
I was working on the kitchen island, I’m desperate to get it finished and delivered by next week.
I fitted the second door then noticed a few things I wasn’t happy with. A quick dimensional check showed a discrepancy of about an eighth of an inch. Once I planed that back, things looked a lot better.
It is a very heavy bugger, getting it off the trolley was difficult, I can’t imagine the total weight once the top is fitted.
But I made good progress, hopefully we can get paint on it tomorrow.
The news is still dominated by the Charlie Kirk assassination, charges have now been placed on the young man that is in custody. Both Kelli and myself still believe something is not right. So many ballistic experts have been analysing the videos and almost all have agreed on one thing, the guy they have in custody could not have done it. Kirk was not hit from the front, it was on his right hand side.
I cannot see how this would ever get to court as any lawyer would easily discredit the current account of what happened.
Someone will try to stop this guy going to court, there will have to be another “distraction” to take away attention.
It may seem that I’m becoming a bit of a whacko, but it’s all so clear, the authorities really think we are stupid.
I was impressed with the massive crowds in London, it’s about time, I hope the next one will be double in size.
I have come to dislike our blackout curtain in the bedroom. We got them to help ensure that Kelli wasn’t woken early due to the sunlight flooding in. Now with the early morning being darker, I am fooled,and end up sleeping later than I wanted.
This has a knock on effect, and shortens the time I have to work on things, which at times I find frustrating.
Today, by the time we had breakfast, and Kelli had selected the clothing she wanted to wear, it was nearly 1.00pm, then we had to go shopping.
We did our thing at Natures Market then went on to Ace Hardware to buy the paint for the kitchen island. As we were getting out of the car, I put on my glasses, Kelli looked at me and burst out laughing. I couldn’t understand what the joke was until I saw the glasses I put on, they were hers, I must have picked them up in error. It was a good thing she noticed otherwise I would be walking round the store looking like Dame Edna Everage.
There was one important thing we had to do.
Yesterday when we delivered the dresser to the apartment Kelli noticed that she had forgotten to paint the top edge of the drawer fronts.
She messaged the lady to apologise and agreed to return to finish the job.
The call came later in the afternoon, so it was me that had to go and do it. Along with other chores, I managed to get back in time, because we had someone coming to collect the cabinet that we got from Goodwill yesterday, it was all go today.
We had to deliver the white dresser to a new apartment complex on the north side of Holland.
Kelli had added that we offer free delivery over a ten mile radius, which was enough to swing the deal. This has been an advantage since we started doing it, especially if people don’t have a truck or SUV to collect it.
However first stop we had to visit Goodwill to return things that we bought yesterday. I headed straight for the furniture section noting that there was a cabinet that might be of interest, Kelli saw it and peeled the price sticker off, a way of reserving it.
As we had the dresser in the truck we arranged to collect it on the way back.
We eventually found the apartment, a collection of identical boxes of little interest, that I’m sure will show its age very quickly.
The lady was there to meet us, fortunately her place was on the ground floor, so no stairs.
The place was littered with boxes, the sign of a new mover. We positioned it in her bedroom, the only room that looked organised, the lady was pleased, we were pleased, and with the cash in our hand we headed back to Goodwill.
Although a modest sized piece it was heavy, made from solid oak, it was a bit of a mystery piece. That was revealed once we had a chance to look it over. At some time it was the top section of an entertainment unit, but the bottom section’s whereabouts was unknown. I made some little blocks to lift it off the ground, took some pictures, and Kelli posted it.
Kelli wanted a thrift day, that was certainly not high on my level of excitement, but I went along, maybe I could find more CD’s from people I never heard of.
First stop was Goodwill on the north side, it was unexpectedly busy, people of all ethnic groups were there. A group of Mexican children were playing with the toys, I went over to the book section, I don’t know why I bother to look at them, most are fiction, and rarely anything interests me.
Over in the CD and DVD section, the sad area of the store, I found three that I’d heard of. There were the usual subjects in the DVD shelves. Someone certainly raided Grandma’s collection of Christmas movies.
There was no furniture of note, there was an enormous dresser that would never fit in our truck, it would need a flatbed lorry.
We then went to another thrift place, not one we go to often, so it made a change.
I spent twenty odd minutes that I’ll never get back, but Kelli found a couple of items to litter the place up with. She saw a Christmas tree, that she wanted, it took all my negotiation skills to convince her that the one we have is suffice.
The next stop was to an upmarket thrift store, their words not mine. This place is huge, plenty of furniture, clothing, homeware stuff, which includes coffee makers, bloody dozens of them. I thought Americans love coffee. But in every store we visited coffee machines were everywhere. A lot of them were the ones that take small tubs that contain the concentrate, possibly getting them as gifts are great until they have to buy new tubs.
All this fun, left me little time to work on the kitchen island, but I did put another coat of finish on the drawer boxes.
I was full of energy despite having a restless night.
Last night I sent the customer of the kitchen island a progress report, including a warning of an increase in the price.
She sent back a reply with a series of questions about the size of the piece. I sent back the dimensions and a breakdown of the overspend mainly caused by the stripping of the lead paint.
I was a little concerned that it might be too large for her kitchen, and she would respond that it would not fit.
With this on my mind I was thinking how it could be modified, basically ruining the original concept she had.
So with this rolling about in my head I didn’t sleep well.
Morning came and I received an email to tell me that the size was good and the overspend was acceptable, that was a huge relief.
Now I was ready to get on and finish the other door and generally move into the final stages.
Apparently the authorities have the assassin of Charlie Kirk, his picture was all over the media.
Now this doesn’t feel right. America has always lied to the people, but they are not very good at it. This is a text book example of diversion, they have someone who fits the bill, it will be all over the news for a couple of weeks then it will fade because there will be another distraction.
It is so bloody obvious, they really think people are that stupid, but admittedly some are.
The guy they arrested bares no resemblance to the person in the surveillance image.
It was reported that a mystery private aircraft took off thirty minutes after the shooting and didn’t file a flight plan, which is against the law, I guess the real killer is back in the Middle East by now.
America is dealing with the aftermath of yesterday’s tragic news of the assassination of Charlie Kirk, an influencer with millions of followers. There are so many questions and opinions as to who was responsible. There was the person on a high roof that was apparently responsible, so the police were on high alert for that.
He was not someone I followed, but watched him many times, he was charismatic and passionate about his beliefs, recently he changed his opinion about Israel, and became very outspoken about the brutality in Gaza, was it that outspokenness that got him killed?
Of course it was the anniversary of 9/11 but the remembrance of that was overshadowed, and people were coming to the realisation that maybe the same people were responsible for both.
Our day began as they usually do with Kelli announcing that we have to drive to Hudsonville to collect a free four poster bed.
It was a perfect day, not too hot, but sunny.
We found the address, and outside the house was this enormous bed frame. There was no way we would get it inside the truck so on the roof rack it went. I lashed it down with bungees and we headed back to Holland at a steady speed, on the way back we stopped off at Menards for timber for drawer fronts and Doors.
Kelli finished the side tables for our friend Debs, that I delivered later.
Kelli gave the bed frame a good clean, and I took pictures and it was posted that evening.
Another Lifetime to go 