Author: peterb51

25th February 2021

The snow is disappearing and we were able to work with the garage door open. Still dressed in a thick coat it was just about bearable, until later in the afternoon when the sun sank low.

Kelli was working on a buffet, cleaning it and applying a primer coat.

Because I have been here for such a long time, there was the question of what I was going to do with the Shogun that was being used by my son Ryan. We agreed that I would transfer ownership over to him, saving me the cost of road tax and insurance. It made a lot of sense, but also made me sad. This would be the first time in forty years that I would not have a car.

All the worry about repairs and all the other costs associated with cars will just be concentrated on the Toyota we have here.

24th February 2021

The thaw continues, gradually areas of the garden is being exposed including dog poop.

Kelli was out scraping it up and depositing it in the dog bog.

A man came to collect the dresser, of course there was the usual last minute panic because there are always a few areas missed. All that done, we waved as it was loaded into his truck and driven off to its new home.

I finished all the structural changes to the long dresser ready for filling, sanding and painting.

The amount of work in this project was substantial, almost building it from scratch, something I really want to do, anyway it was fun to do, even though the financial side of it won’t be great.

23rd February 2021

The thaw begins, the white snow is turning brown with the mud that splashes from dirty roads, and slush is everywhere. This is the worst time of the winter, but the hope that spring is just around the corner.

We finished another dresser that we probably paid too much for, but I added a shelf where there was a drawer missing, as I had this material left over from another job, it didn’t cost us anything other than the time to make it.

We dragged it into the house to take the pictures and Kelli posted it.

It was sold by the evening and being picked up tomorrow.

I carried on with strengthening the carcass of the large dresser that had a sag in the middle.

I removed the lower rail, which had the biggest deflection, and made a new version. The rate I’m going I will double the weight of it by the time I’m finished.

22nd February 2021

Work in the Bristol Cottage workshop trundled on. I had a finish to add to a maple stained top, and some structural modifications to the large dresser that I’m trying to save. Kelli was busy painting another dresser ready for me to add a shelf.

Everything is still covered with snow, the warmer weather is still expected this week, but it’s going to take a while for it to disappear.

I became aware how much time the both of us have spent in the house together, it had been a prison, but with benefits. There is talk of some more relaxing of restrictions in March.

The new Biden administration is working hard to get the vaccines and financial help to the Americans, but so many people on social media are saying such evil things about him.

After four years of an imbecile president there is someone who had empathy and wants to build back a better country.

21st February 2021

I was determined to take today off, we had friends round in the afternoon so we needed to prepare for that. That was the plan, but I just needed to thickness a piece of timber and attach it to a shelf, that was all.

I took a quick walk to the corner shop to get a carton of almond milk and vegan butter. The pavement was still thick with snow, but I love the walk anyway.

I helped prepare some snacks and uncorked a nice bottle of wine.

I grabbed some money that we had from the lady who collected the table. To our surprise there was far more there than we expected.

We were then in a dilemma, was it a mistake?

or a generous gesture, we had to find out.

Mike and Lesley arrived promptly at two and began telling us about their second Covid vaccination and the after effects. It’s not the same for everyone, and they suffered a bit.

A day for them was wiped out, with feelings of nausea and light headedness, plus a large rash on their arms, but they feel better for having it.

We had a good laugh playing dominoes drinking wine and eating cheese and biscuits.

I was excited to read that Menards have their 11% discount offer going again. I was waiting for that to start up again so that I can order the decking material once the snow has melted.

20th February 2021

We waited in most of the afternoon for the owner of the table to come and collect it.

We had messaged her to tell her the cost, making sure that we explained what we did.

This is a good example where the labour hours outstrip the realistic value of the piece,but we felt that it was necessary for her to know.

She did “give” us a dresser which we repainted and sold pretty quickly, so we acknowledged that, and gave her credit for it.

Anyway she arrived with her husband and a very large dog that I thought with take my hand off, but turned out to be a big softy.

They were happy with the finished product, although they were very reserved compared with others that gush with typical over the top compliments that I have learned to expect over here.

We had been waiting to take our own dogs out for a walk, but that is a whole logistical problem in itself.

First the dogs have to be fitted into their matching wooden coats, then it is our turn.

This starts with thick boots, Kelli has a pair that look like Yeti’s feet.

Next comes the thick down-filled coats, that start to restrict physical movement.

Then it is the hats and scarves tightly wrapped around face.

The final items are the gloves, ideally fur lined, but wooden ones are necessary to hold the dog leads.

We then step out of our warm home through an air lock into the frozen wasteland where the windchill hits you making the eyes freeze and the nose run.

The snow had thawed a little due to the sun raising the temperature slightly making the pavement slushy, which will freeze tonight for sure.

Our walking route takes us through a park, we stick to the well trodden path, noting that some brave individuals had reached the swings who must have been high on something. I wouldn’t have had the dexterity to tackle the swings as just walking was a challenge in itself.

We returned to our safe house, quickly removing all the items we had carefully applied as quickly as we could.

19th February 2021

It has been a slow week on both Kelli’s stuff and furniture, so we were excited when the latest dresser posted yesterday was sold to a lady in Muskegon. That is outside our free delivery area, but Kelli agreed a delivery charge. The lady was all excited and pleaded not to sell to anybody else. So to make sure, Kelli deleted the posting, realising afterwards that all the messages also disappeared. That meant that there was no way of knowing who the name and address of the buyer was and no way for us to contact her. What a bummer!

Normally the process was to mark the post as pending, this shows others that the item is under offer, but for some reason Kelli took a different route.

Now we had a piece that was “sold” and no way to deliver it.

What happened next only usually happens in films. The lady messaged Kelli with a request for more pictures, so we were back on!!

Who says there isn’t a patron saint of furniture, St Chippendale was there for us.

We are still waiting to hear from the lady about the table, after the excited message from last night we have heard nothing.

18th February 2021

The painted enamel top table is finally finished.

One month’s work completed, with a new leg and rebuilt drawer.

When Kelli sent off a note to the customer, all we got as a response was “very nice”.

Very nice? Was that all she had to say? That pissed me off, so I increased the price.

Petty, I know, but the amount of actual work that went into it, stripping the old paint off the top took about two days, so I don’t feel bad at all.

We took the dogs out for a walk, and covered our usual route. Ahead we saw another lady with a dog walking towards us. Of course our dogs freaked out, wining and barking, and generally getting exciting. The other lady, not wishing to get involved in a dog fight turned around and walked back the way she came, but in a rather indecisive manner.

She walked back in the direction we were taking but slowly, making her dog constantly looking behind, and ours continued to get excited.

Why the lady couldn’t have walked UP the road and waited until we had gone in the opposite direction, then she could have doubled back, then continue on her original route. Instead we had to wait until she was much further ahead, then walk slowly so we didn’t catch her up.

Kelli was annoyed at the person’s speed, and remarked “Is we can’t walk any faster, I will fall over”, eventually we got to our road and the situation got resolved.

17th February 2021

I am working on old saggy, the dresser with a droop in the middle.

I thought I could reverse it by fitting a middle lag and placing weights each side.

That did nothing at all.

The main culprit is the bottom rail, the only real alternative is to cut it out and replace it.

Kelli says it’s not really worth all the extra work as it was a free piece.

I have already made a new top for it so a bit more work to make it better is worth it, it will just take a bit longer to finish, so it will side project.

I removed the top of a buffet that had split, I thought that it might be a simple job, and as we now have three more dressers in the garage, we will concentrate on those.

16th February 2021

I finally managed to get Big Berth the snow blower working. It was a bugger to start, my biceps have never worked so hard.

It took a while to get used to the controls, and to keep changing the direction of the spout. I was very successful in covering the truck a couple of times. The snow was a bit too deep so I had to take small bites at it to avoid the engine stalling.

I’m not saying it was a pleasurable experience, but it did put me into the lakeside set, I just need a sit on mower to complete the set.

We drove to Zeeland to collect a dresser that Kelli had bought last night. It was left in the person’s porch. We were told not to make much noise as it was a day care, and the children would be taking a nap, what they didn’t mention was about the dog that started barking as soon as we got close to the porch.

We moved it as quickly as we could, even keeping the motor running for a quick getaway, just as well.