Author: peterb51

26th January 2021

Between three and four inches of snow fell last night, certainly not enough to warrant starting up Big Bertha, the snow blower. Just as well really because I didn’t have any petrol in it, and I keep forgetting to put the can in the truck when we need to get fuel.

Between you and me I think it was the wrong decision to get it, so maybe it will get sold soon.

We drove to a couple of places to search for things to sell. First Goodwill and another called Ditto on the other side of town. In both there wasn’t much that caught my eye, but Kelli’s expert eye spotted a few things.

I wandered over to the books and CD area, which is my default place of refuge. I found a couple of Max DuPree’s books that I thought might make a bit of money, and as they were only one dollar each they were a bargain. I certainly paid a lot more on Amazon when I bought them in the UK.

To kill more time I sat by the piles of CD’s and made a separate stack of artists that I had heard of. This was a very small compared with the masses of God music performed by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. Even by my standards the selection I had compiled was dull and not worth purchasing.

We stopped off on the way back for sushi that we both devoured as soon as we got home.

Now fully refreshed I set about rebuilding the entertainment centre.

The day started traumatically with a haircut, one of Kelli’s specials. The shears came out the battery trimmer was ready. The cut hair was building up on the floor. I didn’t want much off the top, but she found plenty to remove. Finally she tackled the fuzz on my neck. It was like a carpet, the trimmer was having a hard time, I could hear the power draining away causing me to clinch awaiting the cutters grabbing at the hair, a sure sign the the batteries are dead.

Eventually it was done, hair had transferred from my head to the floor, and I would be cursed with my hair looking like a pineapple every morning.

25th January 2021

The thrift stores continue to have slim pickings both in furniture and the small stuff Kelli has been successful selling.

Every morning though it seems there are notifications of more sales, great to wake up to.

So far this month they make up over 24% of our total sales this month, within a hair of what we planned for. This really takes pressure of the furniture, and at the moment that is a relief.

The large entertainment centre that we bought a couple of weeks ago is certainly a challenge.

Since I removed all the embellishments I found that it had been cobbled together from different pieces of furniture. A lot of the panels were held together with brad nails, bloody hundreds of them, so in the process of pulling them out, things started to move. The base was part of some other piece that wasn’t connected to the top half. I found that out when I tried to move it.

Today I started to rebuild it, strengthening it with new timber and gluing together all the loose bits.

I know it will look good when it is completed.

24th January 2021

I don’t care if I come third in our family trans Atlantic quiz with a humiliating score. It’s not that important, what is, is maintaining a connection to the people really special to me.

I miss not being able to hug them each time we meet, and although I’m not the best in keeping in touch, I value these new Zoom session as a way of making up for lost time.

I need to find a way to even up the odds here, for my own satisfaction, and to show that I’m not a mindless old git.

I think my questions were too easy, and theirs were bloody hard, so goodbye mister nice guy, the gloves are off.

23rd January 2021

If there is one thing that pisses me off more it is petty mindedness. Today was a prime example of it. We decided to take the dogs down to the beach at Point West, like we have done often. We parked the truck down by the dock, everything is closed, the boats are all stored away, the place is deserted. We walk down to the lake, the biting wind finding the gaps in our coats, but it was a bright day and the dogs looked nice and warm in their wooden coats. Feeling rejuvenated we walked back to the truck only to find a note on the windscreen stating that it was private property and if we did it again we would be towed away.

I was seething as I removed the notice, visibly screwing it up and tossing it into the truck.

Some old scrote must have battled the cold to place the printed note on the windscreen.

There is little evidence of any tolerance in this country, I guess they could have been Trump supporters angry at the world and taking it out on us.

The day started well, we delivered a dresser to an address in Zeeland, and Kelli made $180 selling her small stuff. Her sales so far made up a third of our monthly total which was really amazing as there is little or no effort required other than a keen nose for good stuff.

22nd January 2021

I really didn’t feel like doing much today. Kelli had done well selling the small stuff, it took the pressure off the furniture side a bit.

I routed an edge on a work surface and applied a stain and that was about it.

There was a bit more filling on the enamel top getting it closer to the application of the enamel paint.

I took the router apart to try and find the reason for its failure. The brushes appeared fine and the wiring looked okay.

The machine is quite old, I looked up anything on YouTube to help sort the problem, but there was nothing I hadn’t already done.

It must have been produced before they added thermal cutouts, so I guess it’s done for. Trying to get it repaired would cost more than buying a new one.

21st January 2021

Today I had to go for my biometric examination, which is to have my picture and fingerprints taken, another step in the residency process.

The centre was in Grand Rapids so not far to travel. The sun was shining like it was a spring day, oh how we look forward to that.

There was strict hygiene protocol when I arrived, hand sanitisers at every turn.

Not many people were there, I was given a ticket with a number on it , but as there was only one lady before me it really wasn’t necessary.

The process was over in a few minutes, just as well Kelli didn’t drive off to one of her favourite shopping places of I would have frozen to death waiting for her return.

The guy at the door was friendly, but the guy at the front desk was a bit strict, I guess he was a Trump supporter taking out his frustration on everybody.

He stamped my papers and pointed to seating where I had to wait for the next step.

I watched him dealing with a couple of black guys who followed me. Once they handed him their paperwork he gestured them to move six foot back before he would even look at the papers.

But it’s a government building run along strict guidelines, but he could been a bit more pleasant about it.

The lady doing the pictures was more friendly , giving me instruction on where to look, but for the fingerprints she had to move an acrylic screen between us with a slot in it to put my hands through. Then it was the scanning of the fingers, first as a whole then one at a time, so now I am in the American sausage machine.

20th January 2021

Not much work was done today as it was Inauguration Day of the new President Joe Biden. Kelli was in tears for most of it as it was the start of a new hope for America.

There were concerns of more disruption by the right wing militia factions, but that didn’t happen.

We took pictures of another dresser that we finished, not a very interesting piece, but we put crystal knobs on it to give it a bit of bling. That must have made the difference because by mid afternoon it was sold.

I needed some supplies from Menards so it was a good excuse to get out for a breath of cold air.

Once we got back I made a new drawer front for the table out of a flat piece of cedar.

For some unexplained reason the table mounted router crapped out, so I was forced to use my hand held one. It was not perfect but it did the job.

19th January 2021

Well the good news was we found the owner of the kitten, the bad new was it escaped from them again.

There are some people who shouldn’t be allowed to keep pets if they can’t look after them.

It was great when the owner phoned Kelli last night excited that the kitten had been found after a month ( no wonder it was bloody hungry). It had been bought for their daughter who was the one who let it escape the first time, and don’t you know it, she was the one that did it again.

That made Kelli mad, I suppose we should check around the garage in a month to see if it finds its way back to us.

If it does it will be taken to the Humane Society to be re-homed at a responsible person.

We had a return customer come to collect the small dresser that we posted yesterday.

I wasted time on a drawer for the table with the enamel top. It wouldn’t sit properly because the front was twisted. I then decided to make a new front, only to find the timber I planned to use was twisted in the other direction, that is when I gave up for the day and sanded drawer fronts that came from a dresser we had collected from Grand Rapids back in the summer.

18th January 2021

“ You can never too many cushions” was Kelli reply to my question as we visited the third address to pick up even more of them.

The day started by delivering the dresser to a condominium in Holland Heights.

We off loaded it into the garage while the lady inspected it.

“ Are these marks caused by wear and tear?” She said pointing at the distressed areas that kelli had sanded back to give the fashionable look.

We explained why we did it, but because we gave her a paint sample she could re-touch up the areas herself if it bothered her.

When we were leaving, we noticed a dresser in the garage that the lady wanted to sell, now that she had the one we delivered.

There was a bit of bartering, but we got it for a reasonable price, the problem was, we had to go and collect a freebie in Zeeland. It was agreed that we would return and pick it up.

Off we drove to Zeeland and pulled up outside the back door of the house with the dresser.

Straight away we knew it wasn’t what we wanted, the style was more contemporary and was made from painted MDF. We have worked with this material in the past but it is not easy to finish the way we like, so we passed on it.

This meant that we could go back to the first place to pick up that dresser.

Once that was done Kelli informed me that we had a few collections to make.

The first place we stopped at Kelli walked to the front door and returned with a cushion.

The second address there were two more cushions in the porch.

The third place had another two cushions waiting for us, that is when I asked my innocent question “How many cushion do we need?”

I know it is fashionable to cover all seating with so many cushions that you can’t actually sit down, and when all the chairs are filled, you start on the bed, so many that it takes a long time before you can go to sleep.

17th January 2021

I was using the day to finish off some jobs that will ultimately lead to the completion of pieces that will get February off to a good start.

We loaded up the reloved rustic dresser into the truck ready for delivery tomorrow.

We were back to selling things quickly, it still amazes me that there is such a demand for this type of furniture, not that I’m complaining.

Just as we finished loading, a kitten came into the drive making plenty of noise. It was obviously lost, but we had no idea who it belonged to. It had a pink collar with a bell but no other identification, so we were at a loss as what to do.

I have said before that I don’t see many cats roaming about, Kelli says that there are a few around but they don’t get let out to roam.

That seems to be wrong to have an animal that likes to check out it’s territory and keep it locked inside.

The first thing was to see if it was hungry, all we had was dog food, which was devoured quickly. Kelli posted a picture on a couple of neighbourhood sites, whilst I tried to keep it amused. That was fun, it’s been a long time since I’ve been clawed in the gentleman’s region, but gradually it seem to calm down and kept jumping up on my lap.

We had to find somewhere for it to go as Kelli is allergic to cat fur, so stay tuned for a few days of frantic sneezing.

Eventually Kelli took it to her sister in law, who is the default animal sanctuary. Hopefully we will find the owner soon.