Author: peterb51

6th January 2021

My dad would have been 113 today, a sobering thought. As a kid I always thought he was a hundred, that’s the result of having a child late in life. I never had a proper father son relationship, he was never sporty, and didn’t have the same sense of humour which limited the time we spent together, but I will always remember his birthday, which is why it was thoughtful for Greer to choose this date to get married.

Kelli and I made our way to the court house for the civil ceremony. It was short and simple, and under the Covid restrictions it was lucky that it happened at all.

We laid on a simple meal afterwards with a bottle of bubbly, the main party will happen in the summer when restrictions hopefully will be lifted.

Needless to say Bristol Cottage was not open today, the first time in a couple of years that I didn’t wear a pair of jeans and covered in sawdust.

Later I watched in disbelief of the events happening in Washington DC with the capital building invaded by pro-Trump protesters.

It has taken the US a couple of hundred years to find the weaknesses in their political system. I was telling Kelli how these things couldn’t happen in the UK because rebellion and sedition has been knocked out of us through few hanging and be-headings in our history. What America needs is a few political anarchists taken out and beaten to death as a lesson to others. OK that might be a bit extreme as there are so many of them, but something had to change, people like Trump cannot be allowed to ever be president again.

5th January 2022

All the news on line was about the run-offs in Georgia where two Democrats were up against two Republicans the results were important because if it went the Democrats way they could control the Senate.

There is only so much that can be said about it, but that didn’t stop the pundits going on and on in double speed talking.

Honestly is there a world record for talking fast ? If so than America is the place.

I am left exhausted, and longing for a proper Parliamentary debate where English is spoken at the right pace.

Kelli was doing a lot of painting of drawers, the garage floor was laid out like drawer box city. There are several projects going on at the same time, but with my big feet it isn’t easy to walk through without knocking them over.

4th January 2021

We drove to West Olive to collect a dresser that Kelli had bought, it was a real rustic piece that looks like a mini log cabin, I’m not sure what we plan to do with it.

There wasn’t much furniture stuff at any of the Goodwills although Kelli picked up some items that she plans to sell, she has a good nose for this, and it has kicked the month off to a flying start.

On the way back we had to stop off at Kelli’s mum to help move some things from the basement, it gave me an opportunity to collect all Dave’s stash of veneer that I will be able to make use of.

Then it was back to the garage with more repair work.

I had just finished patching the veneer on a drawer front when I pulled out another there was damage that I could not repair, so we decided that some of them had to be painted over, not what I wanted to hear.

3rd January 2021

A fresh fall of snow overnight was just the excuse not to go out. Most of the day was spent doing veneer repairs and finishing drawer fronts.

My mind was blown when an audio recording was released of Trump on a phone call with the Secretary of Sate for Georgia badgering him to “find” some extra votes. I stood with my mouth open in amazement, “Is this real, can it be happening?”

I watched as the other news network picked up the story, as it spread around the world.

America is a laughing stock, Trump is a mad person who should be dragged away and placed in a padded room. What continues to be alarming is a number of Republicans who don’t see anything wrong, and that it is all legitimate.

Why does it bother me so? I guess in my simple view of the world we should be able to put our faith in our leaders regardless of their political persuasion. But this leader lies, and he’s not very good at it, children, in their innocence, tell more believable lies, but they are not in charge of a country.

What is more serious is how they are dealing with the pandemic and the vaccine distribution.

I am happy to stay locked away from people for as long as it takes, but I want to come back to the UK when it is safe.

2nd January 2021

We made our first furniture delivery of the new year.

There were many inquiries for the white dresser with the black stained top, many asking if we would take less, as usual.

Fortunately Kelli found the one person who paid full price, so we loaded into the back of the truck, not before the areas missed during the painting process were discovered and rectified.

The address was not far away, but we first drove to Menards to buy bird seed and squirrel food. I had received my rebates from the things I had bought three months ago, so I donated them to the animal survival cause.

There were some tricky moments unloading the dresser in the snow, trying to make sure we didn’t slip on the ice.

The customer had just moved into the house and was excited to see the piece.

When we got back home I spent time polishing up the handles for the set of mid century style pieces we bought a few weeks ago.

The handles were very distinct but there were two missing which was a problem as they were seven inch centres. We were worried that we would have to replace all of them with new parts which would have been expensive.

I noticed on the back of the cast brass handle was a part number, I typed it into google and up came a picture of the exact same design.

The site was on Etsy and the seller had five of them. Kelli message asking if we could buy just two of them, and the response came back that we could, so they are on route to us now. What are the chances of that?

Kelli managed to sell the children’s tepee for a really good price, although not much use in this weather unless you’re an Eskimo.

1st January 2021

So here we are again. We continue to be scared shitless of contracting a virus that should have been controlled.

We have a few more days to see if a bunch of cowardly Republicans are going to delay the final count of votes from the electoral college holding up the inevitable passage of Joe Biden to be the 46th US President.

Kelli managed to sell a wooden basket she got from Goodwill, she would have sold a couple of wicker baskets if the buyer had turned up.

Still, it is a holiday, and it was cold with icy rain, so no one in their right mind would dare to drive on a day like this.

There have been a number of Goodwill purchases that Kelli has speculated with, including a children’s Tepee, and a long pile carpet. We concluded that in order to increase our income, we needed to sell items that we can sell on, having reached a ceiling of what furniture we can push through the garage.

Our target would add an extra 25% to our monthly total, with a run rate of 75% meaning there wouldn’t be too much stuff not sold.

This should work as she has a good nose for things that sell quickly.

31st December 2020

It is never a good idea to wish time away, but this last year has been bad.

I feel for the people who’s life has been changed by incompetence of the people who are supposed to be in charge, and lead in a positive and inspirational way.

Kelli and myself have been in a small controlled bubble ever since the pandemic hit this country, so it has become our way of life.

I have heard how it affected my friends, family and other people I know, most of whom have been positive and focus on the future.

This has changed my outlook, usually I get to year end and look back at events of my life past, but now I look forward. I cannot do, or influence what I’ve left behind but I can for the future.

I received notification from the USCIS that I have to go to have my Biometrics taken, which in proper speak is have my fingerprints taken.

It is another step in this arduous journey of gaining residency. I expect to wait another three months or so for the final interview.

I collected my antibiotics from the pharmacy to treat my gum infection, next week I have to book an appointment with a specialist to have my root fillings.

Kelli has an appointment with a chiropractor to have herself re-aligned. I was sitting in the waiting room and I could hear her going through the procedure. I did witness it once and it almost made me faint. Not for me please.

We took pictures of the latest dresser, the one with the children’s graffiti and burn mark on the top, it came out pretty good.

30th December 2020

The snow had turned slushy this morning as we drove to my dental appointment across town.

I explained my problem, as they took several X-rays, then led me to the inspection area.

The dentist came round and looked at the screen. He then fired off his diagnosis which I didn’t understand. I then repeated back what I thought he had said. He explained that the damaged tooth would need a crown as well as the one next to it, but both would need root canels that would have to be done by a specialist. This whole treatment will be very expensive, almost the price of a small family car, and not something I was prepared for.

We delivered the graduated stained drawer front dresser to one of Kelli’s friend and in part exchange we got her old dresser to renovate.

I continued to add finish to the black stained dresser top, I think it will require another couple of coats before it is as smooth as I want.

The new stainless steel pans turned up today.

Kelli had been using some utensils that were really old and rather stained and tatty. I want to gradually replace all the old pans with good quality items, which is also what I am planning to do with my teeth.

29th December 2020

The plant stand that I ordered from Amazon turned up along with six tins of Heinz baked beans.

The stand was China’s finest, included in the box were the assembly hardware, a single white glove and a set of mini gardening tools suitable for a five year old, which quite by coincidence was the age of the person who made it.

It can’t be difficult to find a one handed five year old woodworker in China.

The material was bamboo finished in a thick polyurethane coating.

It was easy to assemble even without instructions, thirty-six years in the furniture business was not wasted.

We had to go out to look for drawer handles with seven inch fixing centres. First stop was “Habitat for Humanity” our go-to place for hardware, but even they came up zilch.

I had to get new draught excluder for the front door, the existing stuff must have been original, so a change will hopefully make a difference, and keep the wind out.

There was a return of the snow during the evening, just as the first lot was thawing, oh well I guess that is to be expected.

28th December 2020

I had been nursing a cracked tooth for quite a while, but finally my gum has become infected.

I was intending to get it fixed a while ago but a combination of the pandemic and terror prevented me doing anything with it.

As my gum has swelled up to the point where a mini-me could burst out, Kelli called a dental service for an appointment.

Throughout the evening I kept moving my tongue over the loose part until it dropped out.

Now I’ve a hole the size of an ornamental pond, but an appointment for Wednesday.

Work in the garage didn’t stop, the re-veneering of the two side table tops went really well, my improvised press using paving stones worked a treat.

The other dresser top with the burn mark took the black stain well, with the burn hidden in the denseness of the colour, now I just have to build the finish up.