Author: peterb51

17th December 2020

I had thought that I would have heard from the USCIS by now. It has been four months since I last had some communication, where I was requested to have a medical.

Kelli follows various immigration lawyers on social media so she contacted one of them and asked them how long the process takes.

Their response said that it usually takes at least a year from acceptance of the application. Bearing in mind my application was accepted in April/May I would expect to have to wait until then.

There is alway work in the garage to keep me busy, plenty of drawers to finish, with a couple of dressers to get completed by the weekend.

We went out to buy our Christmas food from Aldi. It was great to be able to get all the German foods I remember from my childhood.

The great event of the year was getting a parcel from my grandparents with biscuits, cakes and sausages, it was like winning the lottery.

I want to have a German influenced Christmas dinner this year, although there won’t be meat, we will have as many vegetables, including red cabbage which is fabulous, I could eat it on its own. I have mulled wine and gingerbread for the evening treat.

I decided to treat Kelli to a bottle of Bailey’s Irish Cream, but they also do a vegan version made with almond milk.

We stopped of at a liquor store and they had a bottle. I put it on the counter next to the register and the girl scanned it and said “That’s $27” I nearly fell over. I refrained from giving them my stock answer of “No, I only want one, not a box” but instead I handed over the money thinking “She’s worth it, after all it’s Christmas”

We stopped off at Cameron’s workplace to drop off some sweets and Kelli spotted another plant that she had missed when she rescued the nearly dead plants. This one was taking its last breaths as well.

She jumped into action ordering him to bring it to the truck, we then drove home to give it some life saving water and to remove the dead leaves.

It looked a lot healthier after a good soak, it just needs repotting and by this time next year it could take over the world.

16th December 2020

The customer picked up the dresser at six in the morning. There was never any chance that we would be awake at that time, so we wrapped it in a sheet and left it outside close to the garage.

Sure enough when we looked out, once it was light, it was gone and the sheet left on the ground. It looked a magician’s disappearing trick where all that was left was the sack.

We also learned, as soon as Kelli turned on he phone that we had sold another dresser that had been hanging around for more time than Kelli was happy with, and was within a day of being repainted.

We off loaded the large white buffet that we had been driving around with for the last two days. Kelli was excited, muttering “cool” at every opportunity.

It is quite an old piece with a bit of character, and plenty of things to do to make it really “cool”

We had a bit of a shock this evening when Greer called to tell us that she was having a Covid test as she was feeling unwell and had lost her sense of smell and taste. She works in a rehabilitation hospital in Grand Rapids, not necessarily a hot bed of infection, but I would give any hospital a really wide birth at this time. Fortunately the result was negative, a huge relief, but a reality check of what could happen by not taking precautions.

15th December 2020

As soon as we awoke there was activity on the two pieces Kelli posted last night.

Questions were asked,and then there usually is silence as was the case, but as the morning went on the questions kept coming.

“Would you take less” is the favourite, and often we cave in and take a lower amount.

This time my response was “We made it less, we’ve taken the bloody doors off” of course Kelli would never say that. By the afternoon both pieces had sold, and Kelli’s swollen head was lording above me in that “ I am good” manner.

I painfully accepted her accolade muttering to myself that I should never, never doubt her again.

Finally after many months, the men came to cut two heating vents in the sunroom wall. This has become more urgent since Kelli seems to collect sad plants that look like they’re on their last legs. The latest addition were some she rescued from Cameron’s workplace. She has assumed the mantle of plant saver for America. The sunroom is full of these green orphans in various stages of re-growth, a kind of intensive care unit for plants.

We needed to get some heat into the sunroom otherwise the cold would destroy our specimens.

The two chaps seemed to know what they were doing, one even going into the crawl space, but soon it was done, so it will be interesting to see if it works. This by the way was another of Kelli’s ideas, I just pay for it.

The heavy bastard was collect this evening, leaving a big gap in the garage, never mind, there’s another in the truck to unload tomorrow.

14th December 2020

It was an important day in the election calendar, the day when the votes are cast in the electoral college. I used to think there was an actual college, but it refers to a group of delegates from each state who actually vote for the president. It is an ass about face system based on the belief that normal Americans are too stupid to be trusted with the task of voting in a presidential candidate.

As that is still true today as it was when the republic was formed over two hundred years ago, I guess it works.

I never have any reason to doubt any of Kelli’s ideas because she has shown me too often that her ideas are correct. I will often roll my eyes when she explains her proposal because it usually means more work for less return.

We have been sitting on “The heavy bastard” for about four days, and to Kelli warning sirens are wailing because no one has jumped on it, my response is to give it a bit of time, the right customer will find it. That is not good enough, if questions do not flood in within twenty four hours something is not right.

Today was that day. She reduced the price on Sunday, but now it was “Take the doors off”.

Her thoughts were the doors date it to the 1980’s. With a screwdriver at the ready the doors were off, but we needed more pictures for a revised post.

With a Herculean effort we struggled into the house with this monster and re-shot the pictures.

Then we had to carry it back to the garage.

I had serious doubts that this would make it more saleable.

The garage is full of pieces gradually coming together hopefully giving us a good monthly total.

We dragged a small dresser into the house to get pictures, the top was still tacky, but it was important to post it today.

13th December 2020

We drove to an address in Allendale (yes, once again we found ourselves in this Trump infested cess pool) Kelli had found a dresser on Marketplace that had been reduced in price, always a welcoming sight.

Finding the place was difficult fooling the GPS like so many places we’ve tried to find.

Eventually, driving down a dirt track we came across Steptoe’s yard. It was a mess of old cars and junk piled high. We were a bit apprehensive at first, but the man of the house welcomed us inside where the dresser was located. We both donned our masks and followed him inside. The kitchen looked liked a bomb had exploded, two small dogs ran around getting under my feet as I was trying to manoeuvre the dresser into a position to grab hold and move it outside, to the truck.

Talking to the chap we learned that they were clearing the place out to sell, and to move to somewhere a lot smaller. Judging by the crap inside and out, they will be doing that for several months to come.

Next stop was a place in Zeeland to collect two cabinet doors. I have no idea what we are going to do with them, that will be down to my wife and her creativity.

It had snowed during the night, so waking up to a thin blanket of snow was wonderful.

We did a little work in the garage when we got back, mainly getting a couple of small dressers ready to sell next week.

In the evening we added decorations to our small Christmas tree whilst listening to classic seasonal songs.

I try to spend a little time reading in the sunroom, it’s my rest and relaxation period, a perfect time for a cup of tea and a biccy.

12th December 2020

We had a customer due at 11.00am this morning to collect an ottoman that Kelli had posted last night.

She had found it at Goodwill, but it didn’t have any legs. We had driven to Grand Rapids to collect some that were on Marketplace, so a coat of paint later they were fitted, and looked good.

I had to cut them down a bit so they were a better height, but that’s about all we did to it.

Kelli had looked on line and found an identical one had been sold for four hundred dollars. There was no way we could get that sort of money from the tight wads around Holland, so we put it on for one fifty.

There was a bit of interest, but no firm offers except for one who offered a hundred.

I said we should counter offer but Kelli decided to take the offer as the investment in the piece was small.

When the customer arrived she was a little old lady who looked at it cautiously, asking a number of questions. I was looking around for a lump of wood to possibly hit her with because her attitude was begging to annoy me. As the scrutiny continued I was hoping that she would pass, because the thought of letting her have it for fifty off offended me.

Unfortunately she decided to take it even though she didn’t like the leg colour.

“Get over it, you old witch” my mind was screaming.

Then the rest of the day was stripping and staining.

Kelli was painting another dresser carcass giving us another two to start the week with.

It was a gloomy day with rain falling, the dogs don’t like going out in it, and likewise I don’t like it when they come back inside as I have to wipe their paws to stop mud getting on the wood floor.

11th December 2020

Kelli was over the moon and dancing around the kitchen at the news that Trump’s last ditch attempt to overturn the election has been flushed down the toilet by the Supreme Court.

It was a crazy plan to discount millions of votes in four of the swing states. It was destined to crash and burn by most legal minds in America, but with this country, anything could happen.

Now we wait for the next conspiracy to drag itself out of the cesspool.

All this was a great end to an ordinary day.

We managed to extract the two dressers and two side tables from the back of the truck, luckily without injury. These had been manufactured in the 1940’s, so we were told, which meant they were made using block-board , these will be another labour of love, oh I hate labours of love. This means hours of sanding, veneer repairs and finishing, and worst of all Kelli wants to keep them as a set, see you next year folks.

10th December 2020

It was collection day, no work in the garage, and the sun was shining. Kelli had scoured Marketplace for furniture in areas that would make an easy, and convenient collection route.

We set off for Allendale (the second trip in as many days) to pick up a pink dresser.

It had been left on the porch of a large house set back off the road. There were a collection of vehicles parked all around the place. They ranged from a small bulldozer, a four wheel dune buggy, a large RV and a speedboat. That didn’t include the truck and car in the garage.

It looked like a police pound for stolen vehicles, but that seems normal here.

Next stop was a mobile home park in Grand Rapids. We were to pick up a pine dresser covered in child’s graffiti with a broken knob.

From the look of the owner, who could barely get his beard out from the broken door, he probably gnawed it off in a fit of rage.

It was then off to another address in Grand Rapids to collect a set of screw on legs for an ottoman we had got from Goodwill a week ago.

I gave the lady a shock when I stuck my head around the garage side door and said in my finest English accent “Hello”

She was halfway up a ladder to the loft to get the legs down. Her husband had done a rare thing and put them away rather than leaving them on the porch.

That’s what porches are for over here, leaving shit on, what else?

Then we made our way home, but there was another collection to be done later.

It is always a good idea to collect stuff in the dark, I’m surprised we haven’t taken other thing by mistake, because it is often pitch black, it’s only the glow from Kelli’s teeth that lights our way.

We arrived at this address in Zeeland. The lady was there as we drove up, and guided us down the slope of their garden to a door in the basement.

This was going to be a challenge, there was a tall dresser, a long dresser and two side tables.

Once again the storage capacity of a Toyota Highlander amazes me. We managed to get all of it in, and close the doors, the interesting thing whether we will be able to get it all out again is another matter.

We devised a new game on our travels, based on the card game of snap! Every time we see a Trump flag or sign in someone’s front garden it’s the first one to shout “Idiot!” wins the point, and there’s many points to be won.

9th December 2020

Just when Kelli was getting despondent about the dresser she had posted yesterday, it was sold and picked up today.

Inside I was smug, as I alway tell her to have patience, and I knew it was priced well and it looked good, it just needed to right people to find it.

We also finished the heavy bastard and dragged it out side to take pictures. There was no way we were going to carry it inside as I almost had groin ache doing the dragging.

We were supposed to have the heating company visit to fit two vents in the sunroom, but Kelli had a lousy night and didn’t feel in the mood to have strangers in the house making a noise, so she rang to change the arrangement.

I was not impressed, because I wanted it done, Kelli rang back to reverse what she had agreed minutes before, only to be told they were going to call anyway because the technician had been held up on another job.

Now it has been rearranged for next Tuesday, really annoying.

We made a start on the dresser we picked up on Monday, I stripped the top and stained it and a repair to the side panel.

Everything was going like clockwork, I haven’t got stressed out by the number of jobs waiting to be done, no doubt Kelli has found more to collect tomorrow.

8th December 2020

I am sick and fed up with all the news reporting of Trump trying to de-legitimising the results of the election. Fortunately most of the judges have thrown them out of court, but now he is getting Texas to sue Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin to overturn their election because they used the Covid pandemic to ignore the federal and state election laws.

This is heading for the Supreme Court who must be fed up with all this shit flying around.

The reason it bothers me is all the extra complications to the immigration process that Trump has pushed through. There are new additions or alterations happening all the time, adding to even more delays to the process.

I just want a quiet life, I want to be able to return to the UK when I want to, and spend as much time as I want in the US without fixed time periods.