Author: peterb51

2nd February 2026

Just when we thought it was safe to go outside, it snowed again. Not a lot, maybe an inch or so, but it put back what the sun had melted a few days ago.

We did our regular shopping trip, all the same stuff, a task that could be carried out by robots, (Elon take note) 

We had a slight mishap at Aldi, or should I say I did.

This has never happened to me before, and it was so embarrassing. 

We had paid for our goods and I had wheeled the trolley to the area where people load their bags. This is something that I have done countless times before without incident.

However this time I was transferring a jar of pasta sauce from the trolley to the bags sitting on the loading area. As the jar arose it clipped the side of the trolley and slipped out of my hand. 

Now it could have gone several ways, it could have fallen back into the trolley, it could have been caught by my capable hand, or it could have fallen on the floor and smashed.

Well the latter happened, pasta sauce slashed over the cream tiles, it looked like a murder scene, it’s a wonder I didn’t faint. 

A message was sent over the tannoy even before the jar hit the ground, and a capable Asia lady was on the scene with her mop and bucket in no time. I was in shock, having never experienced this before I didn’t know what I should do. Kelli told me to go and get another jar.

I found the isle and found the same organic marked jar. Holding it extra tight, I made my way to the checkout. As I approached, Kelli and the Asian lady beckoned me to join them, apparently I would not have to pay for the replacement, which I thought was very generous especially as it was my fault. I decided not to argue and accepted the replacement.

It’s funny watching the expressions from other shoppers, some smiled, a sympathetic grin, others pretended that it didn’t happen and rushed by.

I suppose that if I had a bucket list of embarrassing episodes, breaking something in a supermarket would be one of them, so that’s now off the list.

1st February Sunday

A good breakfast put us in good stead to go to Goodwill to pick up the furniture piece we bought yesterday. The sun was shining again, although it was bitterly cold, seeing the big orange thing looking down didn’t make it seem so bad. 

I managed to book my flight for the trip back to old Blighty in March, so I’m starting the preparations for that.

Winnie started yet another series of parasite medication, this time two syringe, one today and another in seven days, hopefully that will do the job. All the cost for this was covered by the rescue centre where we got her, which was very generous of them.

We had our usual visit to Kelli’s mum for ice cream, and we even took Winnie, apart from drawing blood from Georgia’s hand, set was a good girl.

We took a longer walk hoping to wear her out, not sure how that works, but she fights the tiredness, just like a young child, eventually she does succumb to sleep, and for a few precious moments all is calm.

31st January 2026

I was looking at the moon tonight, I often do that, and each time I conclude that there is no way it reflects the sun. It was in a clear dark sky, and there it was totally shining, as if there was an internal light, you could read a book by it. It definitely isn’t reflected, it has a cold light, it is amazing, and I don’t believe it’s a quarter of a million miles away.

We finally sold Henry’s dresser to a great couple in Holland. They both came originally from California, she an interior designer, and he a music teacher. They loved the piece so much, and they showed us around their fabulous home. It was very traditional, there have only been two owners since it was built nearly one hundred and  fifty years ago. 

We have met many interesting people since we have been doing the furniture lark, it make what we do more pleasing for us.

To top it all they gave us their old dresser, so a win win for us.

We even managed to find a piece at Goodwill, hopefully there might be more activity next month.

30th January 2026

I had a lot to squeeze in today, first I had to drive to Allendale to deliver the cedar chest and then find my way to John the wood’s house.

The timing had to be precise, I allowed forty-five minutes to get to Allendale and another to get to John’s. 

The roads were not bad, there were a mixture of dry and icy patches that had to be carefully negotiated, I think there was only one occasion when the wheels slipped, but overall I was able to keep up a decent speed.

As usual all the traffic lights were against me, I sware if ever there is a time when every one is a green I will go and buy a lottery ticket.

I was running about ten minutes behind schedule by the time I got to Allendale,  now I had to find the address.

On the first try I over shot the turning, then it was looking for a place to turn round. Finally I made the turn, suddenly all the road went white, compacted snow, great!

Slowly I crawled along trying to read the house numbers. As usual the logic didn’t make sense, even the GPS told me “You’re on your own mate”.

However I did find it, and with the lady’s help carried the cedar chest into her living room.

She handed me the cash, not really enough for all the effort I had made, but Kelli had made the deal and I was stuck with it. Just before I left she asked me if I was interested in a couple of furniture pieces she had. This called for tact and diplomacy, characteristics I do not possess, but I think I got away with being English instead.

Now I had to find my way to John’s house.

I discovered that I didn’t have his address written down, and the saved addresses in my phone didn’t go back far enough, so I had to use my sense of direction, and intelligence, well maybe my sense of direction.

I knew he lived in Wyoming, not the state, it’s close to Byron Center, so I put it in my GPS hoping that places I’m familiar with would aid in my quest.

Once I got to Granville I knew I was close, I kept going, suddenly everything was familiar, I made a left turn and there was his house. 

I was fifteen minutes later than I expected, John emerged from his front door resembling a Russian Cossack. Clutching his water bottle he climbed into the truck, fighting with the seat belt like he always does. “ Give the door a good slam” I remind him.

Then we set off for the barn, the roads were a bit dodgy, but we got there safely.

It was good to be back, I had to try to remember where I left the job, that didn’t take long to get back into the swing, but first a cup of coffee and a slice of Kelli’s pumpkin bread.

We managed to glue up the back panel and cut the side pieces to shape, a good days work.

I felt tired on the drive back, it’s quite exhausting thinking for two people, checking what John’s doing and explaining what has to be done, I have learnt that patience, and keeping your cool is far more important that rushing to finish something. It’s not so vital, it is to be enjoyed, and we both do that.

29th January 2026

Having been let down by a couple of potential buyers, things were getting a bit desperate.

We already offer a free delivery service within a ten mile radius, but we had to consider widening that a bit. 

This paid off, and we managed to sell the cedar chest.

The weather has a lot to do with low sales, and this time of year is always bad.

We did manage to get out and meet up with the upholstery man to talk about cushions, that was helpful, and we needed bird seed, well the birds needed it more than us, it’s really hard when everything is covered.

I did do a lot of sanding on the second of the two matching dressers, and then a brisk walk with the dogs to liven me up.

It’s getting close to the time to book my tickets for my trip back to the UK, I have a lot of things to do this time around. 

Winnie was being her usual crazy self, I bought her another couple of bouncy balls, now I have four where I can play “Confuse a pup”. This works well to tire her out, but not for long.

She always has to antagonise Phoebe who doesn’t want to join in with the games, and just looks with disapproval.

Sometimes Winnie falls asleep and then gets waken up with Phoebe lapping at watering station, you can’t win.

Kelli wanted new pictures of Henry’s big heavy dresser, she felt that the original shots didn’t show the colour properly, so I had another go, I hope we have better luck with these.

28th January 2026

Whose idea was it anyway to get a puppy? 

Not that we are regretting it, but it does drive a wedge between keeping her teeth away from things she shouldn’t, and getting on with stuff we want to do. Today was that in question, actually the morning wasn’t bad, apart from breaking a dish and eating the ends of trailing plants. I managed to find the two balls I throw around the room, under the sofa, they came in handy. In between all this mayhem, I managed to finish sanding a dresser and Kelli painted a cedar chest, so it wasn’t a total loss.

There was more snow today, just a fine dusting, yes it looks beautiful, but the harshest of the breeze is cruel, as we found out when we took the hounds for a walk around the block.

There was a chicken stew simmering on the hob when we got back. There are advantages to cold snowy days.

27th January 2026

No trip to John the wood’s barn today, he called me again to say they had six inches of snow down his way, so we agreed to try again later in the week.

The snow continued throughout the morning, I got the blower out to tackle the driveway again.

It was a funny day, the dogs had gotten Kelli a bit annoyed, Phoebe hasn’t grasped the concept of play, this is frustrating for Winnie who just wants to run around.

She has found the mirror at the end of the hallway, she puts her front legs on a stool and barks at her reflection, it was fun at first, but after the hundredth time it’s annoying.

So Kelli had to endure all that whilst I was working in the garage.

Things got interesting when she had to go out to deliver a metal plant stand. She was hunting around for the glasses she wears in the car to reduce the glare from the snow.

In my quest to help her look I asked if she knew where she had them last, “ On my face” she replied. I said that was not very helpful. Meaning that if I knew if she was in the car or the house it would narrow down the search. Things took a downhill direction from there. 

I could not get an answer that would help me, so I gave up trying. 

It’s like the story of the man looking for a bathroom, “ Straight down the hall on the right” replied the friendly assistant. When the man followed the directions it led to the ladies. When he went back and complained, the assistant said” You didn’t say which one you wanted”.

I was pissed, and when I tried to clarify why I was cross, she didn’t see it, a simple “Oh I see your point” would have calmed my waters.

26th January 2026

Another day with snow, more stuff, almost all day flakes were falling, but it didn’t stop our shopping. We were down to the wire, our breakfast would have made a monk complain.

The roads were still covered, there seemed no end to this.

We’re had a pair of side tables collected early, and we were expecting someone coming to look at, and hopefully buy the big heavy dresser that we got from Henry.

We got a call changing that till tomorrow, still at least they didn’t cancel.

Snow is not an unusual even in this area, most locals talk about the winter of 78 with five foot drifts that went on for months. I remember our winter of 63, maybe not as bad, but for England it was devastating.

With all our purchases in bags we headed home, the dogs were pleased to see us, Winnie has this high pitched screech that lets us know she’s glad we’re back.

Later, we took them out for a walk, I’m not sure that they were happy about that, but it gave them a chance to sniff about.

25th January 2026

Kelli had arranged to collect a free dresser in Jenison, a thirty minute trip, for around two thirty.

We needed petrol, so we headed off to fill the tank, the fuel is under 2.60 at the moment.

Arriving at the pump, I got out ready to dispense the petrol, Kelli’s job was to release the fuel filler flap, whilst continue to bask in the heat of the vehicle. Well the flap did not open, something had frozen the mechanism. Panic ensued as I tried different ways to release the flap.

There was no way we could continue on our journey with what was left in the tank, so, the only option was to return home then try to release it with some heat.

Now at this stage, Kelli suggested that we drive to an auto shop and see if they had any suggestions, but I, as a man insisted that my idea was the best, so that is what we did.

Now the onus was on me to find a way to find a cure.

I looked on YouTube, nothing of use there. I had some switch cleaner, which I sprayed liberally, but it didn’t cure anything.

Then I looked at the release lever in more detail, the carpet around had frozen solid, no doubt from all the wet snow, so it was that, in my opinion, the problem area. My solution was to pour a little warm water around the lever.

Lo and behold it worked, before it turned back to ice, the fuel flap opened. There was no way I was going to latch it again, now we could restart our collection.

However, because we didn’t want to leave Winnie too long, I volunteered to go alone, but I would need help at that end to load it.

Kelli sent a message, but got a curt response, therefore we decided to forgo the trip altogether.

If people can’t be civil, we don’t need it that badly.

24th January 2026

There was a bit of problems with the broadband this morning, this often happens when the weather is bad. That bloody spinning wheel of death really makes me mad, you never had issues with the old television system, once the arial was connected you just forgot about it.

As I have said before I hate the subscription service, where you pay whether you are using the service or not.

Recently the city of Holland started its own fibre optic broadband service, they spent over a year systematically digging up the roads to install the cables. It was designed to lower the cost to subscribers, but when Kelli found out about the cost, it was cheaper than Comcast.

We decided to make the change, but in the process of cancelling our current service Comcast suddenly pulled a cheaper deal out of their ass. Now me being a scenic believes that these broadband suppliers must be raking it in.

After installing a few cable, they just sit back and watch the money rolling in. I have yet to discover what they actually do.

Winnie had a better day, with less tantrums, the ball games certainly help wear her out.

I did a bit of work in the garage, finishing the repairs to a couple of drawers, my nose was dripping, as it always seems to do this time of year, it gets so cold, the heaters don’t do much, I think we need to upgrade them into flame spitting gas burners, that might singe a few eyebrows.