Author: peterb51

28th August 2020

Another humid day when I decided to clean out the garage, a very good decision.

Even working slow my clothes were soaking within thirty minutes, not that I should be proud of that.

A quick change and I continued preparing the ground for the trees that are due today.

I had made a compass out of some scrap wood to scribe a two foot diameter circle.

When Kelli saw what I was doing she rolled her eyes, and reminded me how I set out the chairs in a perfect arc at our wedding using a rope and a stake.

Well if you’re going to do a job, you do it right.

No sooner had I finished digging the last hole, FedEx delivered all my fruit trees and bushes.

Within twenty minutes everything was planted and looking happy.

That called for a dip in the pool, the water was perfect, it was not a day for working.

27th August 2020

You wouldn’t think that a tiny insect like a cricket could cause such a fuss.

Kelli was trying to sleep, but the chirping of the cricket was disturbing her.

The sound was coming from just outside our window, although double glazed she was still able to hear it.

She got up and got the broom from the laundry room and walked outside and proceeded to hit the stones covering the berm. All I could hear was the twack! twack! as she continuously swung the broom, then there was silence, no chirping. Then it would start up again followed by more thwacking.

Although I couldn’t see the drama unfolding I sniggered to myself imagining the scene.

I awoke to see one of our bamboo tubs had blown over. This was the one with the tallest shoots in it. I staggered outside to stand it up again, and to collect all the soil that had spilt.

Getting this sorted was my first job of the day.

We added more soil and a load of small pebbles to weigh the tubs down, now if it dare tip over, I’ll be nail them to the driveway.

The humidity was high again, making physical work hard. I was expect my delivery of fruit bushes and apple trees to arrive, I wanted to prepare the ground and remove the turf ready for the raspberry bushes to be planted.

Thank god the ground is sandy, it makes that job much easier although I was still dripping in sweat at the end of it.

I then discovered that the delivery was delayed until tomorrow, typical!

That just left a soak in the pool.

We had people round to collect the split dresser Kelli listed yesterday, another happy customer.

26th August 2020

We had to be up early because we had a customer coming to collect two small side tables. Getting up at eight in the morning is something I don’t wish to repeat too often.

The timing was based around the lady dropping off her children at school.

It is that time again when the roads will be congested at both the morning and afternoon slots, but this doesn’t effect us as we are late risers.

We only awaken when the sound of the mail van passes the house. Kelli’s ears are well tuned to this sound,

We finished the split dresser and carried it into the house to take pictures, it looks good, so I hope we get some interest in it.

It is remarkably humid today, I feel drained just doing simple things, thank god it’s stein night so I can get refuelled.

25th August 2020

“Have you seen the state of your eyebrows?”

No” I responded, as I looked up from applying yet another coat of polyurethane.

“ you see them more than I do” I responded playfully.

“Well they look ready to escape your face”

This led to a walk to the trimming factory (bathroom) for a bit of a tidying up.

Personally I didn’t think it was that urgent anyway, as I was buried deep in the garage, and out of sight of any human who might have been passing.

I have never noticed my eyebrows, they are always in the same place, and never appear to change. Like a well tended hedge they mark the boundary between my face and hair, but now there are changes, my brows are out of control.

The trimmer was hacking it way through, I could hear it was struggling, I might have to change the batteries. “Is it going to jam up?”

The thought of my brows being torn out is my absolute nightmare, I sat gripping the seat, knuckles white with fear, waiting for the inevitable death by a hundred yanks!

Soon my terror was over, no blood spilt, no gaps, just orderly and neat.

Freshly shawn, and feeling lighter on the hedge, I continued with my jobs.

There were thunderstorms in the afternoon which put paid to our pool time but I was okay with that.

Kelli was working on the split dresser and I could see she was getting frustrated trying to paint a neat line between the two sections.

I volunteered to have a go, but it was difficult to achieve a straight line.

I decided to split the unit and remove the offending trim which could then be painted separately, this gave a much better result.

I guess having some hair removed from my brow made me think smarter.

24th August 2020

I don’t think I managed to even get the word “Party” out of my mouth before Kelli was fully engaged in planning mode. Even before my tea had stewed, she had already ordered bio-degradable plates, cups and forks, plus a load of things I don’t yet know of. We are planning to use our back garden to give people more space to move around and be more responsible during this sensitive time.

Progress in the garage has been slow, a large piece that we posted last week has not shown much interest, which sometimes happens, but Kelli worked to finish a pair of side tables that she listed, and sold within a short time.

I did a bit of staining and sealing to tops and drawer fronts trying to keep progress going on a couple of dressers, Kelli is going to have her work cut out to catch up.

It was a nice hot and humid day, just what we needed to hit the pool. I really don’t know what we would have done without one, maybe work more in the garage and drown in a pool of sweat.

We did our morning rounds of the garden to check how the plants we moved were doing. Most looked okay, a couple required a bit of water to revive them, but the hostas were at home in their new shady spot.

23rd August 2020

“Ah Sunday, a day of rest”, well it would be, but Kelli had other ideas.

A drive to Hamilton to collect a dresser she had found was on the agenda.

After a good breakfast and a coffee I was ready for anything, even a trip to Hamilton.

We passed field after field of corn and Trump sign after Trump sign in peoples front yards.

Haven’t they learnt anything after three and a half years of his administration? Some of the signs are planted at the front of businesses which would deter anyone that doesn’t share the same ideology.

Fortunately the seller was not a visible Trump supported or we might have been sick on their driveway.

The dresser was quite decent, and should require the minimum of my attention. That is just as well as I have more than enough on my plate at the moment.

On the way back we stopped off at Goodwill to see if any gems were on offer, we needn’t have bothered, the pickings were slim.

Once we were back home Kelli decided to work on the garden. She had the idea to move the Hostas to a shady area under the pines, and was just about to start when the lure of the pool took control.

After an hour of cooling down we started on the re-planting.

It was great fun digging in a root infested area, which was probably the reason why nothing was there in the first place.

Still we persevered and eventually finished the job, tired and sweaty again, I looked forward to a hot shower afterwards.

22nd August 2020

We had a customer arrive to collect the two dressers we had been working on for her. She is a regular customer, the ones we like. She originally wanted us to paint a dresser but ended up buying two from us as well.

It was good to move these on, I’m sure if she had more cash on her she would have bought more.

This meant that we had space in the garage that needed filling. Kelli had done her homework and found two dresser, one in Grandville and the other in Grand Rapids.

We arrived at the address in Grandville to find an oak split dresser. Originally offered for twenty bucks, the seller found that a drawer front had become detached, so she gave it to us for nothing.

It was a large piece, and once loaded didn’t leave much space for anything else.

Then it was off to Grand Rapids, through the dodgy parts where even the GPS voice told us to keep the doors locked.

We pulled up at the given address to find a tall eight drawer dresser waiting for us.

We looked at the piece we already got and tried to work out how we could fit the new piece in.

There was no way it would fit on top, so luckily it slid through the back doors, and by lowering the windows we could shut the doors.

We bungeed the hatch back door closed and headed off back home.

Kelli wanted to stop off at Target, a store I don’t usually wish to be seen dead in, to get some Ben and Jerry’s ice cream. We had been sent some vouchers after Kelli found a fruit stone in her peanut dessert. They were quick to respond, so now we have four tubs to gorge ourselves with.

Getting back to the house we had to figure how to get the furniture out of the truck as it had shaken itself into a new position

The split dresser did indeed split when we were getting it out. As the back panel fell off I saw more broken and split wood pieces, so I was glad it didn’t cost us anything.

The other piece was a more trickier, it was like a Chinese puzzle, a twist and a tip, plus a push and it was out.

It was also one hundred weeks since we got married, not that I’m counting.

We want to have a safe celebration, but not sure what form that will take, will need to sleep on it.

21st August 2020

Well the food delivery didn’t happen, Kelli was pissed, she was straight on the phone to complain. The customer service person tried to pacify her with the same excuses she has heard a hundred times, but no more, she closed the account.

It was a shame, as avoiding food waste was something that we felt strongly about, and ironically Imperfect Food had just celebrated five years in business, so they obviously didn’t learn much in that time.

Kelli looked for other companies doing a similar thing, but they didn’t do deliveries in Michigan.

This did accelerate our own plan to grow more thing for us to eat. We had bought some potato growing bags, along with a bag of seed potatoes to experiment with.

We set about setting those up as per the instructions, hopefully we can grow enough for at least one meal.

We were encouraged to try because of a possible potato shortage next year. This is due to growers not having a market this year because of the pandemic. Hundreds of thousands of tons of spuds were left to rot, hence our attempt to support our needs.

I have visions of everything potato will be snapped up and stored next to what remains of people’s bog roll stash.

20th August 2020

It is quite noticeable how the summer is coming to an end. The sun in the morning does not scorch a path through our bedroom window onto the wall opposite, and the evenings are not so long.

It is still warm enough for my working uniform of shorts and tee shirts, but that didn’t stop Kelli from buying me a pair of flannel lined work trousers. “You’ll need these soon” she smiled.

Our delivery from Imperfect Foods didn’t turn up, well the truck did. The driver got out, went to the back of his van, then announced that there no boxes for us. That didn’t make any sense, he drove from Grand Rapids with nothing for us. He contacted his dispatcher who told him that our boxes will be delivered tomorrow.

The service had dropped away since they have done their own deliveries, and for ages we have never had a full consignment, there was always something missing.

Larry was busy fixing a truck that was towed to his yard. Every now and then I would hear him trying to start it. It would turn over like it had a huge boulder on its back. It’s the sound you hear on a cold morning when you know you needed a new battery but couldn’t be arsed to get one when it was warmer.

Eventually there was success, clouds of smoke billowing skywards, more smoke than Larry’s cigarette intake for the day. I can imagine him standing with his hand on hips, breathing in.

19th August 2020

It’s stein night, and I’ve been looking forward to it all day. It’s not just the though of tackling the mass of liquid, more it’s an opportunity to have something normal to do each week.

We still watch what we do, where we go, and who we interact with, that is something that will be with us for a very long time.

It wasn’t warm enough for pool time, Kelli likes the water at a certain temperature before she ventures into the water, something between molten iron and volcanic lava.

Instead we both worked in the garage, finishing two items that will go out by the end of the week.

Last time we were in Menards we bought a fly trap, because there are always so many flying around irritating both of us. Unfortunately what we got was a bag that contained a foul smelling liquid that kept wafting about. It was like something dead hanging from the garage ceiling, well we couldn’t take that anymore, and the fact it didn’t seem to attract any flies was another reason to consign it to the rubbish bin.

Our evening at New Holland was great, we sat outside, the stein awaiting delivery into my tummy, a fitting end to a good day.