Author: peterb51

29th June 2020

As we slid open the sun room door, the heat hit us, it was eighty-four degrees and it was only ten in the morning and due to hit a high of eighty-nine. The pool certainly looked attractive, but we had things to do first.

We dragged the latest dresser into the living space to take pictures, it was our last chance to make a June sale.

Then it was off to collect some cleaning tablets for the pool.

Another delivery by Amazon brought us Kelli’s original float, this one was pink!

As soon as we were back home, I inflated it, this was going to be the one for me.

This was going to be a unique experience as I have never laid on a float before, ever.

I knew there was a technique to get on, as I had watched Kelli do it, I didn’t realise how difficult it was. My first attempt ended with me rolling off, and into the water, like I was thrown from a bucking bronco. It was all about balance.

My second go was a furry of splashing water and flaying arms and legs. I did eventually manage to stay on, albeit a bit precarious.

I lay for a while not daring to move, then it was Kelli’s time to mount hers.

Normally it is easy for her, but for some reason she was having problems. There was water splashed everywhere followed by hysterical laughter. She attempted it a couple more times, all the while I was getting splashed, something that annoys me.

Finally we were both laying on floats in a ten foot long pool side by side. This effectively gave us four foot of movement, which is laughable, but there is a feeling of calm just floating, even if there was nowhere to go.

The evening was a birthday celebration for Cameron and Kelli’s mum Georgia. This was a time for presents and cake. For most of the family it was their first chance to see the pool, no one wanted to jump in and go crazy, that is left for us to do on another day.

28th June 2020

“I think we should move the pool” my wife announced. “It needs to be on more level ground”.

I sweated profusely, even though I was still in the house. It was going to be stonkingly hot today, more a day for being in the water not moving it.

But I could see her point, a slight re-positioning would let the pool be more balanced, but in order to move it meant we had to empty it of 675 gallons of water.

All we had were two five gallon buckets, about five went down the dog bog , a couple went in the composter the rest went on the lawn.

By now the sun was blazing down, each trip with the bucket got a little harder. The water evaporated almost as soon as it hit the grass, we had created our own humidity chamber.

We moved the empty pool to its new place, and I took the opportunity to add more air into the bottom chamber.

I then worked on flower border, adding a new length of edging whilst Kelli re-filled the pool.

Of course the water was cold, that was evident when she let out a shriek as she put a leg in to test it.

After finishing the border I was also keen to cool off.

After a short time of acclimation I was fully submerged. The umbrella, or so I thought would shield me from the sun. However that only works when you are in the shade. I did forget that the sun moves and the umbrella doesn’t, the result was a red chest. It wasn’t as bad as the sunburn I had as a child where Calamine lotion was a regular in the medicine cupboard.

As the evening went on my chest grew brighter, at the end I felt I could have grilled a burger on it.

27th June 2020

It was another hot day, we needed some stuff from Menards and Kelli has something to collect that she had bought on Marketplace.

The skimmer arrived in the post, but still no cover or Kelli’s air bed.

I decided to sand back the top, and start again. I was encouraged at first, I applied the stain with a cloth, rubbing it in until it was almost dry, the top still felt smooth, so we left to do our shopping.

When we returned I was annoyed to find the edges had risen again, this pissed me off.

The lure of the pool was too great. Kelli had bought a float whilst we were out, which she inflated and launched herself on to the water.

Surprisingly there was plenty of room for me, so I wallowed in the warm water, sipping a cold beer, and letting my mind wander. The other jobs to do in the garden will have to wait until tomorrow.

26th June 2020

There had been heavy rain all through the night, and the day wasn’t much better. The pool was even fuller now, but it certainly wasn’t going to get used today.

I was having real problems with the top I had re-veneered, the edges of each strip had expanded slightly so I could feel it. I thought it might have been the high humidity that was the problem, anyway, I was not happy with it, so I had to think of a solution.

The rest of the dresser was looking good, it was just me holding the job up.

More thunderstorms rolled in during the evening, it was like a winters day, dull and miserable.

It had been one of those days, I was faced with stripping off the veneer and starting again, not something I would want to do, but I could not see any alternative.

25th June 2020

I never really act my age, much to Kelli’s tolerance, and I never make excuses for it.

In fact I over play it more if it gets noticed.

When the Imperfect Foods boxes turned up they were left in the garage where Kelli was painting. I walked out of the garage and completely missed them.

I then volunteered to carry them back into the house. I, of course, exaggerate the weight of the first box, like I do every time, and I just get the eye roll.

Later when Kelli walked across the road to get Larry to check the brakes on the truck, his mate, the one who sleeps in his van in Larry’ front garden, commented on my lack of strength lifting the box, as he had observed the FedEx man carrying both boxes with ease.

Kelli replied “Oh he was just being a dork, he does that all the time”

When she told me that, I just laughed out loud.

I will now look for an even smaller box to have fun with, just for his benefit.

We drove to Granville as Kelli had another clear out of her closet and wanted to sell her stuff at Plato’s Closet .

So that means sitting outside in the sun drinking coffee waiting for her to finish converting her old clothes for new.

With all the hot weather we are getting finally, I have noticed that I am getting a brown in places. Kelli calls it “A farmers tan” because I only get it where my body bits are exposed.

I noticed an area on my lower leg, just above where my shoes fit, was a little coloured. I did try to give it a bit of a scrub, but nothing came off, so I’m officially tanned.

From childhood I was only two colours, red, and white, now I’m three, I very excited.

The pool looked very inviting, the water warmed by the sun all day was just right for the inaugural splash. Kelli was the first, and after finding my trunks I joined her. Later on Cameron stopped by (with his trunks) and he jumped in as well, so it was like a family baptism.

24th June 2020

The inflatable pool turned up today, Kelli was beside herself with joy. The electric pump had arrived yesterday so there was no excuse for me not to inflate it.

I connected up the nozzles and turned on the pump. It made a lot of noise but there was little movement in the pool. Gradually there was activity, the pump was working hard. Every so often it overheated and had to be switched off to cool down. It felt like hours that I had to hold the connection together. The pool had three layers that had to be inflated, so I had to sit in the burning sun until completed.

Kelli started to fill it with water, that took forever, halfway through we had to stop to deliver a dresser to a person in West Olive.

This was one of the most fun one we had done, the extra work on the top really paid off, I was really pleased with it.

I bought the contact adhesive this morning to stick the veneer to the laminate top. Everything went well, I successfully got glue on my fingers so I picked up everything I touched, but apart from that it went pretty well. The trimming of the edges to matched the shaped top was a test that I passed, so hurray for me.

We picked up a take away from New Holland pub, and sat by our newly inflated paddling pool, it can’t get much better than this.

23rd June 2020

The first potential buyer for the white dresser arrived. She had messaged to say that she would stop and take a look at it.

As she approached it, I could tell it was not what she wanted. She talked about the blue room she wanted it to go into, but maybe the drawers weren’t deep enough, but it was the right height bla, bla, bla.

She promised that she would check a few things once she got home, and get back to us, which she didn’t.

We can usually tell within the first few seconds if a person is excited with the furniture piece in front of them. This was proven by the second lady who turned up. As soon as she got out of her car she was smitten.

We finished the second dresser, the one where I had to get rid of the swirl marks left by the sander. We brought it inside to photograph, and Kelli posted it straight away.

For the rest of the afternoon her phone was pinging with activity. Needless to say we sold that one very quickly and will deliver it tomorrow.

It had rained overnight, and in the morning there was a fine drizzle, that reminded me of my family summer holidays. For two weeks we’d be crammed into a small caravan at the coast looking out at the rain. The insistent drizzle that hung over the site, made for a depressing time, although I did get to read a lot of books.

22nd June 2020

I spent time working on a veneer jointing jig. I have alway wanted to do more with veneer, and as Dave had a massive stock of material in his basement workshop, I thought I could use it.

His years at Herman must have had some advantages, and he was not one to miss out on an opportunity to blag loads of off-cuts.

There was a dresser that we picked up that had a painted laminate top that, I thought it would be an opportunity to try using the sheets of veneer to resurface it.

I thought it would be easy, armed with a new sharp blade in my knife I tried to get a good edge in order to make a perfect join, but it didn’t work. The blade followed the grain, so the edge was neither straight or sharp.

I put my thinking cap on which wasn’t easy as I was wearing my wide brimmed gardening hat, designed to keep the sun off my neck.

I knew what I had to achieve, but I only had stuff in the garage to make something to do the job. In the end I used lengths of plywood and clamps to make a fixture to hold the veneer whilst I used a block plane and a sanding block to finish the edge. The end result was great, and I was able to fix the sheets together with masking tape.

Now I have buy contact adhesive to finish the job.

Whilst I wait for the opportunity to visit the shops, I continued to work on the under structure for the new patio.

The first area I am working on is directly outside the sun room. The height of the structure is governed by the sliding doors, so I am able to use the timber we got from the sculpture at Saugatuck. This Area will be the lowest point, but it will step up to the main deck space.

21st June 2020

It was Father’s Day over here, and quite surprisingly I had messages from both my boys. Over the years I’ve not always had any wishes at all, mainly because I’ve been able to see them. Anyway it was pleasing to read, and I appreciated them.

I had work to do on a dresser top to get it ready for Kelli to paint it. In between that, I started work on the patio by scarf jointing some of the timber I had. I plan to pre-make the sections prior to assembling in the final position.

Later in the afternoon we had a family dinner at Mom’s house, so the gathering of the clan was expected.

Greer arrived from Grand Rapids waving some cans of beer as my Father’s Day present from her. This was unexpected and fully appreciated, as I opened one up, I needed to get into the right frame of mind for the upcoming event.

I had been volunteered to set up a wireless printer, which is normally relatively simple, but not for me. I spent loads of time trying to get the phone to pair with the printer, and it just didn’t want to do the only thing it needed to do. As the evening was drawing in, I admitted defeat, and decided to put it off to another day.

There is the nightly ritual of watering the plants, pulling the hose through the garage, trying not to get it twisted, and remembering to water everything.

20th June 2020

The day for the collection of the dining table had arrived. Around lunchtime they arrived, I greeted them with nervous apprehension, as I alway do when I’ve worked on a specific customer requirement. Was the stain too dark?, fortunately they were really knocked out by it. Even the husband, who I thought would be all over it, was impressed. I was relieved, and as we lifted it into the back of their truck, I was sad to see it go. It had taken up a lot of space in the garage, and I had gone through a lot of pain sanding the legs, but it disappeared down the road to start it’s new life in a new home.

It was really hot, and not the best day to lay down the mulch, but we struggled on.

We set up out green snake mister on the end of the hose. This was the one that we got last year, and kept splitting the hose.

This was pleasant to get the occasional waft of water vapour, well it was more like steam, as the water in the hose was heated by the sun, but the idea was good.

We had an early bite on the dresser we posted yesterday, but that fizzled out leaving us questioning the choice of finishes. Optimistic as I am, I’m sure there is a buyer out there somewhere.