Author: peterb51

19th June 2020

With enormous effort we turned the dining table over. Now it was ready for the final stage of the finish, the polishing.

Armed with a pad of steel wool and some beeswax I set about getting the mirror like surface that the table deserves.

The hours of endless sanding, coating and re-coating have come to an end.

Working on the legs have left my fingers sore and aching, it will take a while for those to heal.

The temperature today was at its highest so far at about 85 degrees.

We have our walk around the garden looking at the new blooms before breakfast, with Kelli getting excited at every new arrival.

We had a trip to the post office, we had some presents to send back to the UK. This was the first time I realised how expensive it was. Although the stamps are cheap, they make it up on the parcels.

After handing over the last of my dollar bills we headed off to Lowes to try to get some cedar border edging to match what we already have, but we were out of luck on that.

Although the website showed a small quantity in stock the reality had nowt.

Instead we got four bags of mulch and some drawer components for a new project.

During the evening Kelli had a crazy idea to get an inflatable pool so she could bask in the hot sun. She then went to Amazon and ordered one, I can now expect “is it here yet?” for the next few days.

18th June 2020

For once I’m sitting in the patio area with a cold beer after a busy day.

Earlier we had our realtor round to help Kelli fill out a form to get me put on the deeds to the house. I don’t remember why we could do it at the time, but she had found out that it was a simple process, so all that was filled out ready to be sent out.

I finished the dining table legs and re-assembled it ready for its final waxing.

I finished the repairs to the drawers and Kelli did the paint job, so that dresser will be ready for posting tomorrow.

We stopped off at a local garden centre to look for apple trees. The ones for sale looked a bit sad, so I didn’t get any. Instead we got a Fern leaf buckthorn, whatever that is. We plan to fill a corner of the garden where the hounds go to shout at the other dogs, this will grow nice and thick, and fill the space.

So now I’m taking a rest, beer in hand contemplating other projects.

I must start the patio soon, I keep saying it but other things get in the way. I really thought I would have plenty of time to work on it but it’s amazing how the time goes, I’m not feeling guilty about sitting down, I have to have my thinking time.

It’s unusual to see the vapour trails in the sky, for so long I was used to seeing them as part of the cloud formations.

There will come a time when things will get back to the way they were, but I’m not rushing to get there, yes I miss seeing my family and friends, but I don’t want to risk my health and Kelli’s. It will happen, I’m trying to be patient.

17th June 2020

Phew! Another warm one, but I love it. We planted our new green things, although the fern that I thought was a good price was a bit shrivelled, and when I took it out of the pot, the rootball was as dry as a bone. I don’t hold out much hope for that. The same has to be said about the raspberry sticks that I have been religiously watering every day. Today I inspected them, and the sticks snapped off. I guess they won’t be baring fruit anytime soon.

We took pictures of our latest dresser, and posted it straight away on Marketplace.

She also found another one very close by, so we had to go and collect that one.

We did a bit of pruning of our rhododendron bush, it, like all the other things in the garden had suffered neglect, but with Sweeny Todd with loppers it was transformed into a slightly different shaped rhododendron bush.

There was a new dresser to start, Kelli had stripped the top and some drawer fronts, my job was to stain it.

Later in the evening we walked up to Mike and Lesley’s house for his seventieth birthday. I cannot remember much about it other than it being a collective of ex brits winging about the good old days .

16th June 2020

It’s nice to wake up to the sun shining through the bedroom window, and it’s good to know that it is warm outside.

The growing season is a month later than in the UK so the flowers haven’t burst into bloom yet. I excited that the elderberry plant is really started to go wild, there are two florets ready to blossom.

The raspberry plants don’t appear to be alive, so I will have to dig them up.

I have ordered two gooseberry bushes from a store on-line. Most of the garden centres around do not stock these type of fruits, so it’s down to specialist growers to supply them.

I’m really surprised how difficult it is to buy plants I am used to getting in the UK. I have tried to look for espalier apple trees to grow along the fence, but I can’t find any. It looks like I will have to train them myself.

The garage was alive with activity, we started work on the two dressers we picked up yesterday. Kelli tackled the sanding of the long black unit. Soon, both her and the floor was covered with thick black dust.

15th June 2020

Many people went back to work today, for many, the weeks off was not enough time to tidy up their gardens. Instead they sat around complaining about wearing masks, like it was a big deal. The whole mask issue has become so political because Chump does not wear one. This becomes the reason why Republicans refuse, or don’t see the point of wearing them, or keeping distances, they really are thick as shit.

The stores will do their best to keep space, but knowing people, as I do, they will ignore it.

We delivered the tall dresser just around the corner, then later drove to Muskegon to pick up two more.

I finished sanding the last table leg, I’m really pleased about that because it hurts my fingers for days afterwards.

I managed to apply a couple of coats of finish to the three other legs so the end is in sight.

14th June 2020

It was work on the garden day, the weather was good and my loppers were sharp.

The target was a large forsythia bush, it was out of control after years of neglect. We had watched videos on pruning techniques and instantly forgot all of them.

The bush hadn’t flowered this year and was full of dead wood.

I started small, focusing on the old wood first. That made a difference straight away, but then emphasised the tallness where the leaves were, and the woodiness where there was nothing.

We discussed if we should go the whole hog and cut everything back to the stump. Kelli was concerned about the wild birds that used the bush to hang out and fly between it, and our holly bush. In the end the full cut was chosen. Kelli couldn’t bare to look as I snipped away. When she saw the result she burst into tears, not a reaction I usually get doing work around the house, but she was afraid the birds would leave and find somewhere else to congregate. But the job was done, I was left with a huge pile of branches to cut up and dump in our temporary green tip.

I left a few shoots just to mark where the tree was, and knowing the forsythia it will soon start to show shoots, just like the butchered lilac is doing.

We finished the small skinny dresser, and that went on Marketplace only to be snapped up a few minutes later to a person a stones throw away, so a good result all round, even if the birds don’t have a place to rest.

13th June 2020

Where do the weeks go?

This year has stumbled through a lot of challenges. We have survived without toilet paper for months, only now are we able to get some as part of our weekly deliveries. However the grade is the lightweight type, the kind that if they were air dropped they would never reach the ground.

But it’s bog roll so I shouldn’t complain.

I had some news that there were a few redundancies at Herman Miller in Melksham.

This is a sad time for the many effected having gone though the quarantine, and uncertainty only to be rewarded by this, really sucks. All the talent that was hired, has been wasted, lives have been disrupted, and people’s future uncertain. Businesses have to survive, the shareholders demand it, but many are using this as an excuse for major restructuring.

The office furniture market in the UK has been struggling for years, but the pandemic, and workers being forced to work from home, has created opportunities to design products to cater for the office at home. I have seen some products, rapidly developed and marketed for this new sector.

Both Kelli and I have been surprised by the amount of product we have shifted during the lockdown. Our sales are up on last year, meaning that people have money to spend. We haven’t been to Goodwill in months, and we still have been able to find stuff to renovate.

I am moving on with the dining table. The top has had four coats of polyurethane, so a couple more and then the polishing begins. I was a bit apprehensive about starting the legs, because they are so ornate I wasn’t sure how the stain would take, but I was pleasantly surprised how well the first one came out.

12th June 2020

A late start to the day, but a fantastic breakfast made by my wife got my energy level up.

A quick trip to Menards to collect bags of mulch then back to start the jobs.

On our arrival, Dan from next door rushed round to tell us that the tree fellas (actually there were six) were going to turn up to clear the mess.

Within fifteen minutes they were setting up the equipment and five minutes later all the branches that I had stacked on the front lawn were reduced to chips. These machines are amazing bits of kit, they take anything.

So with straps attached anchoring the vulnerable boughs, they systematically cut away at the remnants of the tree.

The buzzing chainsaws making it look easy. The guys obviously were experienced, moving around removing chunks in different places, to maintain the balance. The final piece was the large section still attached, as it was cut it swung down just clipping the top of the fence.

The pine trees that had taken the full weight of the fallen branches were suddenly released and flicked back to grab a share of the sunlight that had been denied them.

The young lads did a great job of clearing up all the leaves, leaving the garden looking as good as new.

For five hundred bucks it was a good, quick job, and as value for money goes it seemed reasonable.

There was time for a bike ride before dinner. We explored some side roads that we usually pass but seldom take, so this time we did.

The newly built houses, all pristine with beautiful manicured lawns are part of the exploding housing that has effected Holland in recent years, and there is no sign of that changing.

11th June 2020

We had to drag a new dresser into the house to take pictures. Fortunately we didn’t have to do much to it. I made a decorative up-stand to hide a cruddy part of the top.

We had someone on it straight away, due for collection at three in the afternoon.

I dragged all the branches that I’d cut off the tree round to the front garden. I heaped it all over a bald spot in the grass, for once everything looked green.

Dan, the next door neighbour came round to survey the damage, having been away when it all happened. He had arranged for someone to look it over and agree when it could be removed.

I had plenty of things to do on the dining table, the start of many coats of finish lovingly applied by hand.

There are some days that are ordinary and others that are unpredictable, today was the latter.

The weather forecast was for stormy and high winds, which meant a day in the garage, and no distractions.

I was busy sanding another leg of the dining table when I heard an unusual noise. Normally I’m responsible for dislodging most things causing them to fall, but this was slightly different. For some reason I went to the doorway at the back of the garage, looking up towards the top end of the garden. What I saw was just a clump of green leaves. There was no flower bed to be seen. That was when I realised that part of the next door neighbours tree had fallen into our garden.

I rushed back into the house shouting for Kelli, who was in the bathroom at the time. She rushed out and I explained what I had seen. We both went into the sunroom where we could see the full extent of what had happened. The tree had split halfway up the trunk, but was still attached. The fence had not been damaged, but all the branches had covered our new flower bed.

It was still raining hard, but we donned our rain gear and went out to try to save our plants.

I got the loppers from the shed and started to cut the branches away. Gradually we cleared the flower beds and fortunately only a few were broken, others just sprung back.

It was exhausting work, I was wetter on the inside of my North Face coat than the outside from the rain, so I was cursing them for making a useless garment rather than the tree.

Kelli went to see if the neighbour was in, but they weren’t, so we cleared the garden as best as we could, and went back inside to change clothes.

Later the lady from next door came round to assess the damage, and agreed to get the bough removed as quickly as possible.

The two pine trees in our garden had taken the brunt of the weight when the bough fell, and one looked in a sorry state, we would not know the full extent until the tree was removed.

Apart from a hot shower, the rest of the day went back to normal, with me continuing to sand the leg I had started earlier.