Author: peterb51

Pete and Kelli’s social distance day 74

30th May 2020

It was a good day for working on the garden.

I needed more mulch to continue covering the flower beds, so a trip to Menards was on the cards.

With my list and mask we headed off.

Whilst I was there I wanted to get another pack of solar lights for the front of the house.

We worked our way around the store keeping away from other shoppers, most of which I’d stay away from even without a mask.

Kelli picked up things on the way that she always does whenever we get to the store.

She wanted to get a few plants for her mother’s garden, I scurried off to get my mulch.

When I got to the racks everything was gone, every colour, every size had been taken.

I looked up in disbelief as these racks reach to heaven, not even the split bags that nobody wants were gone, I was so disappointed.

We drove back home with our measly purchases, Kelli had an appointment to cut her mother’s hair, so she collected up the implements needed, including some old sheep shears and a scythe and went off.

Left to my own devices I did a couple of jobs before tackling the front lawn.

I was encouraged to see some new grass coming through, so I had to be careful.

Kelli came back, so we got ready for a bike ride. It was a bit cooler than the past couple of days that required long sleeves.

As we were on our return leg of our ride, Kelli spotted something in the road that turned out to be a bat.

We spent many minutes trying to coax it on the nearby lawn, with no success. Of course we didn’t bring our bat retrieval kit, so we had to make do with a stick, which didn’t work.

In the end we used my cap to cover it and try to move it. This worked really well, so well that it didn’t want to let go. It must have thought that it smelt like a musty loft, which is exactly what my head smells like most of the time.

Faced with a bat gripping my hat like it was mating with it, we decided to wrap it in the cap and carry it home in Kelli’s bike basket.

We got a little way before the bat decided he had enough of my hat and was now hanging upside down in the basket. This sudden movement freaked Kelli out, so we had to stop, and try to get it back into the hat. This was not easy, but after prodding it with a stick it climbed back in, so Kelli was able to place it under a shady tree, and the bat eventually crawled into the dark area, this was our chance to escape.

Bat girl Kelli and I then rode as fast as we could just in case the rest of the bat’s family came searching for it.

Pete and Kelli’s social distance day 73

29th May 2020

I decided to do an easier job on the dining table. After two days sanding legs, and waking up with aching fingers, I chose to work on the apron instead. This was much more straight forward, and quicker, this allowed me more time to work on re-assembling the carcass of the large dresser.

Kelli tore herself away from some aggressive sunbathing to help fit the doors back on to the entertainment centre. The curious thing about this unit was the doors were made to look like drawers. They were heavy and awkward, this was not a job that should have taken much time, but an hour or so later it still wasn’t right.

I took great pleasure in watching Kelli cut the grass this evening. As it was her idea to get a push mower, she volunteered to do the back garden. After a few rows, her face was glistening, and the audible grunts got louder the more she did. I had to stifle my laughter, as this was only a few days growth, my aim for a rechargeable electric mower grows ever closer.

Pete and Kelli’s social distance day 72

28th May 2020

Leg number two, the thought of repeating what I did yesterday was not appealing, but that was my target. The timber was not as good as I was led to believe. The table appears to be a light, pale timber like spruce but probably originated in Asia.

The finish has tinted the wood, so the final stain will have to cover all that.

I broke up the leg sanding to lighten the tedium, in between I laid up a pine shelf for the entertainment centre Kelli has been working on.

The news was filled with the killing of a black guy in Minneapolis by a policeman. All this was filmed, and splashed all over the networks. It was a disgusting spectacle, and of course sparked off riots, burning and looting.

There is no excuse for this action because it serves only to detract from the initial atrocity.

The pandemic has claimed over a hundred thousand American lives, and there had been little mentioned by the President, this is just collateral damage to person that values wealth more than human life, what a scumbag.

Pete and Kelli’s social distance day 71

27th May 2020

The humidity has hit me like a wet blanket, it has drained me of all my energy.

I was working in the garage, sanding furiously.

I had started on the dining table, instantly regretting quoting for it. Although I charged double the last table it’s still not enough.

I decided to do a leg a day. I got well into it, doing all the easy bits first. It got worse as I had to tackle the detailed sections, although the beer at lunchtime didn’t help, I kept at it.

A bike ride later finally did me in.

Pete and Kelli’s social distance day 70

26th May 2020

To compensate for the steady influx of new clothing Kelli finds on line there is an outlet at Granville that takes all the item she no longer wants. Up to now this has been closed, but today it has opened with certain restrictions.

Plato’s Closet is Kelli’s Mecca, so we just had to stop there. With two full bags in the truck, she dropped me off for a coffee whilst she went off to worship at the alter of nearly new garments.

I know I can go through the summer with one tee shirt and one pair of shorts, and I’m not ashamed to admit that, but she is horrified at the thought of that. She would have to change to meet the apocalypse.

I had to sit outside to drink my coffee, all the chairs and tables inside had been removed, but what was worse, and quite unforgivable there were no wooden sticks to scrounge.

We managed a bike ride getting back just in time before we were hit with a thunderstorm, that saved me wrestling with the hose to water the plants.

Pete and Kelli’s social distance day 69

25th May 2020

Today is Memorial Day, when Americans remember the dead from all the wars they’ve been involved in, and stuck their noses into.

Of course with Covid 19 deaths reaching 100000, there should be thoughts given to all the families that have suffered losses equally as traumatic.

The sun brought about more blooming iris’s, so slowly the garden is coming to life. I laid mulch on the new bed before running out. I’m really no good at estimating quantities, I’d be no good in the kitchen.

With some of the relaxing in gatherings of family groups we held a small Memorial Day party at our house. Kelli made the killer potato salad plus a few things from the corner store. All of us refrained from the usual hugs and instead made up alternative elbow greetings.

We had many flyovers by the local duck squadron but no bombing.

There are a pair of ducks that have become regular visitors to our garden, they peck at the seeds underneath the bird feeder, causing our dogs, with their noses up against the glass doors, to freak out.

Pete and Kelli’s social distance day 68

24th May 2020

We were greeted by the first blooming iris in our garden, a great cause for celebration. This is the first bit of colour this year, so it was enough for Kelli to go dancing around the garden.

We have been fortunate to have wonderful customers who really appreciate what we are trying to do, so when the money get put straight into hand without them even looking at the piece, must say something.

We had a bike ride around the block, and then I started the task of watering the plants. For some reason unknown to me, there is only one hose point which is at the front of the house, which is fine for that, but when I have to water the back garden the hose has to go through the garage.

This is a drag, often it gets twisted, and the water flow stops, then I have to un-twist it, not easy when it’s like trying to straighten a boa-constrictor full of antelopes.

But when that’s all over I can sit outside and listen to the birds, there are some that even know my name. “Peeter , Peeter “ they chirp, it’s a shame that I don’t know theirs.

Pete and Kelli’s social distance day 66

22nd May 2020

There is a frantic feeling around 593 Central Bay to get furniture out to boost the month’s numbers.

Often this is a subject of an ongoing debate about how much things are worth.

I believe we continue to under value our work, but we also don’t want things hanging around for weeks.

The case in point, Kelli posted the mid century pieces and immediately had someone interested. We also have earned a reputation, and we get requests for furniture that we haven’t even started yet, so there is plenty of incentive to move things quickly.

We also took some time out to go and get some things for the garden. I bought bags of manure and top soil to fill the new beds. The bags weighed a ton, but hardly went anywhere.

Somewhere on this garden is a pile of shit and dirt but I can’t see it.

Kelli got some plants for some tubs to bring colour to the back garden, and I got some solar lights for the front of the house.

When we moved in, the house had a series of flood lights to illuminate the frontage, buried in the berm. I guess over the years they got damaged, and never replaced.

I wanted to replace them, but they were expensive so are low down on the priority table, so these solar ones will do for now.

Pete and Kelli’s social distance day 65

21st May 2020

Well two sunny days on the run is something to get used to, and to make a point I put on a pair of shorts. This was the first time my legs had seen the sun, and the reflection from them blinded folks sailing by on the lake. Kelli has advised me to only expose them one at a time, to let the neighbours get used to them.

We had a major job to complete today. The glass door cabinet had to be stripped back to the base finish and vigorously sanded to give a better key for the primer.

The first attempt failed totally when the paint finish came away in sheets. We were against the clock as we had a buyer already lined up.

It took a few hours, but we finally finished by mid afternoon.

I had news of redundancies at Herman Miller. It is always sad to hear of this happening to a company I gave much of my working life to.

Since retiring, I have become detached from the business, but there were many good people who were committed to keeping the ethos of the company going. I feel sad that they are being let down, and cast out into an uncertain world.

The Corvus-19 pandemic with have far reaching effects to the office furniture industry, not that things will happen quickly, but more people working from home there is a trend that will take it’s course.

HM had dabbled with furniture for the home market before, this was an adaptation of its office ranges, but this was out of scale, and not suitable for British homes. I had proposed some ideas that were sized more appropriately. As usual, these went down the toilet, but the prototype is at least being used in my son’s home.