Author: peterb51

20th March 2020

Pete and Kelli’s social distance day 6

The most effective laxative over here is listening to Trump bumble his way through the televised Coronavirus virus morning briefing.

The man has no knowledgeable things to say, it is an embarrassment to all the experts who share the stage. I can see that it takes all the self control they have not to speak out and tell him that he is talking rubbish.

There are the stream of sycophants who stroke his ego, I don’t know how they can justify it to themselves and their families.

Both Kelli and I worked together to finish a couple of pieces to add to our collection.

Even with the restrictions we need to try to sell what we can. We are continually looking for smaller pieces that require minimal work that we can sell on cheaply. This is at odds with my philosophy to improve it from its original condition, but maybe this is not the time for ideals.

The big entertainment centre should be ready for collection on Sunday.

She found a couple more pieces in Allegan, so off we went to collect.

This is a drive into Trump country, lots of farmers who have lost markets to the trade tariffs, starved of cash and now going into a pandemic, sucks to be you.

Along the way we spotted a number of Trump signs in the gardens, it wasn’t easy stopping Kelli from driving over them.

19th March 2020

Pete and Kelli’s social distance day 5

The word on the street is that all the supermarket shelves are still bare, and no signs of that changing for a while.

We didn’t get our food box from Imperfect Foods today sending Kelli into a tail spin.

We had to go collect some items from a couple of stores. I had ordered a pair of roller slides for a dresser I’ve been working on, and a large tub of car body filler. Kelli had some food items and bird seed to pick up, which if push comes to shove we can boil up into a bird seed stew.

Due to most stores and restaurants closing, they have started offering take-out services, which is a great idea, and prevents utter boredom setting in.

As we drove past the town I only saw two people walking on the pavements, an almost unbelievable situation.

We have made good progress on the paint job to the entertainment centre, whilst I completed the small table repair and a new drawer front for another small dresser.

I heard from my son Ryan that the Shogun didn’t do too well on the MOT. The only things that didn’t fail were the wheels and the air in the tyres. We agreed to go halves, as he uses it most of the time now. I still want to keep it a bit longer as I still have work to do on the cottage whenever that may be.

Kelli cooked the most amazing vegan Irish stew this evening, it was thick and warming,( not a description of the Irish by the way)

I could see out this whole Coronavirus pandemic just eating that.

18th March 2020

Pete and Kelli’s social distance day 4

I heard the shriek from the sunroom when Kelli tried out the bidet in the bathroom for the first time. It was quite alarming, although I was expecting it, but it made the dogs jump.

It had been delivered earlier, and the attachment took no more than twenty minutes, and most of that was reading and re-reading the instructions.

Because of the design of US bogs, it was really straight forward, possibly easier to do than on an English one.

Once the device was fitted I did a test. There are two directional nozzles, rear and front. I chose the front one. Wow! a jet of water shot over my right shoulder with enough force to strip wallpaper, yep! That works.

I carried on with a couple of other repairs to furniture pieces in process, but I was intrigued with the bidet and couldn’t wait to give it a try.

Now the idea of buying it was to reduce the quantity of toilet paper we use, so I wanted to put that to the test.

The control would allow different pressure dependant on your pain threshold, but I was pleasantly surprised at its efficiency. Having a jet of cold water directed at my delicate areas was not so shocking as I thought it would be. My only criticism would be the mopping up afterwards. This would take a pad of six sheets of toilet paper to do this job, so the saving would not be that great. Now if only Dyson got his act together and developed the “bum blaster” it would be perfect.

The daily routine of checking the confirmed cases of the virus is the first thing we do during breakfast, followed by what’s happening in old Blighty.

Then it’s putting on my work shoes and going into the garage usually tripping up on something.

I’m not sure if it’s because of the size of my clown shoes or that I’m getting more clumsy in my old age, but making a simple trip from one side of the garage to the other will include stepping on, tripping on, or knocking something off every time.

We finished another large dresser that Kelli could post on Marketplace, not knowing if people are still in the mood for buying furniture.

Kelli’s amazing job of the day was getting the electric heater in the sunroom working again.

It had got to the stage where it would throw out heat for a short time and then switch off.

Whilst I was working on another dresser, Kelli was on her hands and knees with a screwdriver and vacuum. There was a clunking and sucking, and finally she threw her hands in the air announcing that she was brilliant, and smiled triumphantly,

17th March 2020

Pete and Kelli’s social distance day 3

I had started to prime the large entertainment centre that we have been commissioned to paint. It’s not difficult, just a little boring with lots of flat panels.

Kelli continued her quarantine routine by going to collect her last cheque from Our Collected Home which was not risky as the place was deserted. She collected a small table for Cameron to put in his apartment, again no contact with anyone.

People at last are taking things seriously, with the schools, and a lot of stores closed, life is going to be very different from now on.

16th March 2029

Pete and Kelli’s social distance day 2

I had plenty to get on with, it was business as normal, but Kelli is far more concerned about the virus than I am.

We had a weekly delivery of food due for Thursday, and we were using the Aldi home delivery for other stuff. There will be shortages, but she is pretty resourceful, and can create almost anything edible out of the fridge.

We had decided on a number of measures to help us through this difficult time.

First we had ordered a bidet attachment for the toilet to reduce the need for toilet paper. This will be interesting, as most times things should only come out of the arse not going into it. I can’t wait to hear the first shriek from Kelli on this one.

Next she wanted an elderberry immune support syrup kit, which was due on Wednesday, however this was not quick enough, so she found someone in Zeeland who also supplied them, and drove off to buy one.

When she got back, all excited, she waited no time in getting things going. The kitchen resembled Frankenstein’s laboratory with jars and pans bubbling on the cooker.

It made me think, where do you get elderberries in Holland? I don’t think I’ve seen any, unlike in the UK where every hedgerow has trees growing wild.

Ironically the kit I ordered, had been delivered early, and was waiting in the post box for her return, so our immunity will be so strong we will glow in the dark.

15th March 2020

Pete and Kelli’s social distance day 1

We made the conscience decision to cut off any interactions with others, however we had people coming over to purchase some furniture, but we were prepared with materials to carry out a forensic cleaning exercise afterwards.

The first person to arrive was after the dresser that didn’t have a top drawer that I had lined with a plywood box. He was a big guy, the type who wore shorts all the year round, and would beat the crap out of any Coronavirus he came across.

Later in the afternoon we had a mother and daughter round to look at the pair of matching side tables that I had been struggling to finish.

The wax was still drying when they turned up, but they loved them and thrust the money into Kelli’s hand, loaded them up and drove off.

I went back into the garage to do more staining.

Kelli burst in and informed me that we were going to Fennville to collect a free dresser, so much for our quarantine.

That was it for the day, our total contact was with four people, so the risk was low, I hope.

We learned that Holland had a confirmed case in the hospital. The person did not have a history of travel, so the numbers will grow.

14th March 2020

Kelli had arranged to pick up a dresser in Grand Haven, so with a little trepidation we set off. The price of petrol has dropped by as much as forty cents a gallon in the last two days, it is crazy how it fluctuates so much and so quickly.

The small dresser was on the porch waiting for us. It was smaller than I imagined, and had the top drawer front missing, so guess what I will be making?

Kelli managed to find a store selling Just Egg the vegan alternative to what drops from a chicken, so she snapped up a couple of jars of that.

Next stop was Zeeland to pick up some small picture frames for pictures she had found at Goodwill.

Of course we couldn’t let a day go pass without going there again, but this time finding a small side table in desperate need of a new front rail to correct it’s out of squareness, guess what I’ll be doing?

13th March 2020

We are getting close to completing a number of furniture projects, so with green rubber gloves on I stained the pedestal tops.

Kelli was painting another dresser whilst I sanded back the top ready for staining.

We sold a small yellow dresser this morning.

I had worked late Thursday to try to improve the fit of the bottom drawer only to find that it was out of square, so it had to go as it was.

Fortunately the lady didn’t notice, and was pleased with the piece.

Later we helped Cameron move into his new apartment. Talk about Stairway to heaven, they were so steep I got a nose bleed halfway up.

This was a good opportunity to see the condition of rental accommodation close to the downtown area, and quite frankly I was not impressed.

There is nothing more depressing than seeing an apartment that clearly needs updating.

The place stank of gas, that needed immediate attention, but there was also a shortage of electrical outlets.

I had to hold my tongue because I did not believe the place was fit to live in, and if that was the only place he could get for over $600 then something is terribly depressing.

The Coronavirus is ramping up all over the country, rather late in my mind, but it’s down to individuals to make important decisions in light of the incompetence of Trump and his administration. It has not reached Holland yet, but it has already reached Kent County where the airport is, so it’s only a matter of time.

12th March 2020

Well all the toilet rolls and hand sanitizers in all supermarkets in Holland have disappeared from the shelves. I used to think Americans were smart, and more thoughtful about life, but no they are as dumb as shit as well as everyone else in the world.

Why toilet rolls? and even the thin ones. Many believe they will be holed up in their homes for two weeks sitting on the bog, but that is just the start.

It doesn’t help that the dumb president has confused everybody and no one knows who to believe. The stock market has dived, and even HM shares have nearly halved in value, where will it end?

There is underlying fear that is growing, and that is as infectious as the virus itself. There are many older people underinsured and many more not insured at all. These are the most at risk, and it is even effecting my judgement when deciding whether to venture out to search for furniture.

I expect a total lockdown of the country soon, there are so many blaming the Chinese, and it is slowly becoming a racial excuse yet again prompted by the stupid occupant of the White House.

11th March 2020

The Norfolk pine we got at before Christmas is looking a bit sad. Kelli has tended it every day, but it hasn’t made any difference. It had pride of place in our living area, and we had high hopes of it growing even through it is classed as a tropical plant. It looks like a pine tree, but the needles are soft and fine, but they turn hard a coarse if the temperature is right. Which makes us ask the question why they were available for sale in Michigan.

The whole thing is a reminder of watching something/someone that you care about, withering away in front of our eyes.

We finished another dresser which had the missing drawer, I had made a plywood liner to fit inside, and Kelli had found a basket that fitted inside. This was listed as a piece that could go in a small child’s room or nursery.

We also finished an small dresser that was painted in a daffodil yellow. There is a lot of activity in the garage with the desk pedestal conversions targeted for the weekend.

Later we drove round to Our Collective homes to collect all the pieces that we had there. It had come the time to go independent, Kelli had more success selling on Marketplace, so that was the channel we would be using from now on.

As a reward for all our hard work we went to Hop Cat, a pub, that did a wonderful veggi-burger. We got there at 7.30 and the place was packed, by 8.30 the place was nearly empty.