Author: peterb51

10th March 2020

The dresser top still looked good in the light of the day, so I kissed the ground, and the first job after breakfast was to attach it to the dresser.

We carried it into the living space and took pictures.

Kelli posted it on Marketplace and in less than an hour it was sold, to be delivered around 5.00pm.

I was busy on another dresser that had a missing drawer. I made a shelf to fit inside the space and Kelli had a basket that would fit in the space.

Concurrently I was also busy sanding the drawer front for the two pedestals.

I had previously cut the desk top down to make the two tops, and lovingly scraped off the green paint off one, and started on the second.

After I had completed the second top, the dust was everywhere, the floor was covered in a thick layer of green dust that I vacuumed up.

Just as I was finishing up for the evening I looked at the newly stripped piece.

“That looked narrower than the first one” I thought to myself, so I checked it with a tape measure, and sure enough it was over an inch different.

A cold sweat came over me, how could I have made a mistake like that? Then I looked around and saw another piece in my scrap bin, I rushed over and measured that, it was the same as the first top, I had put the wrong bit in the scrap bin, but it meant that I would have to scrape all the paint off that one tomorrow, oh joy.

Today was primary elections and Kelli had to exercise her right to vote.

It was all about selecting which candidate she wanted to run against Trump in November.

I went along to see what the process was.

There were similarities with the UK system, although the ballot paper was scanned electronically. I noticed that the ballot paper had all the original candidates even though all but two have quit, things move quickly in the US.

9th March 2020

There was a dresser that Kelli desperately wanted to post on Marketplace, that required me finishing a black stained top. She obviously didn’t hear that I never wanted to do another black top.

She had sanded the top and stained it, leaving me just to apply a finish on it, which I did. When it dried it was all patchy with shiny and dull patches all over.

I decided to strip it back to the natural wood and start again. It is a horrible job, even though I had a face mask my snot was still black.

This time I went over it with a wood conditioner prior to the stain. This seals the porous parts and lets the stain soak in evenly.

I let it dry before brushing on a coat of finish.

This went okay, and I was anticipating a reasonable result.

I let the sealer dry, and on inspection I saw a hair stuck in the finish. I de-nibbed the surface, hoping to remove it but all i succeeded in doing was to sand through the stain. This made me angry, that I had messed it up.

My only solution was to spray over a toning coat using a can of coloured polyurethane I had bought for the dining table that I didn’t use.

I set up a make shift spray booth and went for it.

The first coat went well, an even surface with an even sheen, as I attempted to move it into the house to dry, I noticed the area that I had worn through was still visible, so I had to put it back into the booth and give it more coats.

At the end of the evening the top looked as good as I was capable of, so I set it aside to dry.

Wasn’t it black in the first place?

Kelli just smiled, so I guess it was.

8th March 2020

The clocks changed last night, so the extra hour of daylight will be a welcomed change.

The temperature was a pleasant 57 degrees, so we were able to work with the garage door open. We had to do a little tidying as we were expecting a person delivering a large entertainment centre that they wanted us to paint.

I moved a lot of my timber out to the shed, as it had become a little out of control. The sorting out is good therapy and getting rid of the off cuts give me something to burn.

Around mid afternoon the lady arrived. The furniture piece was a good fit in her truck, almost too good, it was like it had created a vacuum when it was loaded, as three of us could not move it.

Only with a side to side action did it release its grip, and slowly we pulled it out.

After loading it on to a trolly we were able to push it into the garage, and then assess the work required.

It was a decent piece in good condition, and in its day must have been expensive.

These jobs are good earners as we don’t have any capital outlay, so it’s just a few hours work, hopefully this will lead to more.

Out in the back garden the squirrels were having fun with the peanuts that we had bought to replace the sunflower seeds. One in particular, a cheeky, vicious little red bastard was diving into the feeder, grabbing a peanut shell and running along the top of the fence. He then ran through a small hole in the shed, a few minutes later he repeated the same route over and over again. In between he would chase off black squirrels that might have been thinking about grabbing some food.

Later, when I needed to go into the shed I could some of the shells stored in an old bicycle saddle.

7th March 2020

There are some days that are ordinary, when it is hard to find something interesting to comment on, but others, when at the end I have to say, “ did that really happen?”

There was one big event that I knew about, and prepared for.

About a week ago there was a post on the Saugatuck home page about the dismantling of a wooden sculpture outside the Arts Centre.

This was a very interesting piece that had been on show for a couple of years. In the post it was offering the timber free to anyone who wanted it. This was an offer too good to miss, and Kelli was on to it immediately, and we had the first choice on it. Well today was the day to collect, so I was getting prepared to meet the 1.00pm collection time.

Suddenly Kelli burst in to the garage all excited.

Now this means many things, from a duck in the back yard to a squirrel gnawing it’s nuts, but this time it was a Marketplace post for six mid century chairs for $20.

She held up her phone with the picture on it, they looked pretty good, and I agreed that it was too good a bargain to miss.

The sale was in Allegan about a half hour away. It was now nearly midday, so we tried to agree on a plan to get the chairs and the timber. We went through different scenarios but eventually settled on collecting the chairs, driving back to Saugatuck, leaving them in the flower shop, where Kelli sometimes delivers for.

The store was closed for the day, so that would be very convenient. We would then load up the timber close to our allotted time, and drive it all back to the house, off-load it, then drive back to Saugatuck to collect the chairs from the flower shop.

It may appear long-winded, but it worked.

The timber was a combination of different size painted wood strips.

The material I was interested in was the four by twos of which there were a lot. I selected the best lengths that we could fit into, and on top of the truck.

Kelli picked through the thinner pieces selecting different coloured lengths.

Originally I was planning to build a structure in the garden so that Kelli could see over our next door neighbour’s fence to view the lake.

That was a better idea than her original one of cutting a large port hole in it, certainly less controversial.

There was also the plan to use the big stuff as the base structure for the patio decking, but at the moment how we use it is still open.

The chairs will require a good clean, and a polish, possibility some re-gluing, but what I’ve seen so far is they are in good nick.

Not content with driving all around the countryside, we then drove to Grandville so that Kelli could sell some of her old clothes at her favourite place Plato’s Closet

This, then becomes the reason why the postman keeps placing boxes outside our front door. Kelli is the ultimate Re-use, Re-sell, Recycle person, it it hadn’t already been a thing, she would have invented it.

6th March 2020

Dharma, one of the two “bitches” was acting a bit strange. Being the Alpha, her nose was into every opportunity for affection, even to the point of pushing Phoebe out of the way to get a pat on the head. It started last night when Kelli noticed how difficult it was for her to get on the spare bed.

By the morning she was not active at all, deciding to stay in her basket and resisting all calls to move around. Her appetite was fine but it was out of character for her to be so quiet. Kelli made a call to the vets surgery and arranged an appointment.

Loading both dogs into the truck we headed off.

The vet was an old guy, I thought he was the cleaner, because I usually expect them to be wearing white coats, however he was a kind chap. He asked to see Dharma move around outside including trying to get into the truck.

He believed she had hurt her back somehow and prescribed some anti-inflammatory tablets and advised her to take things easy.

So with a bottle of pills and a significant bill we headed home.

We dropped off the dogs, and then drove to have my hair cut.

It had got a bit long, because I couldn’t be bothered to get it done sooner. I had run out of excuses to get out of it, but it was a lot less painful than the dentist last week.

By the time we got home, the lady was waiting to collect the pair of side tables.

Then it was back to the garage to do a bit to pay for the vets bill.

5th March 2020

Plenty of things to do, there are chairs ready for collection, so a good week so far.

I was intending to start the priming on the new pedestals, and generally getting ahead on things.

We off-loaded the black dresser from last night, and assessed what needed to be done.

The piece looked to be spray painted which makes it difficult to strip. The damage to the corner of a drawer front was the worst thing wrong with it.

Our delivery from Imperfect Foods arrived which made Kelli excited, it’s like opening a present at Christmas, although you know what’s inside.

Kelli went off shopping, which means Aldi and Goodwill, when she returned, she announced that we had to take the chairs and meet someone in a car park on the north side of town. Carefully we loaded them into the back of the truck, placing padding in between. That is when the places that were missed became visible. Then it was a frantic effort to touch it up.

Whilst she was out Kelli found a small dresser at Goodwill but it didn’t have a top drawer. She didn’t buy it at the time because she wasn’t sure we could do with it, and besides we have three waiting in the garage.

Delivering the chairs gave her a second opportunity to think about it again. So with less than thirty minutes of opening time left we stopped off to get it.

4th March 2020

Kelli spent the whole day rubbing down and repainting the chairs, both of us hate painting them especially around the spindles.

I was busy repairing the new desk pedestals and re-joining the top together. I raked out the tongue and groove and applied new adhesive, satisfied I’d done a good job.

My mind was wandering, it was Stein night at New Holland, and I could taste the amber nectar even through the sawdust.

I went to start the Audi in preparation for being picked up, but the battery still didn’t have enough charge in it to start it, so out came the jump leads.

After a few turns, it spluttered into life, so I left it running on the driveway.

Midday came and went with no message from the guy that he was running late. Just as well, as I saw steam coming from under the bonnet.

Bloody typical, I remembered that the car used to overheat a bit, so now I had to contend with a car with no coolant.

About mid afternoon we gave up on the idea of the guy coming to pick the car up, so now it’s going to the scrap yard as soon as we get the log book.

The evening at New Holland was great, the beer was cool, but I was intrigued, where did all the liquid go? I would expect to be using the toilet all night.

Once we were home I attempted to make a cup of coffee in my buzzed state.

I boiled the kettle, but instead of putting the ground coffee in the French press I emptied it into my mug. I topped it up with hot water and almond milk, and looked forward to relaxing.

My first sip told me my mistake. With a mouth full of gritty coffee grounds I raced to the sink to spit it out. I have never made that mistake before, and hopefully won’t again.

3rd March 2020

The mid-century dresser was snapped up.

I needed cut back the top to remove a few dust spots then re-coat the top before the buyer turned up.

Fortunately it went well and the top was as smooth as a baby’s ass.

The lady turned up and loved the piece, so Kelli an I carried it out to her vehicle, which was a just a little bit small for it. This meant we had to remove the leg frame which was no problem. Safely loaded she left happy, we went back in the house extremely happy.

Kelli had finished painting the side tables, and then started on the upholstery for the dining chairs. “Where are the staples we bought on Saturday?” She inquired, having no idea, I proceeded to look around, not knowing what the box of staples looked like. I figured that if I looked hard enough I’m bound to find them.

“where did you last have them?” An obvious question, but one I felt was appropriate. Having established that she had no idea,

I tried to re-visit the scene of the crime. The stapler was found, staples were taken out of the box and loaded into the appliance, but where the box with the rest was still a mystery.

Kelli looked in all the obvious places but to no avail.

I felt I was on a road to nowhere, and resigned myself to going back to Menards and buying another box.

Whilst in the garage I happen to look in a box of crap that Kelli had left, and lo, and behold I saw the box lurking there.

I sneaked them into the kitchen and placed them on to the worktop, convinced that Kelli would see them, but still she didn’t. In the end I had to give a massive clue about them being right in front of her eyes before she saw them. There was a whoop of joy, and soon she was engulfed in a massive upholstery exercise.

The other event that was happening was trying to dispose of Greer’s old Audi. Kelli had seen a request for a cheap car on Craig’s list, and had responded. It had been sitting on our drive since she moved out, and it was about time something was decided on it.

We decided it needed to be started so that it could be driven. There was also a flat tyre. I had a foot pump that I used for inflating the bike tyres. It took nearly two thousand leg strokes to make any significant difference. My thigh muscle, in my left leg was as hard as rock, but my right was still flabby, so at the moment my walk is a bit strange.

The battery was totally flat, and needed the jump leads hooked up to the truck.

It took many attempts to get the car to catch, at times I thought it would never start, but surprisingly it did eventually.

Kelli drove it round the block a few times so it was encouraging that the car would be soon gone.

We heard that the guy would be over tomorrow at mid-day to collect it.

2nd March 2020

We had a person contact us on a recommendation from another customer. They wanted a pair of side table that we had just sold. Kelli advised her that we were working on another pair and invited her over to look at them. So I frantically painted one in a white primer to make it look better.

The lady came over and immediately fell in love with them, which was a good result. She loved the colour they will be, but wanted a light wood top. I need to try to sand off the stain to see how light it will go.

Having a customer lined up, it was full speed ahead to get it all painted, Kelli worked in the sunroom, whilst I furiously sanded the drawer fronts.

We brought the Mid Century dresser into the house, I coated the top again, and once dry, took photographs, then Kelli posted it on Marketplace.

1st March 2020

I had to walk to the corner store this morning. The temperature was in the mid fifties, and the sun was shining down. The pavements were crowded with walkers and joggers, this was the most crowded the street has been so far this year.

The lake was looking bright and ready for the onslaught of small crafts that will soon be navigating their way towards the big lake.

I collected some mushrooms, courgettes and a bottle of red wine from the shelves and walked slowly back.

I did a little work in the garage, nothing to raise any dust as I wanted to put a finish on the mid century dresser. I also took the green desk apart. This is solid oak, but the top had split into three pieces. Fortunately the glue had failed along the joint, so a bit of cleaning up and a re-glue and it will be whole again.

I had bought a can of tinted polyurethane to help disguise a mark in the top. I had learnt the trick from people on YouTube, and excited to try it for myself. I had to stand on a stool to get some height, this was not the safest platform, but as long as I didn’t get too animated with the spray can I should be fine.

Happily it went well, the colour differences were blended and, although the shallow dip was still visible if looked at against the sun, you had to look hard to notice it.

So with the top drying and the desk now separated into the two separate pedestals I stopped my work for the day.