Author: peterb51

13th July 2019

I needed to get on with building a cover for the extractor fan in the kitchen, so off to Menards we went to buy a sheet of ply.

As I was cutting the board Kelli showed me a text that she had received for the store informing us that we had sold our bedside tables and the large dresser, this was amazing and the end of a great week financially. We have some things to work on but yet again the pressure is on us to replace the pieces.

12th July 2019

We watched the bats flying in erratic motion above our heads as we sat in our garden chairs at the end of an interesting day.

The bats had their own things to do, like finding food, we enjoyed their spectacle.

We had just sold the mid century desk that we bought yesterday for six times what we paid for it. All it needed was a good clean, because it was perfect just the way it was. I give total credit to Kelli for deciding to buy it, I had seen it first, but not being sure, I showed it to her, immediately she saw its potential. It was on Marketplace Thursday evening, and there were three people on it by morning. Two of which knew each other, which was really funny when they both arrived in the same car.

I guess our business is similar to the lives of the bats, scratching around for something to keep us alive, and finding it. Now I must get back to more scratching.

I made a start on cutting up the rose bush branches and burning them on our fire, maybe creating the thermals that the bats were riding. Alternative they took advantage of the hordes of mosquitoes targeting my pure English blood.

11th July 2019

We got to the store early to collect the table, there wasn’t an issue about removing it, we loaded it up and headed off to Hamilton to meet up with the customer. We stopped off at Goodwill where we found a supper mid-century style desk for $20. From the stamp on the back it had been owned by Hope College.

I also had my eye on a dresser that had been there for over a week. It had a damaged foot and some veneer damage and they had $65 on it.

Whilst Kelli was checking out, the manager walked passed. They both knew each other because of the haggling discussions of the past. So there was the opportunity to ask what they would take for the dresser.

Kelli turned to me and asked what I would pay for it. I wanted to say 25 but instead said 30 not thinking they would accept such a low bid. To my surprise it was accepted, damn! more work to do.

We loaded the desk into the truck and headed off to Hamilton, we would return to pick up the dresser later.

After all the business transactions, we finally got home, and unloaded all the stuff we bought. Kelli had found on old wooden egg container where there appeared to be no way to open it up. Someone had gone to a lot of trouble to design and make a box to hold six eggs that you could not open.

I lost another five foot of hose today, at this rate I will have to connect the snake directly to the tap.

Being home owners we have to take much more pride in our property, and mostly we do with one exception. Around the far side, where the air-conditioner fan is located, Kelli noticed that grass was sprouting through the pebbles on the berm. So we decided that we should tidy this up.

We carried our plastic box and digging implements, and set about pulling out the grass strand by strand. It took a while but was quite satisfying.

The biggest eyesore however was a large rose bush that had been allowed to grow wildly. Personally I hate rose bushes, they stab and scratch indiscriminately, and it was on the list to remove eventually. As we were removing the grass and weeds the thorns from the bush left their mark.

This is when I decided to remove a few branches to give more access to the weeds behind. I removed a few more, then another, by the end, all that was left was a stump. I had cut it down completely. Kelli had left to start dinner, and was shocked when she returned. Now all I have to do is get rid of all the branches, I didn’t think that one through did I?

10th July 2019

The bookshop was busy, the holiday season had begun. People were buying three and four books at a time. I remember back in my childhood reading so many books whilst on holiday. That was because the weather was crap, and we were stuck in a caravan for two weeks. I think I read every Agatha Christie book I could get my hands on.

I lost a few more feet of the hose, as the bulge from yesterday finally let go, so yet again another repair.

Kelli sold a drop leaf coffee table on Marketplace, which meant collecting it from the store tomorrow and removing it covertly.

After the past experiences we have to look after our bottom line and sell in every opportunity we can.

9th July 2019

Over the last four days I have lost over twelve feet of hose pipe.

It was not intended to be that careless, moreover it was the result of using a hose that we inherited when we moved into the house.

As the house only had an outside tap at the front, in order to reach the back it needed a fifty foot long to reach. This did not present too much of a problem for generally watering activities, but on Saturday we bought a water misting attachment. It was bright green and looked like a striking rattlesnake. We were seduced into buying one when we visited a hardware store that had one outside.

We rushed home to try it. I unravelled the hose and connected the green snake at one end, and to the outside tap with the other. Turning the water on I rushed round to check everything was working as it should.

The snake was hissing water mist which was perfect in the heat of the afternoon. Satisfied I had done a good job I went back to the garage to work on a project.

About half an hour later, I looked out of the door and noticed there was no mist coming from the nozzles of the snake.

Instead there was a gusher spurting from the hose five feet away. The old hose had swelled up and burst. The lawn was a quagmire, so in a panic I ran to turn off the tap. The water soaked into the holes in my shoe soles as I walked back to investigate what had happened. I saw the split in the plastic, so I cut the hose intending to refit the adapter. Of course that would be too simple, and like always the fitting was a swaged type that couldn’t be refitted. This meant another trip to Menards to buy a more suitable adapter.

Once reconnected, the snake hissed again, until the same happened. Another piece of pipe was consigned to the bin, and a new connection was made, and everything was fine again. This time I reduced the pressure in the hose, but after a while I saw another bulge in the pipe, so it was only a matter of time before I had another failure. Miraculously it lasted the rest of the evening.

8th July 2019

I finished off the two bedside tables, and fitted under-shelf lighting in the kitchen.

We had learned that the first person on the bed could not handle the height, so the second in line snapped it up, as she had eleven foot ceilings.

This was great, something we got for free, did nothing to, and sold for a lot, it’s almost criminal. It’s like a cross between Steptoe and Son meets Del Boy, I love it.

We took the new stuff over to the store, then did the rounds of the Goodwill stores finding a couple of things.

We stopped off at the city hall to pick up the plans to the house.

Kelli had found out who the builder was, but wanted more information. We were given everything in the files, as they had just been scanned, they would have been destroyed, so we got them just in time.

In the evening the lady arrived to collect the bed, she didn’t have a large car, so like us it had to go on the roof rack, which meant straining my greens to lift it. I lashed it down with everything she had to stop it falling off. She had a sizeable journey to make to get back to her home, but I didn’t hear that she had problems.

Kelli had been suffering from an allergy attack that drained her. We should have been at the store today, but as she was sneezing all the time she had managed to change he day.

7th July 2019

I only had to go to Menards for a few items, but came back with many. On the way back Kelli’s super tuned peripheral vision went into overdrive. She managed to spot an ornate bed frame with canopy leaning up against a telegraph pole. This was between two parked cars. Her opportunity to see this must have been measured in milliseconds, of course there was no chance that I would see it even if I was looking in that direction all the time, it would have been just a blur to me.

She spun the truck around and went back to investigate. Sure enough, there was the bed frame, with the canopy bars and side pieces.

Those went straight in the back. The front and back parts would not fit in, and we had nothing to tie it to the roof rack. We had no option but to drive back with the bits we had, and drive back later with bungees and rope hoping that the rest was still there.

Luckily they were, so we lifted them on to the roof rack, tied it down and made our way back home.

We set it up in the garden and took some pictures and Kelli posted it on Marketplace, we’ve had good results when we had a bed frame similar, so here’s hoping it sells just as quick.

Well by the end of the evening there were several people fighting over it. This went on late into the night. They wanted the height, meaning I had put on my shoes, and go out into the dark garage to measure it.

We would have to wait until morning to see if it sold.

6th July 2019

I finished the hoop shelf unit, so we took it to our space. I managed to find a heavy duty hook to hang it on to the peg board. Now I am waiting to hear if it fell off and killed anyone.

The tell tale signs would be two rusty parallel track marks on the first victim. It would then roll out of the store, turning to the right, gaining speed as it heads for the intersection causing multiple pile ups. Someone would find the shelf at the side of the road, take it back to the store, and offer us less, because it had be used.

We had to deliver a dresser that had sold earlier in the week, which was fun to do in this blazing heat.

Next stop was Grandville, where Kelli dropped me at Starbucks for coffee and stirring stick collection, whilst she went off to shop.

We drove down to Saugatuck to a new restaurant called Guardian, that had a good selection of vegan food and home brewed beer. There are so many small breweries in the area, it’s a wonder there are enough alcoholics to go round.

We picked up a couple of low cabinets from a lady not far from where we had eaten, which was good as I was laden down with a couple of glasses of good ale, and couldn’t have given a toss.

5th July 2019

The holiday weekend continued, cable news were busy reporting the latest Trump false fact. In his speech he mentioned that during the war of independence, the American army were in complete command of the land, sea and air, and control of the “airports”. You cannot make this stuff up, he is either a comedian who cannot get the punchline right, or a complete dick.

We were both working on some new pieces in the garage, the large fan was blasting out cool air, and boy was that needed.

I worked on a repurpose project using two metal hoops that we bought last year, sitting in our store cupboard. I decided to make a shelf out of some old timber I had kept during the move.

I was reminded of the Great Interior Challenge we are currently watching, where the budding designers have a few days to transform someone’s room. it took me a day to make just one thing.

I had to make a fixture to true up the hoops, cut the joints for the wood bits, cut the shelf assembly to fit inside the hoops, drill the holes in the hoops, then fit the screws. I could have had a complete series all to myself entitled “Pete makes a shelf”.

4th July 2019

Well another day of celebration has arrived.

I had wanted to put rows of Union Jack flags down each side of the drive. There were plenty left from the wedding, but Kelli advised against it. I didn’t wanted the place “egg’d” so I just got on with things in the garage instead.

Larry came back over to say that he had bought some antifreeze and did a test drive. He said the radiator was fine with no leaks, but I feared there was something else. He went on to say that he feared the heater core was somehow damaged when the car overheated, and water was pouring into the passenger well.

That was the last thing I wanted to hear, so I went over to take a look. I’m not sure why, what did I know, did I have years of experience repairing Audi’s? Not at all. I scoured the Haynes manual hoping the job was a simple one. The book was not helpful at all.

I returned home to look on YouTube, and what I found were a series of videos on various different Audis, but all of them mentioned how difficult it was. Most of them started by stripping most of the car parts and piling them on the garage floor. I watched all of them, and went back to tell Larry what I had found.

“I don’t really want to get into that” he said, and I didn’t blame him.

We talked around a bit, and finally came to the most pragmatic solution. I told him to by-pass the heater with a piece of hose. This will allow Greer to drive it until it got cold, then she can decide what to do. To take it to a garage with end up with a bill of nearly a thousand dollars, so, it’s not really worth spending that sort of money on it.

I didn’t watch any of the Trump extravaganza on television, I spent more productive time collecting the dog poop.

We both walked to the edge of Lake Mac to watch the fireworks, everywhere seemed to be a mini war zone. As we walked away, a short piece of cardboard tube from a rocket landed in the road close to us, we hastened our pace.