Author: peterb51

23rd June 2019

It is supposed to be a day of rest, but not for us. The new space opens next Saturday so we had to work hard to get the things finished.

I had a number of tops to stain, but the weather was quite humid so things wouldn’t dry very quickly. Fortunately we had a collection of things ready that we can start to deliver tomorrow.

We took a bike ride down to point west to watch the sun set over the lake. The boats were going out, opening up the throttle, and bouncing on the waves, turning round and coming back. “ Pointless” I said out loud.

“You say that every time” says Kelli.

The lake was like a mill pond, and the water level is the highest I’ve seen. Even the wash from the boats returning is enough to cover the pier. But it is a wonderful sight seeing the big orange ball sink into the water, then it’s time to climb back on to the bikes and cycle home.

22nd June 2019

I try very hard to be humorous in most situations, mainly as a defence mechanism, but often to see how silly I can make situations tolerable.

Today we had to pick up a composter that I bought on Marketplace. We have decided that it is the best thing to do as we create a load of waste. I am amazed at the stuff we bag up and throw in the bin. As we were now home owners we should be more responsible, and lead by example. So we set off into the wilderness and arrived at this house set deep in the woods. As a side note, it wasn’t actually me who arranged the pick up, it was Kelli. I had messaged the person first but got no reply, so when she did it, a reply came through. “

The composter was outside the house as we pulled up. The lady emerged from the house at the same time. I said I was disappointed there was no compost in it, but ignoring my quip(as most people do), she said that she had pressure hosed it clean, so we loaded it up and headed off to our next port of call.

We found a couple of things at Goodwill, including a side table that looked like the finish had been applied with a knife.

We picked up some compost and furtilizer from Menards, and wasted no time in applying the stuff on the grass.

It took bloody ages to deposit the granules on just the front lawn. Up and down, side to side, diagonal to diagonal many times over, I started to doubt if anything was dropping out of the spreader, so I checked that, and everything was working as expected. At the end, the thought of doing the back lawn is daunting enough to allocate a whole day plus lunch and afternoon tea.

21st June 2019

We were back in Saugatuck for another day at the book store. It was hot and sunny, two of the worse things that can happen to Kelli whilst working inside.

I went to the coffee place and stood behind an old guy who wanted an orange juice.

“Unfortunately we’ve run out” said the girl behind the counter. This was met with a groan of disappointment, “but we can make some more if you want to wait a while”

The guy looked surprised, “ What do you mean? I don’t get it”. The girl repeated her answer.

“What, you’ll go and get another bottle?” he didn’t grasp the concept of taking a real orange and squeezing it. I was standing there ready to step forward and draw him a diagram.

Eventually he agreed, ordered the juice then sat down at a table to wait. I got my coffee and settled down to write my blog. When he received his juice, he stared at the contents as if he had asked for a turd in a glass. “It’s got stuff in it” he muttered to his companion “ It’s not what I’m used too”

I did refrain from repeating my episode with the weeds and shouting “ That’s what bloody real orange juice is like”

After our wedding we had an agreement that every time we heard “America” by Simon and Garfunkel (our outro song) we would stop what we we doing, and wherever we were, come together and dance. Most of the time we would’ve been at home, but today it played whilst we were in the store. I was just about to grab Kelli and swirl her around the floor when a damn customer interrupted us wanting to pay for a book, damn him. We managed to get in a couple of sways as the song died away.

After my “issue” with the lawn, and doing more research last night, I decided to make a rough measurement of both lawns so I could calculate the amount of fertiliser I needed.

I concluded that I would need two sacks for the front and three for the back. Considering how large the bags were, I could imaging the lawns would crunch underfoot.

19th June 2019

We needed to do the rounds of Goodwill to search for more things to work on. First on the list was the place closest to us. This was the one I used to pass everyday on route to the Design Yard, never did I think I would spend so much time there many years later.

Entering the place we were immediately hit with a couple of wooden garden seats that would be perfect for our back garden. Kelli couldn’t reach the “hold” sign fast enough.

The visit did result in a couple of good finds, so it was off to the next.

We had already been to this one a couple of times this week already, so expectations weren’t great.

There were a couple on massive entertainment centres in mock oak. With everyone changing to flat screens, these dinosaurs are difficult to use for anything other than multiple burials. We have converted a couple of them in the past (I have one at the moment that has been work in progress for a year or so) but they are tall, heavy and often slow to sell.

Kelli found some small items to sell on market place, including egg cups with lids and a rabbit motif set in to it. This led to a discussion of why a rabbit, and not a chicken. After all the design should be a clue to what’s under the lid. No one would expect rabbit eggs or worse, a poached bunny.

When we got back home I walked round the front and back garden swearing at the weeds. The lime I had put down had little effect on the moss, so I swore at that as well.

Kelli had picked up a cute side table and wanted to strip the top. She went at it with a sander exposing strips of bamboo wood, not the best examples, but we had to make the best of it. She rummaged around the paint cupboard and found several cans of spray paint which she proceeded to use on a spare piece of wood. She settled on a dark aqua green, giving the frame and top some serious coverage. When she had finished, the grass looked like a tribute to gay pride, but hopefully that will be cut off next time.

18th June 2019

I made a start on the “wood” desk top by sanding through the lumps. I was left with patches of MDF exposed that I sealed with polyurethane. The edging was solid, and the old finish came off easily. However our orbital sander decided to give up the ghost, which was a little inconvenient.

Kelli decided that it was sun bathing time so plonked herself down on the lounger and sizzled.

I started my lawn treatment project by filling my spreader with garden lime. Hopefully this will piss the moss off sufficiently to get the heck out of here. Most people in the area use professionals to treat their grass. They arrive with their trucks loaded with apparatus of all kinds. There was me rattling along with my spreader depositing a various array of lime particles. I had watched a number of YouTube videos on the subject, so many that Kelli’s eyes must have hurt from rolling so much.

Over the weeks I must have become an armchair expert on so many things. I do get side tracked so often, I start off on floor laying, this then leads to antique restoration, which then moves through guitar building to architectural model making. By the time I hit car restoration my phone dies.

The most annoying thing is watching part one of something, and there is no part two.

17th June 2019

When someone says “ it’s solid wood” I just don’t believe them. Most of the people we deal with haven’t a clue what that means. To them anything that has a woodgrain is real.

We have been caught out often, and even asking a direct question about the material, the answer is often “Wood”.

We agreed to upcycle two pieces of furniture for a recent customer. One was a bookcase, the other was a small desk. They wanted them finished in the same colours as the piece they bought from us previously. This meant the tops would be stripped, stained and finished to match. We gave them a price for doing that, and today was the day they delivered it to us.

The first thing I noticed was several blisters in the top, on closer inspection I found it to be a melamine panel that had water damage.

My enthusiasm waned a bit, as I was looking forward to getting stuck in to it. I explained the problem and we agreed to paint the top and stain the wood edge.

I finished stripping the small dresser. I have decided to call it Jacob as it has coats of many colours. There is brown over red over aqua over white. This will excite Kelli who likes old crusty objects, as well as the furniture, it’s one of the reasons we get on well together. She will love to distress the corners to show all the previous colours.

We had some good news, we got our money from the Painted Farmgirl owner. After weeks of anger, she actually came through which was a relief.

16th June 2019

We got up early to get the chairs ready for collection before receiving a text to say they would be picked up in the evening.

We had other things to collect from the Hudsonville area. I call these ” Kelli’s gold”, because most of them I wouldn’t give room in the rubbish bin, but mostly they turn out amazing.

Driving around gives me the opportunity to see places where other people live. Some are palatial, some are seedy, but the one thing in common is, they provide us with the raw materials to create our pieces.

We picked up a small dresser covered in thick paint, this will soon be able to breath and look great.

Today is Father’s Day, and Greer gave me a card. This does mean a lot to me as I have always thought of her as the daughter I never had. I have watched her grow up, and have worked with Kelli to give her some stability, our new home is just that.

The chairs were collected, and we gave them the broken ones, the ultimate recycling.

15th June 2019

We had arranged to pick up an old desk from a storage facility on the north side of Holland. There are many of these springing up all over the area especially for people to store all the junk they don’t have the courage to dispose of.

It is a sad place of up and over doors and padlocks. Walking round I noticed second locks added to indicated that the rents haven’t been received. Several people had decided to have sales of the contents. Some are such rubbish that we had put better stuff at the side of the road for free. After waiting for twenty minutes we lost patience and left, we had a pick up due, and didn’t want to be late. In messaging the desk person we learnt that she had forgotten about the arrangement, what a loser.

On the way home Kelli, and her super eyesight saw six chairs at the side of the road with a free sign attached. One quick U-turn and a drive across a pavement later we were loading them into the back. Once were were back I picked the best four, took a picture, and on to Facebook they went, and in a short time someone wanted to buy them.

This evening Kelli and I were invited to an exhibition of sculptures by Tom Newhouse at a gallery in Saugatuck. Tom has now retired from industrial design in favour of art, and his work is unique, and clever. It uses stretched fabric over wood or acrylic formers. The way the forms were cut and upholstered created fascinating shapes and patterns. As usual Tom’s excitement filled the room brighter than the lighting.

We ended the evening with dinner at Pereddies. During our meal Kelli sensed that something had happened that caused our server, Chris to run outside. When he returned he told us that someone had left without paying the bill. In situations like that he would have to cover the shortfall. Kelli knew all about that, having done the same kind of work herself. So before we left, she sneaked off to talk to the manager. He had assured her that things would be squared up, and thanked her for her concern. Not content with that, she left some money under her napkin for Chris to find later.

Kelli has such compassion for others, and she couldn’t leave knowing the server would be out of pocket. Those are rare traits in people today, and I love Kelli for that reason.

14th June 2019

Maybe I’m having a bad day, but I’m really questioning the purpose of what Kelli and I are trying to do. We lost a several hundred bucks when Painted Farmgirl closed suddenly with little chance of getting any of that back, and then we get people offering disgusting amounts for what we are posting on Marketplace. We feel obliged to accept these because we need to build up our cash reserves. I hate this, but it is quiet time for selling furniture, so we can’t even tell them to “piss off”.

Fortunately Kelli has built up a good name, and we often get repeat customers who value what we do, but there are not enough of those to soothe my anger.

The owner of Painted Farmgirl has already earned my “Rot in Hell” award, and by the end of this month there will be others, and I know things will improve, but it kicks a hole in my enthusiasm.

We had another day in Saugatuck, a welcomed break, and good cup of coffee to repair my fragile mood, then its back to finish the top of a table.

The day improved when we had offers for other furniture pieces that were closer to the prices we wanted, so we rushed to get those ready for tomorrow.

13th June 2019

“We’ll only be an hour” said Kelli listing out the timetable for the day. She had to return something she had bought in Granville, so that meant a mind numbing journey to the Mall. Why did I have to go? That is a question I asked myself, but included in the plan was a trip to Menards to purchase some walnut stain which I needed.

Now, the chances of the journey only taking an hour was impossible, Kelli cannot do anything in an hour, if she had a watch, it would only show twelve hours in a day, and although I had a list of things to do I went along for the ride anyway.

We had a person ready to pick up the dresser that we finished yesterday, so yay for that.

It often happens like that, either something gets snapped up immediately or it can languish on Marketplace for ever. Fortunately our average is pretty good, so long may it flourish.

I finally got round to fitting the tyre back on the truck. I had been putting it off as the bloody thing was so bloody heavy.

I spent the evening reading up on lawn care. I want to do something to improve the front garden, so yet another project to do.