Author: peterb51

13th December 2018

Another trip to Hudsonville to take the table and chairs and to bring back a maple dresser that hasn’t sold. This was one I worked on back in September, lovingly stripping back the varnish and re-finishing the top. Kelli thinks people prefer dark tops, so all my hard work will go down the toilet, again.

My run of breakage continues. I was removing a string of lights that had died, and managed to dislodge a small white jug that fell and smashed in two pieces. I quickly looked around, Kelli was out the back, so for a few seconds I was thinking what to do about it. Suicide was out of the question, it was only a jug, just then Kelli came back, she already knew what happened. I swear she has super hearing, tuned to the sound of things breaking, however, not quick enough to catch thing before they hit the ground.

My average is not good, two visits, two breakages, can I keep it up?

We set out the table and chairs in such a way to allow good access through the area. Kelli was a little concerned, if there was sufficient space for a “Michigan lady”. My understanding is a Michigan lady looks like she has two children hidden inside her coat, and her leggings are at maximum stretch.

12th December 2018

The garage was a little colder today, but I worked on the two side tables. There was not the backlog that I imagined, I repaired a broken rail of a chair, and I continued to scrape the top of a dresser that we picked up a couple of days ago.

As I removed the paint from the top I came across large areas of filler, so all in all a piece of shit that we paid good money for. This is the challenge, how to turn it into a cool piece of furniture.

Kelli picked up a gate leg table that would go with a couple of chairs we already had, just a lick of paint on the legs.

Trump continues to make a fool of himself and the rest of America. He is intent on scaring his gullible followers by implying that dangerous diseases are being carried across the Mexican boarder.

11th December 2018

Today was working with Dave day, starting with breakfast at “Jackie’s Place”. In my previous posts I had likened “Bob Evans” as heavens waiting room, but Jackie’s is more extreme. It is the only restaurant with its own mortuary, and a defibrillator on every table.

Most of the patrons looked like they moved on and were tackling their breakfast with a straw.

I was helping Dave with a project to reduce the heights of a kitchen cabinet by three inches.

He gets all sorts of jobs given to him, and often it takes him an age to get them done. He has been working on replacing a wood stock for a rifle for such a long time, he had time to plant the tree and wait for it to grow so he could use it.

The cabinet had to be finished before this Christmas, so I lent a hand. We worked hard for several hours, taking no breaks, but it was done in record time, the partnership of Butt and Bulthouse was unstoppable.

10th December 2018

Drove to Hudsonville to re-arrange the space. Kelli is vendor of the week, so has the pleasure of offering 15% off all items. There had been a sale of a piece on the wall, and Kelli did not like to leave a space bare for any length of time.

I was eager to please by moving a clock from one wall to another, and I managed to dislodge a glass jar from a shelf that didn’t bounce on the stone floor. Oops! That’s six dollars that we won’t get back.

We have agreed to start our yoga sessions up again. These proved successful in helping with my painful knee problem last year. With all the weeks of renovation work I had done on the cottage, I had stiffened up, and I thought working through the various positions, the stretches would help. Oh how wrong I was.

There is a tendency to expel unwanted gas during the more strenuous positions, and it is very hard to disguise. The best you could hope for is a subtle “phoot”that few would notice, the worst is a trumpet solo, that everyone in the neighbourhood would hear, mine was more the latter. It was a little embarrassing, no, it was really, bloody embarrassing.

9th December 2018

It was the usual Sunday lunch around the family Bulthouse residence. Georgia, Kelli’s mother has pulled out the seasonal plates with Christmas trees on them. Kelli had prepared a potato and onion dish with a green salad. This was in great demand with everyone, so I had to made sure I grabbed as much as possible before the others got their forks into it.

Dave had purchased a used high back leather Equa to replace an aged Ergon that creaked like an old schooner, but he was not happy with it. The arms could not be raised, so I guess I will have to help strip down the old Ergon and somehow de-creak it.

It was fun taking the dogs out for a walk, it was cold, but with a warm coat and gloves, and a promise of hot coffee means that I would travel to the ends of the earth and back.

8th December 2018

Today was Greer’s twenty first birthday so as a treat we went to the Saugatuck Brewery for dinner.

Greer was served her first drink, and we gave her presents to open. We talked about the first time I met her when she was a baby. Whenever I went to visit, Greer used to hide from me, so the only sight of her I saw were the twitching curtains.

There was music, courtesy of a guy and a girl who successfully murdered every song they played. The only thing that was remotely in tune was the feebly clapping at the end of each song, or that the audience were really glad the song was finished.

Now I shouldn’t be so judgmental, as I would not have the guts to perform myself, but I do have standards, and if that means I have to endure indigestion bolting my food before they attempt another musical massacre, then maybe I can be.

On the other side of the coin we went to see Cameron play the drums for a local band Jake Calmink & further closer, (phew! What a mouthful) Despite the strange name, they are musically talented. It was at the Park Theatre in downtown Holland, a place so decrepit only the beer fumes and music was holding it together. It was a fun night, and it included Greer being called up on stage and everybody sang Happy Birthday to her.

7th December 2018

The cold air hit me like a punch to the chest. It was below zero, but we had to go out to get some gifts for Greer’s birthday. Kelli took me to a couple of the stores that I wouldn’t necessarily be seen dead in, but heck,it was my first day, so I gritted my teeth and got on with it.

We stopped off at the Party Store to look for a birthday badge. This store is a place of utter tat, it is so full of plastic that it it caught fire it would melt. We found a badge with flashing lights, we did have to try some to ensure they worked, quality product?

Snow flurries were all around as I pumped fuel into the trusty Toyota hurrying back to the warmth inside.

It has been the first day back, and I haven’t seen inside the garage yet, what is wrong with me? That is usually the first thing I do to get a feel for the jobs ahead. Kelli wanted me to have the first weekend off to acclimate myself to the coldness, ah, but I’m a man, and can take it.

I heard tonight the The Tin Roof is closing before Christmas. Kelli had good sales there at the beginning, but we left in the summer when they fell away. This will be a big loss for Holland, and the vendors who relied on it to make a living. This illustrates the value of marketing, or lack of it. The owners of Tin Roof did not grasp this, and thought that the individual vendor’s social media would sustain it, so they could just put the sales commissions in their pocket. I was always impressed with the store, it was clean, modern and light, it was not the usual ramshackle place that many similar stores are.

There is no magic formula to this business, no consistency, Kelli works her ass off posting things everywhere she can. We are at the mercy of our customers whims, desires, and at the end of it, what they are prepared to pay.

6th December 2018

I was ready to see my wife again. Funny, I never thought I would use that word again, but things change, and I changed, being married made me “belong” again.

Damian took me to the airport again, but this time it wasn’t an early start, a little more sensible time.

Terminal three was buzzing, the silver Christmas trees were the most un-Christmassy, looking more like silver cones, or Madonna’s bra.

There was a poster announcing “Our Master chef’s Christmas special” which looked like a sausage sandwich. All those years of training to aspire to making a sausage sandwich.

The flight was good, not full, so space to breathe.

I had a red wine with my lunch that was almost a beaker full, that was a serious amount.

I breezed through the customs and immigration, and my bag was one of the first to sail down the conveyor, always a good sign.

At terminal 3 the queues were enormous.

I walked down to the far end of the terminal to a smaller gate where the shortest, thinnest and unintelligible lady was guarding the entrance. The sound she made was a squeal sounding neither human or animal, it wasn’t just me, an eight foot tall local couldn’t see her, and almost trampled her.

A quick walk to the gate to catch the connection to Grand Rapids.

I was sitting next to a lady who had a copy of Michelle Obama’s book on her lap. I asked her what she thought of it. This started a fascinating conversation ranging from the political situation in America, to Brexit, to the royal family. Sometimes people don’t want to engage in conversation on planes, but she was a willing participant.

Kelli was waiting at the arrival gate, and what a wonderful sight it was to see her. I saw her beaming smile lighting the gloom of the hall.

We headed to the New Holland brewery for our customary dinner. The long day didn’t matter, I was home, and Kelli was there with me.

5th December 2018

An early dental appointment got me into Bath, a couple of x-rays and a bit of prodding and I was done for another six months. A bit more shopping then I was back to do a couple of small jobs in the cottage.

I went round the bathroom with a cloth and cleaner, I was a proper Mrs Mop.

I moved a lot of things out of the shed and stored them in the front room. I sorted out my old clothes into three separate bags that Nicola plans to take to the clothes bank. I stacked up boxes of books that need to be culled by 75% when I return.

A bit of a tidy up downstairs, I didn’t want the place to look like it had been ransacked, even though apart from Nicola and Ryan,I didn’t expect any other visitors to see it.

When all that was done it was time to close up the case and set off down to Damian’s.

4th December 2018

This was my last work day, my task was to paint the ceiling. The time was rapidly running out, I had Christmas presents to buy, and packing to do.

I carefully selected the food I would need to keep me till tomorrow, and devoured the rest.

After the first coat, I drove to Trowbridge (the pits) to bug some gifts, then back to do a second coat.

The repairs that I had done were okay, but it highlighted other places that I could have made better, so I added them to my snagging list.

Kelli was keeping me up to date with how things were selling. The November sales were down quite a bit compared to the same period last year, but she did an amazing job of selling stuff on Facebook. We are both excited at seeing each other again, although apart for a month it seemed an extra long time.