Author: peterb51

16th January 2026

Snow is back, the fine stuff, I think I was misguided in thinking that there wouldn’t be more, but it will continue all through February and there’s not a damn thing I can do about it.

We wanted to get some materials, and were prepared to fight our way through the blizzard, but we weren’t prepared with what happened to us.

We stopped at a thrift store, Kelli had it in her head to look of a vine wreath, don’t ask me why, so she was on this kind of mission.

There is always something in these places that is useful to us, this time it is dog clothes.

She found a few to add to the ones already taking over my space in the closet.

Now wanted to move on, climbing back into the truck Kelli tried to start it, nothing happened.

The lights came on but the engine failed to turn.

We sat a bit bemused, this has not happened before, fortunately she had roadside cover on her insurance, so a quick call to them to get a tow truck out.

In the meantime she had briefed the garage that does most of our repairs to prepare for the trucks arrival.

Matt was going to drive their mums car and come to pick us up.

After about fifteen minutes the tow truck arrived, I was the one designated to talk to the chap.

I explained the situation, I said my thoughts were the starter motor.

He checked the battery, that was fine, next he suggested knocking the starter motor with a hammer. This was something I was familiar with as having to do it myself many times in the past, you know British Layland.

I turned the key whist the mechanic tapped the starter with a hammer, lo and behold it did the trick, and it started.

I didn’t want to risk this happening again, my plan was to take the truck to the garage and get the starter replaced.

Kelli took Matt back, and she would drive to the garage to collect me.

As I was driving over, I decided to find an Autozone store and buy the part, this would save time for the repair.

They had one in stock, I snapped that one up and drove on to the garage.

Unbelievable they were able to start on it straight away, but they would call when it was ready.

I was picked up, and went home to the warmth. 

An hour later the call came that the repair was complete. 

Now I could collect the vehicle knowing that it would let us down. I was impressed that the last one had lasted over 261 thousand miles, how about that for reliability?

15th January 2026

This doesn’t feel like a new year, it’s still old and lifeless, nothing is alive yet, so why do we call it new? Winter is time for reflection, for planning, for rest, the new begins with growth and the dawning of light and warmth, but that’s not until Spring, now that is the new year.

We were expecting more snow today, the hatches were battened down, the fires were stoked, but nothing. The predicted storm missed us, sorry for the ones it hit, but we’re all right Jack.

The cold wind cut through us severing our comfort, even the slightest effort felt heavy and uninviting.

There was a feeble attempt at working in the garage, but when the door was opened, it was hard to remain enthusiastic.

I did set the saw up to trim some drawer parts that I repaired, and somewhere along the way I found myself thinking about some stands I had to make for speakers in my music room.

I had a plank of walnut, so my attention was drawn to that.

I enjoy the idea of just making something, no planning, no designing, making by instinct, total free form, and in ten minutes they were done, sanded, oiled and ready for their intended purpose.

Maybe I was inspired by Henry’s approach, no thinking, work by feel and thought, hands guided by unseen influences.

I was reminded by a discussion we had  yesterday about creating a fence to hide the boring house just beyond the edge of their woodland.

One thought was lots of figures forming a crowd, dense at the front and thinning out. Great idea, but might freak out the house owner.

Another idea, influences by Andrew Goldsworthy, was a meandering line of stacked branches that flowed between the trees it would add density, but also clean up the woodland itself, this would take a lot of work, but would look natural and quite beautiful.

Gosh! I’m sounding quite dreamy, must get a grip of myself, a good walk with the dogs would get my nose running, just what winter is all about.

Today is five weeks since we brought Winnie home, it’s been an interesting time, having a younger in the house reminds us that should never do it again.

14th January 2026

A man from the water company came to change the meter, I had no idea where the meter was housed, but the man said it would be in the crawl space.

I’m sure to most places that would be an easy place to get to, but for us it meant clearing out a closet. That happened to be mine, the floor was covered with clothes, my clothes. I had no idea I had that many, of course there was the spring, summer and autumn wear stashed away for the duration. 

After moving all that stuff the man could do his task.

Earlier I had called Henry to find out when I could visit him, we agreed that later today would be good for him. 

Driving back to his place was like old times, snow was lightly falling as I arrived at the entrance to his drive. I’m sure after a heavy fall of snow this road through the woods would be impossible to navigate, but Henry has said he likes the solitude.

I pulled up to his studio, there were large grey waves on the big lake, everything looked bleak and cold, but that mass of water was powerful.

Henry greeted me as I climbed the stairs, he was excited to show me the finished rooms with the furniture installed, and they did look good.

Then it was down to his studio, I called it the ideas factory, because that is what it looked like.

Certainly not an architectural masterpiece, and he liked the new name. He is into ceramics, and some of it looks amazing, but he seems to have lots of things on the go, for a man of his age of eighty, his mind and creativity are sharp and defined.

I certainly am not up to his intellectual level, but I’m fighting to keep up.

I like the man, I enjoy what he does even though I don’t understand everything, his mind is always working

He is heavily involved in the Art prize in Grand Rapids and had contributed to some wild a wacky exhibits,  one included stretching a cable between two high office blocks with several figures hanging from it, in the figures were cameras pointing down, these images were then relayed to a large screen, so people looking up became part of the artwork.

I know I could visit every week, he could open a drawer to another Pandora’s box of intrigue, I can’t wait.

13th January 2026

I had a surprised phone call from John the wood.

He has never called me before, other than returning a call, so I was intrigued.

I usually call him at 11.00 every Tuesday morning just to check if he is okay to work in his barn.

He just was checking that it was on for today, which I confirmed.

There were a couple of errands I had to do before I drove to Byron Center, first to deliver the dresser that we had just finished and then to collect a pair of side tables.

Once that was done I headed out.

I had a couple of jobs I wanted to complete, the first was to glue up the second side panel, and then start with the back panel.

I had joined two pieces together last week, and I needed to do it again to another piece.

John’s barn was remarkably tidy because all the pieces for the church project had finally gone.

I am still interested to see what the final thing looked like. John did say that the entire structure weighed close to a ton.

This allowed the pastor, who is wheelchair bound, to enter the structure at ground level and then be elevated to the preaching level.

There is alway a bit of pressure working with John, I generally talk to myself, thinking out loud, so he get confused thinking I am talking to him.

I do explain what I need us to do, and he duly follows my instructions. I think he’s coming round to using biscuits instead of dowels, after seeing how easy it is to clamp up.

We actually finished a bit early, I swept up the mess I’d made, and probably someone else’s mess as well, then I took him back home, another adventure over for the day.

12th January 2026

The relationship between Phoebe and Winnie is very strange. Phoebe was not dominant when Dharma, the boss, was alive, so we didn’t know how she would react to the new puppy.

Winnie is alway full of beans and maybe too energetic for an older dog. Sometimes there are moments of affection, then a fierce exchange as Phoebe gets annoyed. It’s not enough to draw blood, and strangely their tails are wagging.

We have moments of frustration especially when Winnie is hungry, she gets spikey, and bloody annoying. When that happens I have to get on my hands and knees and play with her. We have a basket of dog toys, many looking worse for wear. They all show injuries, and some have no stuffing by often the squeaker still works.

After twenty minutes of intense playing, both Winnie and myself are exhausted, she curls up in a ball and drift off to sleep, that is the best time.

The adults now have their chill time.

11th January 2026

It wasn’t my intention to be driving to Grand Rapids at 9.30 on a Sunday morning , but here I am.

Kelli had a bad night with little sleep because she didn’t have the correct supplement.

The store didn’t have her usual one last week, so she had to have an alternative, this obviously wasn’t good for her, hence the bad night.

Of course the stores in Holland are closed on a Sunday, the closest that were open was in GR.

I scraped the ice from the windscreen and as much as I could from the bonnet, and set off.

There wasn’t much on the roads and the surface was ice free, so I could manage a reasonable speed. I was on the clock as I was expecting Chris at 11.30 for a recording session.

I managed to find the store, and with the help of a store person found the correct supplement.

Then it was back the way I came.

The price of fuel in GR was averaging $2.75 which was $0.30 more expensive than Holland.

I managed to find a station selling petrol at $2.49, now being a tightass this was just what I wanted, even though it might have been mixed with deer piss, I was prepared to take the risk.

The rest of the drive was uneventful, I arrived back home at 11.32 but no Chris.

Not that I expected him to be on time, but when 12.30 came and went I had doubts he was coming. A phone call confirmed that, with a sick child, and domestic issues we decided that today wasn’t going to work. 

We went up to Kelli’s mums as usual for our ice cream treat, came back and took the girls for a walk.

Winnie is changing, she has put on some weight, I know I still have to carry her outside at some unearthly hour of the morning. We are still curious to know what she breed mix she is.

Kelli has been doing some research and found that she could have some Great Dane in her, I just hope it’s the small parts.

10th January 2026 

Well it’s back, the snow, you know the white stuff that had just gone away. It was pretty heavy, when I let the dogs out it was just starting. I then prepared breakfast, looked out again and everything was white. 

This was annoying because we wanted to take pictures of the latest dresser, but that meant I had to move all the other pieces outside and take pictures of the piece inside.

I waited until the snow stopped, I had covered everything with sheets, but in the short time I needed to take the pictures it started snowing again. Now all the covers were wet and I was worried that the pieces would be spoiled, but I was fortunate, they survived.

Now Kelli had said to me a while ago that there was a spot on a wall that she wanted touching up. We had run out of the original paint, but what remained she took to the local paint supplies and got some more matched.

At the time I did say that the chances of it matching were almost impossible, but she insisted. I was the designated painter, and got up on the ladder and did the job. 

When it dried, it stood out like the preverbal sore thumb, so guess who had to do the entire wall?

That was my afternoon job, taking down pictures, moving out the furniture,  cleaning the skirting boards, and removing the curtains and rails, it wasn’t a quick job.

Then everything had to be moved back, and then the brushes and roller had to be cleaned.

That is a horrible job, but there is no easy way, just lots of water.

It looks like the snow will continue tomorrow. The only consolation was it was the watery type and turned to slush very quickly, but that means ice tomorrow morning.

9th January 2026

There many things I don’t understand about what’s going on. I restrict my access to the mainstream media, but every so often something crops up that confirms what I have been thinking, and Kelli has been saying, and that we, as a population are continually being divided.

“ Oh he’s off again” I hear you say, but think about it, all of us have chosen sides without thinking about it. Political parties, football/rugby teams, even religion, but what started out as harmless competition has grown into fierce division.

The latest thing that everyone over here is talking about is the shooting of a lady in Minneapolis by a member of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency (ICE)

This agency has been very active in the state because of the massive fraud carried out by the Somalis , most of which have been  brought to the city as part of the sanctuary city movement.

The incident occurred when this lady was in her car and was blocking the road, in a passive protest, she was confronted by an officer of ICE, and after a exchange of words the lady was preparing to drive away. Unbeknown to her another officer stepped in front of her car as she was driving off, he fired one shot through the windscreen and another through the open driver side window, the cars then carried on and smashed into some parked cars.  The poor lady was dead.

There were multiple videos played on every available news outlets.

Now she may have been in the the wrong, but often when you drive off, the driver will look left to make sure the roar is clear, and not immediately see someone who had moved in front of her.

This in my opinion was unnecessary force by the officer, and this could easily applied to so many other situations involving the police.

The problem was Trump and his government condemned the lady as an urban terrorist, and the stated that the officer involved was hit by the vehicle and had to be taken to hospital, a total lie because video showed him walking away afterwards.

This has lit a fire, and the streets have been filled with protesters.

Is this another distraction? Did this happen, or was it staged? Did the ICE have to kill somebody to create a conflict, stir up more hatred ?

8th January 2026

It was back to the same house to collect the taller of the two dressers.

The house has so many rocks and boulders in the front garden I expected Fred Flintstone to live there.

This lady had saved us a bit of effort by bringing the drawers upstairs and setting them out  in the garage.

This was a small contribution to the expected effort I would need to exert to get the dresser carcass up to floor level.

I set about getting it into position at the bottom of the stairs with the aim of sliding it up on its side. There was little Kelli could do at that time except watch me struggling.

It took a lot of my energy to start the lifting process, inching it from one tread to the next.

As I neared the top, kelli sprang into action, she made an effort to grasp part of the leg. At this point she was sitting down, as she tried to get up, to get a better grip, she reached for the bannister. All this time I was holding the entire weight of the carcass, this was the critical part of the lift, my arms were shaking, my past life flashed before my eyes, and all I could think of, apart from lying dead at the bottom of the stairs was “Get a bloody move on”.

As she pulled herself up, the bracket broke, it was a casting, and it snapped like a carrot, a little embarrassing as the lady was watching.

“ Oh don’t worry about it “ she said.

Now I was still holding the weight of the world on my shoulders, Kelli was still apologising, I had gone past reliving my life, now I was looking down at two paint cans strategically placed to snap my neck, just in cast the carcass failed to do the job.

Just in time Kelli took the strain, and the dresser was now fully extracted from its dark resting place, now we just had to get it outside to the truck.

We finished to loading of the piece and the drawers and headed back.

Earlier I had unloaded the first dresser and inspected the drawer that had come apart.

I am often amazed that the strange lengths people go to repair something that gets broken.

One of the drawer sides was damaged and someone had driven a series of screws along its length, and that is what the drawer had run on.

In fact they used screws to hold most of the drawer together.

so that drawer will require a lot of repair.

Kelli managed to get a coat of paint on another dresser that we need to sell.

There is a lot of rain forecast over the next couple of days, that restricts what we can do, now that the garage is full again.

7th January 2026

I met up with Lloyd for breakfast at the Southside Inn. After the new year pleasantries, and a recap of things since the last time we met up, we started on our discussion subject, Did the holocaust actually happen. Needless to say we spent the hour going back and forth.

Lloyd is a stickler for the history as written, and not prepared to widen his horizons.

I challenge everything, so this leads to quite an active debate, but the end he is exhausted, I bet he goes home to have a rest on the sofa.

I, on the other hand had to deliver a dresser to an address in Hamilton.

It took about twenty minutes to get there, and what I found was a housing development straight out of the American Dream catalogue.

Everything was perfect, oversized houses set in woodland, with small lakes. The lane snaked uphill and down into valleys, with a speed limit of 15 mph I could appreciate the landscape.

I reversed up the driveway, and rang the doorbell, no answer. I rang again, still no answer, this time I consulted the message sent telling me that I should leave it in the porch. That meant I would have to manhandle it on my own.

Well I strained my greens, but I managed it.

Then I made my way back along the yellow brick road to reality.

My adventure didn’t end there. Kelly had found a matching set of dressers on the north side.

These were free, so what better incentive than that. Unfortunately they were in the basement, and were heavy. We could only manage one, some of the drawers need a bit of work, but that’s we expect.

We will go back again tomorrow to get the tall one.