Author: peterb51

15th June 2025

It was Father’s Day out here, a great opportunity for the children to celebrate the hard work and dedication that Fathers bring to the families.

I like the idea, I had a card and video from my grandchildren that made me emotional. For once all the troubles of the world melted away, and I experienced joy and calmness from two innocent boys.

It was a sunny day, the only thing I did was apply another coat of food safe finish to the top of the kitchen island.

Kelli was on the lookout for some herbs for the garden, she checked on line to see if local garden centre were open, and it said it was.

When we got there it wasn’t. There was a chain across the entrance with a notice stating that it was closed on Sundays. That was a bloody nuisance, we had the dogs in the back hoping to give them a change of environment, sniffing around all the plants and flowers. Instead we drove to a country park and followed the path through trees, smelling the pines and enjoying the peace. I’m never sure if the dogs appreciate the effort we make, but we imagine they do.

Later we took a bike ride up to Kelli’s mums for ice cream and I was given a jar of homemade roasted nuts as a Father’s Day gift, yum.

14th June 2025 

Well the doctor’s magic did not work as expected. Kelli was awake at 6.00am, and she was not very happy about it. 

It’s times like these when my scepticism takes over, but I have to hold my tongue, but is it the king’s new clothes syndrome?

Her road to recovery needs a faith in the treatment and her own desire to complete her journey. So for that reason I will support her choice, but I have to fight the urge to make comment.

The visit to Goodwill yesterday gave me an opportunity to think about something that recently dawned on me. 

People in the US have been up in arms about Trump’s tariffs and the possibility that prices will rise, and no doubt they will.

That is because Americans just buy shit, any old shit, they will buy, and China has built its country like a giant factory to produce all the shit that Americans want. What happened to it all? Well it goes to Goodwill. That place is full of stuff people no longer have a use for, or a place for.

I was looking at the household items, amongst them were lettuce cleaners, plastic tubs with a handle on top that you turn and rinse the leaves under the tap. I remember these being advertised on TV. They were a breakthrough products, every household must have one. These are for people that cannot run the lettuce leaf under the tap, instead they have to rummage in a cabinet for this apparatus, and who produces this item? It’s China.

Now getting back to my point, if the purchasing of all this junk stops, no one would be affected by any tariffs.

Just think how much money you would save?okay, what would you buy your mother for Christmas, or the bride a wedding present? I’m damn sure something more personal would be appreciated, even if it was more time spent together.

I think, we think that buying a bit of crap will make up for the lack of contact, that is why, when asked, what I would like as a gift, I say “something to eat or drink” 

That would then put me in a good mood to walk around Goodwill looking at all the shit.

It was a lovely sunny day, we had the dresser collected and we finished the kitchen island, I even went in the pool for the first time and caught the sun, it was nice and calming, listening to all the birds, probably tweeting to each other,

“ Hey guys, look at that white person turning red”.

13th June 2025

It was off to Zeeland for another appointment at Kelli’s doctor.

She had her notes from the last month, listing her sleep patterns and any other anomalies that have occurred.

There are often so many thoughts running through my head as he starts the examination.

He does the muscle resistance test where he establishes how much force he has to exert on Kelli’s arm. If he considers this weaker than it should be, he moves on to the next point in his checklist. This will be the eyes. He holds a finger into her eye-line and asks her to track the movement of his finger. Now I have seen this with my own eyes, he gets to a certain position, her eyes twitch, not massive, but significant.

This then leads him to a series of activities, including the infamous tuning fork. 

This is ment to strengthen the body’s frequency.

There are various places where the tuning fork is placed that match the acupuncture points. This is supposed to calm the body down.

He then checks the eye movement again, and usually the tracking is smooth.

The next issue was the sleep, in particular her waking at 6.00am every morning.

This is the part that gets me confused. 

The liver plays a very important part for every function, it’s involved in the digestive process, that also affects sleep patterns.

This then follows the acupuncture rules. He checked for tender areas above the stomach, of which Kelli reacts instantly. This then led him to her left foot, he applied pressure to several points, and then checked the stomach area to see if the pain is still present, it was not.

Now we have to see whether her internal clock has been reset.

I suppose my issue is, and it reminds me of my first car, that constantly had to be retuned for optimum performance, is our bodies like that?

Do we carry out out daily lives out of tune, and unaware of it. I struggle to understand that we are so delicate. 

We know that good quality food is essential for a healthy body and mind, but do we need regular tuning as well?

We did work in the garage as soon as we got back, I added a finish coat to the dresser top that is being collected tomorrow.

I also started on a baby changing unit that Kelli got at Goodwill during the week.

It is not a pretty sight, whoever owned it before did an awful job of painting it. Painting over hinges should be punished by a sound beating.

12th June 2025

I had a lot to cram in today, because I was meeting up with Lloyd for our afternoon beer.

The stained top I did for the dresser that is being collected on Saturday had swirl marks, caused by the power sander.

To sort this out I had to sand off the stain and then keep hand sanding until I removed all the marks.

 That was a real drag, I used up a lot of sand paper because the stain clogged it up, but with a lot of elbow grease I got that done. 

I applied a new coat of stain and set it out to dry.

I was also able to sand the top to the kitchen island, ready for oil, when it turns up.

The blackout curtain solution did work up to a point. Kelli did wake up at 6.00am but was able to sleep again, finally awakening at 8.30am.

There is room for improvement, I didn’t feel the curtains was as close to the window as it should, there was a halo of light around the sides and top, I feel the rail needs to be moved.

It was good seeing Lloyd again, we do talk like two angry old men (which of course we are). 

We covered the problems in California, why there is so much resistance to the immigration and customs enforcement agency trying to remove the criminals that had been let into the country. The whole situation is getting very dirty.

It has been reported that a few powerful rich people are funding the demonstrators to the tune of between six hundred to twelve hundred dollars each. There was video of trucks turning up and distributing banners and Mexican flags.

The whole situation over here is crazy, the plan to flood the country with new democratic voters has been foiled, but the task of finding the ten million illegal immigrates has only just begun.

11th June 2025

I have written frequently about Kelli’s sleeping problems that have been going on for several years now.

There have been issues getting to sleep, and awakening early, both of which has taken its toll on both of us.

I was always used to getting up early, so I have gotten used to it, but now that I don’t have too it’s getting to me.

We have tried to analyse what could be the causes, although Kelli is not so patient when testing our theories.

She had been taking an adrenal supplement twice a day that, on a bit of research, found to be too stimulating if taken close to bedtime.

That one was stopped, and a bit of improvement was noted. Next it was her sleeping position.

She has this routine of beating her pillows into shape, both for head support and noise reduction. 

The next test was to try a shaped pillow that could be filled to suit an individual’s choice.

This she has been running a couple of days, and so far there has not been any problem with pillow conditions.

The final part was to tackle the early morning awakening. 

We believe she senses the lightness in the room as the sun rises, even though there is a blind and light curtains, it lightens up at about six every morning.

Now we have fitted a blackout curtain to see if that will confuse her into sleeping longer.

We shall see on that one.

Work wise we finished a simple dresser, I have to do a bit more work to the top, so I hope it doesn’t sell too quickly.

10th June 2025

A bit chilly, just the weather for a bike ride.

Our journey would take us to the cemetery to check on the condition of the plants on Dave’s stone.

All this was after the guy came to collect his rocking chair. I had given it a good clean and a polish, so it was glowing, and looking like new.

I showed him the repaired areas, and he was happy with the result. 

After our ride it was back to work. Kelli wanted to paint another dresser, while I stained a number of surfaces, and painted doors for the kitchen island.

I was expecting a parcel in the mail from eBay, when we returned from our ride, I checked the box. Well it was there, but I couldn’t pull it out.

The dumbass postman had jammed the parcel  into the box. It must have been just as difficult for him to have got it in, and the only way that I could get it out was with a crowbar.

This was again not our regular chap, he would bring parcels up to the front door, so I guess I will be out there tomorrow to see if it the same guy, and maybe give him some friendly advice.

All the messing around made the mailbox loose, so I had to tighten up all the fixings for that.

9th June 2025

Monday bloody Monday, stuck in the groove, doing what we do on a Monday.

It always start with Kelli deciding what to wear, not as simple as it sounds. It’s a full production number, Danny La Rue had less costume changes. The first is usually hanging in the bathroom, a set of matching items carefully chosen, and ready to wear. 

Then there is the dress rehearsal, not quite right. Change one item, dress rehearsal number two, no still not right, change the second item, and so it goes on. All this time the rejects are piling up on the floor. We are getting close, she asks my opinion, totally ignores that, goes back and changes her look completely. Now I feel we are getting close to being able to go.

She has already laid out an outfit for me, I’m dressed in thirty seconds, are we ready to leave? 

There is the final look in the mirror, a reluctant shrug of the shoulders, and we’re away.

Ready for the fashion show at Natures Market, sorry, we have to return stuff at Goodwill.

Of course there is a quick check around the clothes rack whilst I look at any furniture, then my eyes scan the CD shelf for any sign of something I had heard of, no! The highlight of the rack was Little Jimmy and is gospel guitar, I bet that was a blast.

The highlight of the day was the arrival of Kelli’s new pillow. She had seen a shaped pillow on Amazon that she feels will solve all her sleep problems. Normally she has to kneed the life out of the one she had, and beat it into shape. It feels like I’m next to Rocky as he pounds the punchbag.

Now this will either be a miracle or it will be taken to UPS tomorrow.

I finished the repair to the rocking chair, and let the owner know, now awaiting collection.

8th June 2025

We finished filling the pool, I connected the filter, sorted out a leaking connector and it’s ready to go, unfortunately we didn’t get a chance to use it.

I had to apply a final coat of finish to the tall dresser that is being collected this evening.

Kelli was fussing over one knob that was different from the rest. It was the same size and colour, so I was in favour of letting it go, but not her. We drove over to Lowes first to see if they had the same style, but they didn’t, next was Menards. The result was the same, so plan B went into operation. She found eight that were on offer, that meant replacing all the knobs with the new ones.

The irony of the situation was that the buyer was a man, who I am reliably informed doesn’t give a hoot about knobs, he is more concerned if the drawers work properly.

That is exactly what happened, he checked all the drawers, every one of them, and the smoothness of the top, I’m sure he wouldn’t have noticed if there were bent nails to open the drawers. Still he bought it, was really happy with it, so we were happy too.

7th June 2025

We had our first bicycle ride of the summer, not a long one, a circular route, taking in all the colourful gardens looking for inspiration.

Then we threw ourselves into the furniture.

Kelli worked on the larger maple dresser of the matched pair. It was important to get it posted because the weekend is the time when eyes are on the new postings.

I started painting the kitchen island components.

It was a hot day, a good opportunity for my legs to get some colour. The paint was drying quickly, so I was working fast to get decent coverage.

Kelli also wanted the pool pulled out of hibernation. This will be the last time we do this. It has done a good job, but I think there are small leaks that are difficult to find.

The hardest job is getting the wrinkles out of the bottom of the pool. It gets worse as it fills with water. I was getting frustrated, I was trying to work the wrinkles round, but the weight of the water was making it difficult. There was no option but to pump some of the water out, and start again. Now I had to find the pump and a hose to connect to it.

Eventually I was able to remove quite a bit, making it much easier to flatten the floor out.

Now it was the time consuming time to fill it up.

Whilst that was going on, we took pictures of the two dressers. These are heavy pieces but they looked great, and you could see, and appreciate the grain.

They were posted, and within hours we had three people on it, so hopefully they will be collected tomorrow.

6th June 2025

Finally, finally we got to the range, the second time this year. It had been so long, I didn’t know which end to hold, and as for the accuracy, well it’s safe to say the bad guys got away.

It was a glorious day marred by another dodgy night.

Even I had trouble getting off to sleep, but for Kelli one hour can make the difference between a good or bad day. Even with her visit to her doctor, nothing that they could do made a blind bit of difference, “he is not a bloody miracle worker” I would like to say, but I do not know the answer. So if was amazing to be able to get her to the range at all.

When we returned home I went to work on the rocker fixing the loose slat and reattaching the broken moulding. I looked more closely at the chair itself, and it was evident that several repairs have been done, and not necessarily very well, but I do not want to get into that rabbit hole.

Good news on the early morning vehicle noise.

Firstly our next door neighbour has retired, so his truck won’t start up at six thirty.

Next, the loud jeep is not being used. It is languishing unmoved for several weeks now, the grass has started growing around it, not sure what’s going on there.

The other jeep that sets off just before seven is also not being used, another mystery.

The down side is their daughter has a problem with a blown exhaust that she has not fixed yet.

All in all it’s like a car park across the road, on a good day there is now seven cars over there.

Larry was carted off in an ambulance again this evening, either he had problems with his breathing or they were serving a good dinner at the hospital, but he returned a couple of hours later.