Author: peterb51

30th September 2017

“We’ve sold more stuff at Farmgirl” Kelli shouted from the truck, “What is ready to go?”

It was good to squeeze in some last minute sales to boost the month’s takings.

I looked around the garage, not much was finished. I still had to stain the large dining table, make a top for the sewing machine table. Fido’s coffin was still in pieces awaiting some inspiration, and although the Apocalypse was nearly complete, it was not ready enough to see the light of day. I could complete the side pieces of a bed frame where I had to strip off the veneer, so that went to the top of the list.

Trying to build a stock of stuff has proved a complete disaster. No sooner do I bust a gut to finish something, it’s gone, and I haven’t even started on anything new yet.

Kelli picked up a simple bench, that needed a bit of glue to stiffen it up.

Had an invite to a new store in Zeeland, well actually Kelli had the invite, I just free-loaded, and tried to look cool and knowledgeable. The place is called The Porch, and has great upholstery and interior ideas.

Walking around the Zeeland streets, I felt that I should be singing hymns, dressed in black with the ladies in bonnets and clogs, adding “Thee” and “Thy” to every sentence.

I remember the first time I heard about Zeeland. I had just joined HM, and saw the name on a print, I tried to imagine what the place was like.

Now I have seen it, and like Holland, it had become part of my life.

29th September 2017

Up at the stroke of dawn, well that’s what it felt like, Larry and I set off in his smoke-filled Mercury for the parts store. I tried to hold my breath for as long as I could, but as my vision became blurred, I had to gasp for as much clean air as the small gap in the window would allow.

We arrived at an anonymous looking building called “Auto Value”. It was the kind of place I expected Larry to frequent. It had no frills, just a sign and a door. I was nervous, not knowing if they’d heard of credit cards yet alone use them. I was thinking of things I could trade, but the only thing of value in Larry’s car was his pack of cigarettes.

However my worries were unfounded, the place was fully stocked, and our order was on the counter waiting. There were two really helpful guys chatting, and pretty knowledgeable.

Now that we had the brake parts he could at least get that part of the job done, whilst we sorted out the shock absorbers issue.

I went back to my projects, removing old tops and laying up new wood.

Kelli was away, so Larry had to resort to shouting to me while I was working in garage. 

Larry is not used to shouting, as he then has to cough, and struggle to get his breath back.

He showed me that the driver-side disc was in good condition, and the pads were like new.

I can’t understand how anyone would only do half the job. So I had a spare disc to take back for a refund, hurray for me.

28th September 2017

“It’s the wrong part, it won’t fit” Larry said down the phone, although he lives within spitting distance, it seems the mobile phone is essential here.

The truck had been making a knocking noise from the back end when driving over the rough roads, so the diagnosis was the “shocks” were worn out. 

We found a set on e-bay, brand new in a box, and they arrived in a couple of days.

Larry, is the neighbourhood car fixer, and he agreed to do the work. He is a character, smokes like a chimney, but has a heart of gold. 

We dropped the truck off in his yard, and walked back across the road to the garage.

It was twenty minutes later that the call about the shock absorbers was received. We walked over, saw the problem, asked him to put back on the one he took off. We walked back to the garage. Ten minutes later another call, walked over. “The brake rotor is bad, and the pads are worn”.

“Okay Larry let’s replace them” I said, then walked back to the garage.

Ten minutes later another call. By now a path had been worn on the grass.

” The sway bars are badly worn” he demonstrated “Replace them Larry” I said, worn down by the experience, I walked back to the garage in a daze.

This is a typical scenario, start one job, and find ten others. 

As we investigated the problem with the incorrect shock absorbers, the vendor texted that we had ordered parts for a front wheel drive model, and not the four wheel drive model.

So now the process begins to replace the parts or re-coop our money.

Larry ordered the parts he needed to replace, so something was happening.

All this activity hampered progress on the furniture. The other thing that was hampering my progress was Kelli’s choice of music. She has set specific playlists on an internet music station. From the start of the day, to the end, she has the music of Justin Hayward. Every single piece music he ever worked on including the sounds from the womb! This is okay for a while, but having heard “Nights in white satin” at least ten times throughout the day it looses its appeal.

27th September 2017

So yes, it was noticeably colder, long sleeves and socks. Things on the agenda were two tops for the bedside cabinets, glue up side panels for the apocalypse unit that is progressing slowly, and to start on Fido’s coffin.

“What have you done to my cabinet?” Were the words uttered as the destruction was discovered.

I think I calmed the situation, by saying “trust me, it’s going to be unique” God! It better be, or it could be my coffin.

Kelli started the undercover operation to find out the name of our British neighbour.

She stopped the post lady delivering the mail, and asked her, she couldn’t remember either.

One of the chairs the we delivered to Lakeshore Marketplace suffered a breakage.

I hate it when something I have worked on breaks, although this was more about how the chair was made than what I had done to it.

We collected it, along with the broken piece, and I set about the repair.

Kelli started a closed group on Facebook to promote buyers and sellers of craft and repurposed furniture. It’s been interesting watching the number of people joining and posting stuff. Within the first forty eight hours over two hundred people had found it and joined.

26th September 2017

Four weeks gone, and still things to do.

There seems to be a problem with the garage door. Part of the stiffener attached to the door sheared off causing it to kink and jam. Mmm another thing to add to the list.

The big round dining table top has been sanded ready for the new stain.

This is supposed to be the last really hot day, and everybody is talking about it, in every household all the woollens are being aired.

Whilst I was working in the garage, a couple walking their dog asked me what I was doing. I started to tell them, “you’re English?” they interrupted, I realised they were English too. They had recently moved into the area from Canada where they lived, and worked for many years.

They introduced themselves as Mike and ?( I instantly forgot her name) desperate to remember, I was hoping she, or he would repeat it. My chance came when Kelli came out, and they introduced themselves again. We talked for about half an hour, and finally, as they explained where their house was, we parted. “Did you get her name?” I asked Kelli, “No, I can’t remember ”

Now we are on a quest to find out.

25th September 2017 

I am still having problems with Aviva, that bunch of assholes are still not giving me access to my funds, I will have to deal with them when I get back.

Today we took the big bastard to Painted Farmgirl, on course it meant moving all the stuff around AGAIN, but it looked pretty good.

I completed the stripping of the oak dining table, now the sanding starts.

24th September 2017

Walking along the water edge with my bare feet is heaven. My legs are still whiter than a frozen chicken, and I don’t care that they frighten the locals. This is maybe, one of the last hot days left before the temperature drops thirty degrees, and I have to start wearing long sleeves. The boats were also out in force spluttering from Macatawa into the big lake, then throttling up and disappearing in a cloud of spray. 

Life for me is amazing, I never know what day it is, I don’t wear a watch, I forget to shave, and I’m letting my hair grow, when I return to the UK I will look like Robinson Crusoe, the passport people will take one look at me and say, “Welcome to 1975”. 

I have the same desire to get started on a project that I did in the early days at HM. 

It is hard for me to take time off, usually a glass of wine (or two) distracts me. 

I often pass the Design Yard, and all the cars in car park and remembering all the fun times I’ve had there, but that was a long time ago, in a different lifetime.

23rd September 2017

Kelli and her daughter Greer, took me to the Farmgirl flea market, a large outdoor fairground location in Hudsonville. Boy was it hot! The place was filled with a collection of vintage furniture and mass produced tat, made out to be craft made, and authentic. The popular thing at the moment are prolific phrases written out on semi rustic boards and framed. The shear amount of them on display makes them boring and predictable, from bible to philosophers quotes, sites like Pinterest are full of them. They offend my eyes, I could accept them if they were original words thought up by the writer, not copied. We stood it for less than two hours, then headed back to shop for paint and stock-up on screws.

Once we got back, I started scratching on the dining table we picked up yesterday.

To me it’s like a good book, totally absorbing. I started at one point to check if the top was solid or veneered. One small patch quickly spread, I was away. 

I am sure all the problems of the world could be solved if all politicians had to scrape paint off table tops.

The top was solid oak, and painted with a gloss black. I was able to use a cabinet scraper to take some of the finish off, by the time I passed out through lack of food I had complete half the table.

22nd September 2017

We delivered the four chairs to Lakeshore first thing, and they looked great in the setting. The top part had a crackle effect breaking through that I wasn’t sure of, but Kelli was excited, so it was good I guess.

The temperature was in the late eighties all day making it difficult to work in the garage without a fan the size of the propeller from a Lancaster bomber. When that thing goes off all I want to do is hum the Dambusters March.
I completed the repairs to the twin pedestals and started work repairing the flaking veneers on the dresser sides.

Kelli finished painting the big red bastard, which now is a big linen bastard, but is now transformed. To celebrate, she bought me a bottle of beer appropriately named.

Another visit to Goodwill resulted in a large wooden dining table being squeezed into the truck. Named Goliath, it has the base the diameter of a small tree, but the weight of a large one. 

 The top has been painted black, but there is a crazy pattern around the circumstance, if the top can be stripped it will be amazing.

21st September 2017

Another glorious day. I cannot understand why the leaves are falling in a eighty degree heat.

Are they baked? Have they had enough of the sun?

Decided to clean the garage, after three weeks it started to look a bit like my home, so I needed to do a tidy-up. I found most of the tools I had lost, which was a bonus.

Took a trip to Goodwill and found three pieces that should keep us busy next week. One was an old desk where I will just use the two pedestals and turn them into bedside units. There were also a dresser and a small coffee table, nothing too complicated for me,

I started on Fido’s coffin by knocking of part of the front section. Even with those bits removed, it still weighed a ton. 

Whoever made this thing wanted it to withstand the mass band of the burger and beer consuming state of Michigan.

Kelli started to paint the chairs that we got a week ago. These have to go to Lakeshore Marketplace in the morning to complement a large round table, so doing some painting made a change.