Author: peterb51

6th May 2025

I needed to get down to some serious stuff today.

There was the rocking chair to paint, the other chair to stain, and I wanted to make a start on the two desk pedestals that will become side tables. The weather was fair, so I was able to set things outside to work. It was great, the birds were singing their little heads off, it was a perfect accompaniment whilst I was staining the chair. 

The pedestals were not in bad shape, but they came from a 30” deep desk, so there is a lot to work on.

It appears that loud Jeep man has finally got a job, I aware I heard him start up at five this morning, although Kelli didn’t hear him, I’m sure it will cause a lot of unrest in our household.

As it was, she wasn’t feeling it at all, waking up at six thirty, was not what she wanted to do. She has another couple of weeks before she goes to her doctor again. 

I continue to have my doubts regarding her treatment, I do try to be supportive, as a cure is often an equal split between the mind and the body, and there is positive things happening,  but is that the result of the supplements she is taking? I go back and forth on that one.

All this gets to me sometimes, and it frustrates the hell out of me.

I did get to the point where I had to stop what I was doing, my energy was low, but I remembered that a lady down on the lagoon had asks me to look at her dresser, saying that the drawers were not working properly. This was a good time to go and check it out.

She is a bit older than I, yes there is someone that is, and she has a little dog called Gus. The poor thing has a face that looks like it was hit with a cricket bat. She showed me the dresser and the problem with the drawers. She was concerned that there was nothing to stop the drawers being pulled straight out, but I did notice that the plastic guides at the back of the drawer box had broken, a common fault.

I explained the shortcomings of this design, but promised to return and fit new guides, at least it will make the drawer run better.

5th May2025

Back to the usual grind of Shopping, maybe I was not in the best frame of mind today.

Getting out of the wrong side of bed would best suit my mood.

A day when I just want to say out loud what a lot of dumb shits are out there.

I caught a glimpse of an article that J F K jr was going to ban climate geo engineering. Stratospheric aerosol injection and solar radiation management are also already happening, what dumb ass thought that was a good idea. “Let’s block out the sun” that’s the idea that dumb as a rock Bill Gates is behind.

Maybe it was that, that was sending me off in a bad mood.

However the sun was shining,( not masked at all) people were swarming over the tulip displays in the park. I don’t get turned on by tulips, but the city do a good job, and it brings money into the town.

We did a run to the UPS store, and then on to Plato’s.

To my delight there is a new cafe/ bookshop that has opened in the same block as Plato’s, so I gave that a go, I would rather support a local business than Starbucks any day.

I was pleasantly surprised, a lot of room for improvement, once I give them some good ideas. 

Only joking on that, I’m sure it will evolve.

Then it was back to the usual shopping routine.

4th May 2025

A couple of weeks ago I had a strange experience that I wasn’t sure if I should share, mainly because I didn’t know its significance, but it was strange, and Kelli didn’t quite believe it.

It must have started about ten years ago, I noticed an itch on my right arm. At the time the was a small patch of skin that was slightly darker than the surrounding area. I didn’t take much notice of it at the time, but in the coming weeks it looked like a small mole.

I have a few of them, but none of them itched like the one on my arm.

Over the years it didn’t get bigger or change shape. It sometimes turned white but then it would revert back to a darker colour.

I wasn’t concerned about it, I put it down to a change that I would have to live with.

So the point of this story, as I said at the start, two weeks ago, I rolled up my right sleeve and I noticed a brown roundish shape on the inside of my sleeve. I looked at it, and it felt like a bit of dried skin. I was puzzled, I then noticed that my mole had disappeared, it was no longer there. All that I had was an area of normal skin, my mole had dropped off.

I should have kept it, or at least showed it to Kelli, but I didn’t, I lost track of it, probably fell on the floor and got eaten by one of the dogs.

I have been curious ever since, I have never heard of a mole just falling off.

Recently I had a wild thought, but I’m not sure how to prove it.

When I returned from the UK at the end of March, after a week or so I was sick, I had a fever and felt like crap for about a week.

Out of desperation I went on a course of Ivermectin, highly publicised, by the main stream media, animal de-wormer. This had proved to be quite successful at treating Covid symptoms. I had a few that I had taken with me on my trip. So soon I began to feel better, and it was about this time my mole fell off, was this related?

There has been a lot of report about how this drug has been used to treat cancer patients.

I listened to an interview with Mel Gibson who told a story of several of his friends that had stage four cancers who took this drug as an alternative to chemotherapy. After several weeks al the cancers had disappeared.

There has been articles written that cancer acts like a parasite in the body, and drugs like Ivermectin attacks it, and eradicates it.

I will continue to follow this, but it seems like a bit of a coincidence.

There was some bad news in Central Bay, Wayne, an older guy down the road died last night. He had been suffering from COPD 

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. He had not been feeling fell for a few days, and drove himself to the hospital and didn’t make it through the night.

Although we didn’t know him that well I will miss him driving his big white truck down the road.

It leaves an empty feeling that he left his home that he would never see again, really sad.

We had to drive to the north side to collect a free dresser. It was another large bugger, and what Kelli didn’t tell me was we had to carry it up from a basement. Oh joy! We couldn’t expect any help from the owners because the husband had back surgery. I was a bit worried that I might need some after this.

With no injury, we loaded it into the truck and headed back, the garage is not full of furniture, and it’s freaking me out, I don’t know what to do first.

3rd May 2025

Kelli had arranged a couple of furniture purchases and pick ups in Zeeland and Hudsonville, so once I gave the front and rear lawns the first cut of the year, we set off.

It’s great to see leaves appearing on the trees, the grass, green and lush, and with the sun shining, it was like heaven.

The GPS took us out in the countryside with dirt roads and tall trees. We talked about what it must be like to live out here with no streetlights, because when it’s dark, it’s really dark.

Life would have to be all about planning ahead, buying your provisions in bulk, there is no popping down the road for milk.

These houses we passed were huge, set in acres  of grass, but miles from anywhere.

We drove up the driveway to the house at the end, and, it’s alway the case, it looks big and expensive,  but the piece of furniture is a piece of crap. Maybe it’s a case of all image and no substance behind.

So we loaded the piece into the truck and drove off to the next place.

The owners of this place were having a clear out.

There was crap all over the driveway, but the record cabinet that Kelli had bought was hidden behind even more crap. Fortunately it wasn’t a big piece, so we were able to stack it on top of the dresser.

We then drove back home avoiding the town, the tulip festival had begun and there was already evidence of the extra traffic descending into the town. No doubt the food venues are doing a roaring trade, flower watching is hungry stuff.

We gave the dogs a quick walk, the temperature had dropped a bit, and because of the cold April most of the flowers we have are not yet blooming, I’m hoping May will change that.

2nd May 2025

I had a two hour Skype conversation with my friend Martin, he continues to live with unbelievable pain and high doses of morphine and Tramadol. I am amazed that he can endure such discomfort and still remain conscious.

So a long conversation is draining, and tests my ability to offer advice and support.

I have mentioned before he believes that the National Health have “blackballed” him because of tests he endured at the National Hospital back in the early sixties. I have lost count of the number of specialists who have contradicted each other throughout Martin’s troubled life. At first I found it difficult to believe it, but since Covid, and all the misdiagnosis that occurred, I can quite believe it.

And that’s the point, do our doctors really know how to treat people?  Certainly over here the medical professionals are glorified salesmen of the pharmaceutical companies, dishing out medicines that mask the problems, and do not try to treat the cause. 

The truth is we are getting sicker, chronic illnesses are increasing, and in America the life expectancy is reducing.

I didn’t realise that all the vaccines we had as babies contain mercury. That is used to block the immune system to allow the live viruses to inhabit the body. Mercury is toxic, it’s effing poison and it goes straight to the brain. It’s no wonder that people now question giving these vaccines to babies.

As a growing child I always thought there was no one more dangerous than scientists, I think that I was right.

Well that rant is over, now the actual things that went on today.

The buffet was picked up this morning, a young chap and his mother came to look it over. He had just bought his first house and his mother bought it for him, a nice thing for her to do. 

Later we had to deliver the piece of crap dresser that we transformed into a usable piece was delivered to the north side, again this was for a daughter who needed new furniture for her room.

On the way back old eagle eyes spotted something at the side of the road. We drove past once then doubled back to pick it up. It looked like something that would work in a child’s bedroom, although I might have other plans.

1st May 2025

At last I was able to get the yard waste bin emptied. It weighed a ton because some of the contents had been in it for so long it had turned to coal. On top of that I packed as much as I could, even standing on the top of the heap to compact it down.

The refuse truck certainly shook when it lifted that little baby.

I was having another beer session with Lloyd, this was a week early because next week is the tulip festival, so there won’t be a vacant seat in any eating establishment.

When I returned, I was happy as usual, we had the lady who commissioned me to strip her chairs come and look at them to decide what finish she wanted. She was impressed with the results, and I also showed her my worn out fingers just for comic effect.

We learnt this evening that we had sold the buffet we got free this week. So tomorrow is going to be a busy day with a collection in the morning and a delivery in the afternoon.

30th April 2025

It was not a good night, Kelli awoke at about 4.30am and could get back to sleep. It was not good, this has a knock on effect for the rest of the day, so basically a shit time.

She talked to her doctor who advised to increase the number of Sunflax capsules from six to nine, well we shall see if that makes any difference.

The saga of the Hoover continues. It is nearly a week since I first made contact with the customer service, and supplied the additional information they required. I heard nothing until last night when I received an e-mail saying that they were suspending the ticket because they had not heard from me, I was bloody mad.

This morning I got straight on the phone to Hoover again. This time I spoke to a guy called Clint, yes an Indian guy with an American cowboy name.

I kept my composure as I explained my original problem with the battery. I asked Clint if my email, that I sent last week, had been received.

After a bit of screen searching, he confirmed that it had. I fired back at him about the other emails suspending the inquiry. He was confused, but asked if we could go through it again. I resent the video showing the flashing light on the charger. He then talked to the warranty department who wanted a copy of the original receipt which I couldn’t find. 

Bottom line was, I went back to Menards and got a copy of that receipt, so I sent that off. Now I wait for a response, and confirmation that I will receive a replacement battery.  To think, I replaced a Dyson and got an appliance that lasted five months.

We cleaned up the furniture piece we picked up yesterday, took some pictures and posted it.

We also finished the other piece of rubbish, that didn’t look too bad considering. That was posted, and sold in a couple of hours.

29th April 2025

I was having a lovely time scraping the second chair. There was sunshine, but with a breeze that had blown the stack of leaves I had ready to burn, across the front lawn. That didn’t make me very happy. There was also a large branch that had broken off one of our trees. I think this tree is on the way out, it seems to shed branches with any wind that is going about.

As I was scraping this young chap on a Segway sped into our driveway.

I immediately saw the signs of what was going to happen. He was either selling something or offering a service, it was the latter.

Although I will give him his due, he had listened to his teachers. He first showed interest in what I was doing, he recognised my accent, asked questions about that, so there was a friendly atmosphere. Eventually he got to the reason for his visit, BUGs!.

It just so happens that his company are working in the area and could offer a generous discount if I signed up to have the house treated. 

I made the excuse that my wife arranges all that kind of thing. Fortunately she had driven down to the post office, so I could say, without lying, that she was not at home. He kept the pitch going, talking about the quality of their services.

I dealt the next card in my pack of excuses, which was we already have a local man who normally does our bug control. This slowed him down a bit, but he fought back saying that a local man would not do a good job or use cheaper materials.

At this point he had fallen into my trap.

“Don’t you think that there is more at stake for a local man? He relies on reputation, to keep his customers.”

He went quiet, his brain searching for a suitable reply.

I then came in with the final thrust, “ I don’t know your company, you come round here, at this time of day, probably looking for old people who fall for your patter, and sign up just to get rid of you.

Sorry, but I’ll stick to my local man”

I was beginning to sweat a bit, after all I don’t usually get so worked up,  but something got to me.

He wished me a good day, got back on to his device and sped off up the road looking for another victim.

There is a constant stream of these young people offering window and roof replacements, grass and insect treatments, and they all come round when normal people are at work, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to work out their target market.

I hope they learn that there is an English man in the area who won’t take their crap, and will tell it to them.

I explained it all to Kelli when she returned, and that I saved her from having to deal with it.

Later she found a free piece of furniture in Zeeland that we set off to get. The house was out in the sticks, we had to go to the basement where there were various other pieces set out that had been posted. We originally came for two pieces but were unable to get both into the truck, so we passed on the larger piece.

With a bit of cleaning and a bit of touching up, we should be able to flip this quickly.

28th April 2025

It was a beautiful start to a warm day, there was a whiff of smoke in the air, and the birds in the holly bush were happy.

It was a change to have breakfast in the sunroom without the heater on, was this the start of the hot season?

There were the usual things on our list to do, and yes it included a visit to the UPS store.

I noticed that petrol was down to $2.86 a gallon in certain parts of Holland, and $ 3.39 on the north side, why the disparity? I have stopped trying to understand why the price fluctuates almost on a daily basis, it’s just another annoying features of American life.

We did our shopping, Kelli even found a sad looking plant in Aldi, that she just had to save. In reality there were over six in the same state, but buying all those was not on our priorities.

When she questioned the cashier she was told it was company policy not to water the plants, what!? What dumb rule is that?

I guess they rely on good people to feel pity on the poor plants,  and buy them out of guilt.

I’m still on my information embargo, and I feel good about it, I don’t hear the bickering, I don’t get tempted by any sensational news report, although I did catch something about a power outage in Spain, umm, maybe another “test” to keep the plebes in line.

I was able to work outside in shirt sleeves. I started on the second of the chairs, there were loose joints so I knocked it apart and started to strip off the finish. I thought that it was made from a decent timber, but it was soft and absorbed the original stain at different rates making it difficult to sand it back to clean wood.

So out of the two chairs neither one was made from anything decent which was a little disappointing.

27th April 2025

There was more yard work and more burning. The wheelbarrow was still smouldering, it resembled a burnt out Cybertruck.

I have been waiting from the local climate changers to come round and complain, but they didn’t, so I carried on.

I would just remind them that the forest fires in California have set back any carbon reduction targets for the next ten years, which just goes to show what a big con the whole thing is.

So I continued to reduce the piles of leaves and dead stuff quite significantly.

There are large areas in the back garden where the grass has died. It looks like a chemical has been spilled on it, if it was dog piss, I hope they never do it over me.

Gradually things are getting better, next there will be reseeding and replacing any plants that didn’t make it.

We took the dogs for a walk, and stopped to talk to Larry who was sitting on a chair on his porch.

He looked so different, and I didn’t know why. Kelli noticed it as well, so once we were back she looked on line and discovered that the treatment for his condition included steroids what are known to cause the face to swell, which was exactly what has happed to his face.

I was only thinking the other day that no firetrucks have turned up recently, but never say never.