Author: peterb51

25th February 2025

It was a beautiful springlike day, it was up in the top thirties and the snow was receding. It was a pleasant change to see the grass appearing again, although it looked sad and dejected.

It was a great day for shopping, I couldn’t wait.

Due to my forthcoming departure back to England, we could reduce some of the items we usually get, however it didn’t make much difference to the totals.

On the way back we stopped off at a local flower shop, Kelli was looking for a particular plant that she wanted for Valentines Day. Luckily for her they had just the one she wanted. It’s a succulent, the type of plant I dislike, they remind me of the plants that grannies have, mainly because they didn’t need much watering.

This specimen was quite small, and succulents are mostly inexpensive, so I was quite shocked when the assistant told me it was twenty nine dollars!!! That was extortionate for such a puny thing, thank god Valentine’s Day only come round once a year.

We managed to sell the nine drawer dresser to the people who bought the other one a couple of days ago, so there was the last minute rush to get that one ready.

We also finished the piece we pulled out of the dumpster bag a couple of weeks ago. It’s a solid piece, but we done expect to get much for that. 

There was also staining and priming stuff going on, I’m trying desperately to get things in a state for Kelli to finish whilst I’m away.

24th February Monday

I bloody hate technology! 

All I wanted to do was watch something on Paramount plus, not a lot to ask. I logged on to the particular network, found the series I wanted to watch, clicked on it, the circle of death appeared and just kept spinning.

There are then a number of steps I take to try to overcome the problem. I often unplug the television, not sure if that helps, but has on some occasions. Then I repeat the procedure again, the circle of death appears and continues to spin.

Consulting Google adds another layer of confusion, “ Delete the app and reinstall”, how do I do that? Go to Google again, and a load more advice, none of it makes any sense, and my anger starts to mount.

I check other options, they work fine, so is it just the program I have chosen. I tried a later series, that works, so let’s try again. 

The circle of death reappears, once that is on the screen none of the functions on the remote work other than the power off.

In the end we carried on watching something that I couldn’t get into, which is why we tried to watch something else.

I can’t see this is an improvement over the old terrestrial channels, they were always there however dull some of the programmes were.

But like sheep heading for the slaughter, we converted to digital and look where it has got us.

This should be a lesson for us all, if we are given a rosey picture why we should adopt a more advanced system, we are being conned, we all become victims of the spinning circle of death.

On a lighter note, we finished another dresser.

23rd February 2025

Incontinence is prevalent in the US. Well that’s what my conclusion is after walking around Goodwill this afternoon. Stacked on the shelves were packs of adult nappies. I have spotted the same packs on most of the Goodwill stores I have visited. There is always a good selection of walking frames and sticks, it good to know, I might need these items in the distant future.

Whilst we were there, we checked to see what furniture was available, well, there was nothing at all, it is certainly a lean time for stuff.

Back at the garage we finished painting a nine drawer dresser, bringing the drawers into the house to dry. On our journey out to return yet more Amazon items we picked up some drawer pulls from an address on the north side. 

There was the regular stop at Kelli’s mums for ice cream, yes it’s still bloody cold and we are having cold food indoors.

The temperature is set to rise during the week, hopefully some of the snow will disappear.

22nd February 2025

There was more drama on Central Bay Avenue, with another fire truck pulling up outside Larry’s house. There weren’t the usual sirens blaring which is why we nearly missed it. A little later the Ambulance turned up, again without the flashing lights. Now this could have meant he had kicked the bucket, but fortunately he hadn’t. After a while he emerged sitting up on a gurney and being loaded into the back of the Ambulance.

According to the neighbour across the road Larry had complained of having chest pains. 

He was in the hospital for a few hours, and later released. And so it goes on, it is now every other week that the emergency services turn up. He gets visits from helpers everyday, and it’s a sad sight to see. I’m sure, at some time his insurance cover will change, and that’s the fear for a lot of Americans living on social security, sure, he is sitting on a prime piece of land, large enough for three decent size houses, but when he is no longer around it will change everything. We are used to him riding on his mower cutting the grass, or collecting the leaves in autumn. The sounds that eminent from his barn when he is fixing cars will be a distant memory. The people that know him from his crazy days, are just as decrepit as he is, their vehicles have seen better days as I guess we all have, and he is younger than me.

21st February 2025

Another busy day in the garage. One dresser was completed and posted, another is well on the way, it’s going to be a busy weekend.

I made the mistake of thinking that stripping the top of another was going to be a doddle, how wrong I was.

Some of these budget pieces, mainly made from pine have a coated wood grain finish. These finishes have a base coat that is hard as granite.

I discovered this as I scraped away the two previous coats, but now I was committed.

It took me eight hours to remove this hard surface and get back to the raw pine. 

The top is also a fabrication of small pieces of pine glued together to form a base, then thin strips are bonded to those to make it look like a planked top.

After endless sanding to remove the white base coating, I felt that it was ready for a stain.

As I wiped the dark stain on the surface it became obvious that I hadn’t sanded it enough.

There were large areas where the stain hadn’t soaked into the surface.

So now I had to re sand the light areas, then re stain. That took me the rest of the day, but eventually I managed to to get an even stain.

Of course this weather plays havoc with my hands, they get so dry, even wearing gloves doesn’t seem to help much. I put cream on them every night but it still feels dry. Soon I won’t need sandpaper, I’ll just rub my hand over everything.

20th February 2025

There is a terrible wave of hatred blowing across America, and it’s worse than any viral pandemic.

I went on social media and what I heard shocked me more than ever. There are people urging others to kill the president, they are offering money and sexual favours to anyone that can do the job. 

This is going too far, the extreme left are being edged on by democrat politicians who are whipping up this hatred.

What I can’t understand is why?

Or should I say I think I have an opinion. 

It is Trump’s mandate from the American people to root out waste and corruption in all federal departments, and let Elon Musk loose to identify the wasteful spending and overstaffing in the government system.

This has identified billions of dollars of taxpayers money that has been mid-spent, now you would have thought that that would unite all tax payers, but no it hasn’t.

The US dept has reached 36.2 trillion dollars, If you were to take a breath every second of the day and night it would take you a million years to equal that number. That is a staggering amount of money.

What is behind all this unrest is all the backhanders that politicians have accrued, building their personal wealth that run in to millions, they are trying to hide this from the public, therefore creating distractions, and fuelling civil unrest.

I’m not a Trump fan as I have stated before, but I do agree with his policies of streamlining the government, improving the health of Americans and overhauling the education system.

Robert Kennedy Jr will be a key player in the improvement in agriculture, removing the dangerous pesticides and fertilisers that are destroying the soil. Controlling the pharmaceutical businesses, and stopping TV advertising. 

The truth about the Covid vaccine is starting to come out, finally.

There is so much to do, and so much information to absorb, but this would benefit everyone, it just makes sense, but so many just don’t want to listen.

19th February 2025 

Well it was back to the doctor, this time it was my appointment. Yes the timing was off, but thats what happens.

I had an issue with my left shoulder and neck, so he got started right away. Immediately he recognised places that were tight and started doing all kinds of manipulation. The session climaxed with the loudest crack of my neck I have ever experienced. I had to make sure that my head was not in a bucket on the floor. The doctor was smiling in victory, that was what he was trying for.

Now it is funny, that there is no apparent change, I don’t feel any different, I’m not sure that my joints are any more flexible than they were before I went in, I suppose I have to take his word on it. 

Can I reach that itch in the small of my back that I cannot reach without rubbing myself against a tree? I will find out.

As the appointment was early I was able to get stuck in on some jobs in the garage. One was cutting a top for the corner entertainment unit that I had laid up yesterday. I had a drawer to rebuild from the one we rescued from the dumpster bag, and repaired a damaged drawer side panel. All the usual stuff, just a lot of grunt work, trying to keep warm.

It was snowing again today, so more activity for the snow blower.

18th February 2025

There was the monthly visit to Kelli’s doctor, this was another positive result, but no reduction in her supplements. According to him, she need to clear any period for at least a year, so the stuff she is on is to balance her hormones and support her digestion and kidney functions, all of which takes a hit during this transition.       

After all that, we had to stop for fuel. There are so many garages that have fuel pumps that have a trigger lock, where you can set it and walk away. These are great because you don’t get fumes in your face, even though there is a rubber sealing shroud to reduce that.

The pump was trying to push more fuel into our tank than the it could cope with, so it kept shutting off. Therefore I had to stand with my finger on the trigger controlling the flow of fuel, in the freezing cold. They build these places in open areas where the wind whistles through, and it’s bloody unpleasant.

Once the feeling had returned to my fingers, we had to do our weekly shop.

17th February 2025

It certainly has been a great improvement now that the Jeep man no longer leaves at 5.30am.

The low frequency throb of his motor no longer wakes Kelli up, and for the most part, her sleep pattern has improved. The fact that he isn’t working has helped us, but at some stage some poor employer will hire him, and that may change the circumstances once again, but for now we are grateful.

The temperature is back in the teens all this week, so on went my fleece lined work trousers and my Nordic socks. 

We were in a unique position of have two customers picking up dressers later this afternoon.

One dresser we had sold without posting, so I took a picture of it before it was collected.

This hasn’t happened for a while, and now we have space to bring the two pieces that we acquire from Grand Haven yesterday.

The first responders turned up at Larry’s during the evening. We were alerted by the sirens and flashing lights of the Holland fire truck, followed a little later by the ambulance. Poor chap he is suffering with his breathing, so more hospital time ahead. His medical insurance certainly isn’t making any money from him, they might be ready to push the button.

16th February 2025

My embarrassment could not sink much lower.

I’ve alway maintained a level self control and high moral standards, some say I lost those the moment I came to America, but I maintain some dignity when it comes to how low I stoop.

We had to drive to Grand Haven to collect a dresser, the owners were downsizing and getting rid of things they didn’t need.

It was a pleasant drive along the lakeshore, although you could see it for all the damn houses that line the shore line. Anyway we found the house, the dresser had been left on the porch so we could see it as we arrived. It wasn’t anything special, a style we have done many times before. Out of the corner of my eye I caught sight of a dumpster bag full of junk and bags of rubbish. I didn’t say anything to Kelli just in case she didn’t see it. I should have known better. We carried the dresser, and loaded it into the back of the truck. Now, in this big bag was another furniture piece that would have had three drawers, but they were missing. Kelli pounced on the dumpster bag as if her life depended upon it. First she found one of the drawers, her excitement grew, then I was roped in to help extract the drawerless carcass. I felt that the eyes of the entire neighbourhood were looking at me. I had no disguise, I was exposed, Pete was pulling something from someone’s rubbish pile.

In removing the carcass it expose another drawer, and one that was in pieces. I quickly loaded all the parts into the truck. Meanwhile Kelli continued to explore the contents  more thoroughly. I heard a lot of scraping and grunting as she found a tall black lantern with a bunch of Christmas lights inside, that found its way into the back of the truck. I was keen to get away, I’m sure if she was on her own she would have done a forensic clean of everything.

However she was pleased that she had saved a piece of furniture from certain death, and gave us another project in the meantime.

To celebrate, we stopped off at a small restaurant next to pigeon lake, a delightful little place that we might adopt as our place to go for special occasions.

When we left there was a sprinkling of snow falling, damn!, will this stuff ever stop?