Author: peterb51

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.

5th June 2025

It was a beautiful day, I felt energised, even though it wasn’t a particularly good night. I could wait to get to the garage and start working.

I had some work to do on my project, and I wanted to make a start of gluing the top back together. 

I pulled all the components of the kitchen island we got from the house clearance and gave them all a good clean with a degreaser. Now they are ready to paint.

 I was buzzing, three projects were all in process together.

Kelli went to her doctor, because of her sleep problems, leaving me to use this time to the best advantage.

She even came back with a furniture piece that she found at the Goodwill in Zeeland.

I was listening to podcasts and music and I was getting things done.

I didn’t even hear the city vehicles emptying the bins.

Once Kelli joined me in the garage, she started applying a finish to one of the maple dressers.

I had sanded off the factory applied toner that hides some of the individual characteristics of the timber, now there is a truer representation of maple, and it looks good.

I want to make June a bumper month in terms of sales, we shall see if that happens.

4th June 2025

The sander was in full force today, I was determined to strip and sand the larger of the matching dressers, Kelli was busy planting the things we got yesterday.

The rain forecasted for today didn’t materialise, but it was cloudy, and grim.

I worked diligently until the task was completed, then blew the dust out of my nose, they both now look good and ready for the finishing coats.

However I was drawn to the wild garden, noticing all the grass that had sprung up.

I thought, “ I’ll just pull a few of these out” and so I did. I concentrated on a small area pulling the grass out one piece at a time. When you get the root you can actually see how they connect to other shoots in different areas of the patch. There is huge satisfaction when all the trailing roots all come out together.

So out it came, I managed to clear a complete corner, take that you green bastards!

I continued on my attack, making big gains clearing vast areas, creating a large pile of grass on the road edge. At that point I turned around, and the grass was still prevalent, it was like the damn stuff was growing behind me, whilst I was removing the stuff in front, talk about depressing.

I resigned myself to making a small dent in a very large panel.

Oh, Kelli took steps to lower the threat posed by these guys trying to get us to sign up for their de-bugging services. She erected a sign that said “No solicitation” and planted it into the ground for all to see, slowly we are becoming a no-go zone.

As tomorrow is bin day, I was taking out the yard waste bin, my attention was drawn to another patch of grass, I couldn’t leave that could I?

2nd June 2025

We had a buyer for the second dresser, which means there is a frantic rush to get it ready.

I had replaced the wooden guides on the carcass and on the underside of the drawers.

But there was a bit of rocking on the drawers themselves. I first thought that I could reduce the height of the guides on the carcass, but on checking there would be a problem with the plastic moulding at the back of the drawers themselves that actually stops the drawer from tipping when it is fully extended. So the only option was to add a pad each side of the drawer which was exactly the thickness of some plywood I had, that worked perfectly.

Kelli had some returns at UPS and a quick stop at Jonkers to get a few plants and we were back in time for the buyer to collect the dresser.

Oh dear, I’m sure to get into trouble with this.

A truck turned up and a young lady jumped out, he face and arms covered in tattoos, I’m used to seeing the arms and legs covered but not the face. She was nice and friendly, and thrust the money into my hand without even checking the drawers. Her “friend” I was not sure if it was male or female, but whatever, they were strong.

When we got furniture from the house clearance there was a kitchen island that I grabbed, it wasn’t a great piece but it was solid wood, but the top had bowed at least an inch. As soon as I got it back I disassembled it, so I could store it, and work on it in between other jobs. I decided to tackle the top. The only answer I could come up with was to cut it in several strips, flatten it through the planer and the square the edges on the joiner, then I would reglue it, making sure of the end grain direction, and hope that it remained flat, as belt and bracers I plan to add two braces on the underside, yes there is always plenty to do.

The wild turkeys are out and about, the large mail stood outside the house, no doubt checking on his two “ bitches” nibbling or the seeds in our wild area.

2nd June 2025

We finally got someone interested in the long dresser, Kelli arranged a time, but we needed to do a few last minute adjustments before it was collected. We also had to do our shopping which added a bit of pressure as per usual.

I had to reaffix a guide to the bottom of a drawer and add a new plastic piece, that was a quick job, but the painted top needed a protected coating to make it more durable. This was an easy job, or so I thought. 

I added a clearcoat solution to a small amount of colour and screwed the bottle to the sprayer.

Then I started to apply the coating. Almost immediately bit started to fly out on to the surface. I cursed, that was all I needed, was it dust from the back cloth?. I had to wait for that coat to dry before I could remove the crap. I tried again, the same happened, now I was convinced that it was coming from the sprayer itself. My only option was to throughly clean the spray head. Once that was done, the top was dry, I removed the particles once again, and applied the coating once again. It still came out with bits in, by now I was really pissed off. After discussing it with Kelli we agreed to ditch was was in the sprayer, clean out the bottle, and clean the thing, removing any residue that might have built up from previous paints.

I filtered new colour and clearcoat into the bottle and reassembled everything, it was now or never.

It was Kelli’s turn to do the spraying, I could tell that the finish was flowing better, no bits, the surface was flawless. I breathed a huge sigh of relief, now it was ready for collection, well not quite.

There was a piece of the base on the side missing, I had noticed it when we collected it and then forgot about it. Kelli reminded me that it should be done, this meant turning it on to its side, and that’s when we noticed all the areas that was missed the the carcass was painted.

I did the repair and the painting, now it was finally finished, ah not quite.

Kelli was still not happy with the top, and wanted to give it another coat.

“Do you want to risk it?” She decided that he risk was worth it, so off she went, fortunately it went well,  now she was happy with it.

The chap came to collect it, and was happy with everything, I helped him load it and off he went a happy man, and I was a relieved one.

1st June 2025

We were due to have a re-run of the Memorial Day dinner, but, that didn’t happen because Kelli had a bad night, why? We don’t bloody know.

There is no consistency, she just wakes up early and can’t get back to sleep.

I was looking forward to Matt’s macaroni and cheese, but yet again it was snatched away.

We worked hard not to let it descend into chaos, it was a sunny day so we focused on the garden. We moved a couple of small trees to the front garden, and I continued to pull unwanted grass from the beds.

The main task of the day was to spray our fruit tree with something to protect them from crawlies and unwanted pests. The liquid does not contain anything nasty, so I was up a ladder giving everything a good coverage. However there was a slight breeze that carried some of the spray away, often over me, so I’m proud to say I am now 100% organic.

31st May 2025

“Let’s do something completely different “ she said. Intrigued, I requested more information.

Well it turned out we had to retake the pictures that we took a day ago, but as separate shots. 

That was because there wasn’t the flood of inquiries that Kelli was expecting. I know it hadn’t been posted long, but she didn’t get the vibe that many were looking for a set. 

So we dragged them both outside and did the shoot. Now they have been reposted and we will wait to see if that was the right decision.

The next different things was to drive to Grand Rapids to help Greer to move out of her apartment into a house with a group of her work colleagues. I have always said that the best thing about Grand Rapids is seeing it disappear in the rear view mirror, a bit like London is for me, and today was no exception.

The reason for the move is something I don’t want to get into because it is complicated, and I have my own opinions about the situation.

However, we agreed to help her move her stuff.

Now in the short time she had lived in the apartment she had accumulated a lot of stuff, these had to be put in boxes and loaded into the various collection of vehicles that were available.

To make the best use of the transport, I agree to take our truck to the new place, Kelli would drive the U-haul van, Greer would take her Jeep and Nate, another volunteer would take his car.

For me it was a harrowing experience, because I’m used to exiting the motorway on the right side, but over here you can exit on either side, so you have to be prepared to cross two lanes of traffic if the exit is on the left. With all this to think about, my buttocks were tightly clinched as I made the manoeuvre. Fortunately I got away with it,  but the traffic was heavy, then once off the highway the GPS guided me to the new address.

Once the others turned up, it was unloading time.

Now I don’t mean to be judgemental, it does come with age, I have come from being meek and mild to saying what I feel. 

When I saw the girl who actually owns the house, I was shocked, she had bright orange hair, she had so much metal in her face it looked like she was a victim in a shrapnel attack. She was covered in tattoos, some of which must have taken a gallon of ink. If she had planned to be totally unattractive to men, she certainly succeeded.

I’m not sure if Greer will be happy here,  but sharing a house with a number of strange people, and I did see another slightly odd  person leave, I rest my case.

I did venture inside, not for long, the toilet just inside the back door was a unique feature. I’m not sure who would be shocked the most, the person on the throne, or the person walking in the back door, it gives a whole new meaning to the term entering in through the back door.

Finally, after doing our duty, we set off back to Holland, Kelli was tired, it was her second day of driving about, she just wanted to get home and crash out, and so was I.

30th May 2025

Kelli had offered to take her friend Elaine to Zeeland for an doctors appointment. Elaine had been suffering over the winter, and had recently returned to Holland from her summer home in Florida. The list of issues are far too long to mention other that to say Kelli recognised the symptoms, she suggested that Elaine visit her doctor, and possibly get back on the road to better health.

I have learnt that controlling the gut can lead to improvements to a person’s mental health, and it sounded like that would be the best start for Elaine.

That left me a couple of hours of my time, on went the old gits music and a festival of paint stripping and wood cutting, I was in my element.

The matching set of dressers that we collected last week were solid maple under a rough paint job, as I removed the paint, the glorious wood appeared. It will be nice to restore these back to their original finish.

29th May 2025

We finally got pictures of the two dressers that we tried to do yesterday, now they are posted and we are waiting for them to be sold.

I had four drawer guides to make for one of the dressers, and I also machined some depth gauges so I can set the saw blade consistently, I have been wanting to do that for a long time.

Being Thursday, it was beer night with Lloyd, so I finished my jobs early and set off to meet him.

As always our conversation go from one extreme to another. We talked about the game of softball versus the game of cricket. I don’t understand the rules of softball and Lloyd doesn’t know the rules of cricket, so we spend time discussing that. Then we talked about the plans to boost trade schools instead of funding Universities like Harvard. 

That is the one thing that is missing in many schools, they were taken away years ago when the idea of obtaining a degree was pushed by the government of the time. Little did people know that the cost of further education would be so expensive and no guarantee that there would be a job at the end of it. Try paying off your student loan serving coffee at Starbucks would be soul destroying and take a hundred years.

The same goes for farming,  many farms, and land have been lost to housing development that young people can’t afford to buy.

We concluded that in order to revitalise agriculture, there should be community farms established, like what has happened to village pubs in England. It might start by each household growing a different crop, and then share it with their fellowship, or sell to others. There are several churches around that do just that, and it is very popular. 

This is the level of discussion that we get embroiled in, it helps to let the beer slip down.

After that I had to go and collect the shop vac that I bought, and boy that is a beast. It is far larger than the puny one I had before. It’s so powerful it could suck the skin off your face.

It is one serious vacuum.