Author: peterb51

13th September 2024

Another trip to the range and still more frustration. The groupings were there but not where we wanted them. I sure it’s still early days yet. The most therapeutic part is collecting all the spent casings, I’m sure I collect more than we shot.

There is still a warm run of weather, where we try to use the pool, although the water is a little colder. It must be close to the end of the season as most of the inflatables are starting to fail.

Finally finished the porch decoration, the final pieces were bonded and pinned into position, ready for delivery tomorrow.

It was a funny old day, there are many pieces to work on, it’s sometimes difficult to decide which to start. 

Kelli repainted a dresser that hasn’t had much attention, maybe we should contact that drunken Texan, see if he wants it.

12th September 2024

I finally managed to book my flight to the UK.

Not actually having my new card, made things difficult, but with Louise’s help she took a picture of the new card and sent it over to me.

There were a few other items that were billed to my old card, so I was able to get those straightened out.

We had a lady turn up in her new Ford Bronco to collect the coffee table, she told me that it will take pride of place in their new weekend cottage.

We finally, and I say finally with relief, sold the three drawer dresser. Kelli wasn’t sure if it was going to happen as the guy was a bit strange with his messages. However we agreed to deliver it as it was relatively close.

We pulled into the driveway behind a car with Texas plates, we unloaded the dresser, and I knocked on the door.

There was no immediate answer so Kelli went to message him, just as he appeared in the doorway.

We knew straight away that he was as drunk as a skunk, he was slurring his words, and almost fell down the steps. He handed Kelli the cash, and we proceeded to carry it up the steps. It was not the easiest things to do, I was going up backwards and he was pushing me.

Managing to get it into the porch he almost ran the dresser into me.

By the time I walked out of the place, Kelli was already in the car with the engine running ready to make a quick getaway, and all this and it was just 1.00pm in the afternoon.

Our final task of the day was to drive to the ATM so that the cash could be deposited, on the way she spotted three bags of plants by the side of the road. How does she see them? They’re on my side of the car, and I don’t. 

Two of the bags were daisies and an unknown one, I’m sure they will be happy in our garden somewhere.

11th September 2024

There was a lot of activity across the road this evening. The lady of the house has a habit of shouting rather loudly at their lodger. Whether it is fuelled by drink we do not know. Kelli was alerted by our next door neighbour who messaged that something was going on.

I was requested to open the window so she could hear more clearly. Personally I could not make out anything that I could understand, I just knew something was going down.

I was expecting the police or SWAT team to turn up, but so far all is under control.

It was our usual shopping day, this also included a visit to Plato’s with two more bags of clothes.

As it would take about half an hour to sort through the bags, I decided to go and get a coffee. By the time I returned it had all been sorted,  but out of the pile of clothes they only took twelve items. Kelli was peeved as she expected much more. The assistant explained that some of the items were “more mature style” that didn’t go down well.

It stuck in her head for the rest of the day.

“ What did she know?” Kelli continued “ no one with green blue hair can appreciate good style”

I had to agree, the assistant did look a bit of a horror comic, but it takes all sorts.

The trick is we will take the same bags back at another time when someone else is on duty, hopefully we will be more successful.

The expedition round Aldi resulted in Kelli finding a half dead plant that he had to save, it would be so bad, but we’re still charged full price for it.

I continued to work on Elaine’s porch decoration, getting it ready for the final assembly.

10th September 2024

There was more action in the garage; the coffee table was finished and the dresser we finished yesterday had a slightly darker paint job.

I did a bit more work on Elaine’s front porch decoration

.

The warm temperature returned, so it was back to shorts and short sleeves.

Kelli revived a sparrow that had flown into our window and stunned itself. She first thought it had died, but after carefully stroking it and talking to it, it came round and flew out of her hand, it was a wonderful moment captured by some shite on her palm.

We even got in a bike ride, Kelli is still nervous about riding side by side, therefore I am a little behind, meaning I can’t always hear what she is saying, not good. There was talk about getting a communication set allowing us to still talk to each other, but that would entail pressing a button every time you wanted to talk. That, I thought might be too distracting.

Of course it was the big presidential debate this evening. It was two hours of the same talking points over and over again. Kamala Harris was smug and condescending, talking as if she was addressing children. Trump on the other hand rambled on as he does totally missing the point of the debate. Trump’s team must have been pulling their hair out shouting “ that isn’t what you were supposed to say!”

9th September 2024

It was a day of stretching limbs and cracking bones, a day of realignment in head and body, yes I had an appointment with the kinesiologist.

Instead of Kelli going through the treatment she had the chance to witness my suffering.

However I did not suffer much, apart from a crack of my neck on my left side to help relieve an ache in my shoulder and elbow.  It is a strange feeling with I am gripped by the ankles and yanked hard, there was a click, and suddenly I am taller, or so I hoped.

I’m fortunate not to suffer too much pain and ailment for my age, Kelli makes good food so my digestion is not compromised, so with my body now tuned, we left.

As we were a few minutes early we popped into Goodwill, and saw a coffee table that we thought we could flip. Loading it into the truck we set off for home.

On the way I wanted to stop at the Herman Miller company store, it was in the old Engineering office building that I remembered from my first ever visit to the US in 1986.

There was plenty of stock, I was looking for sofas, something to replace the old one in the house, that had served us well, but I would like something more modern.

There were a few to choose from, but not quite what I was looking for.

Once back home, after some lunch, there was work to be done.

The coffee table that we thought we could flip quickly needed a few repairs, and Kelli then decided to repaint it.

We did paint the bow fronted dresser we got the other day, we took pictures of a pair of side tables and the three chairs we recently collected, so all and all a good day.

8th September 2024

There was some urgency to get the two side tables ready for collection, not that there was much, apart from fixing the tops and cleaning any crap from underneath.

I unloaded the truck of the two dressers we collected yesterday, not that we had room for both of them, but I wanted the bow fronted one.

This was the one that when I picked it up, the bottom front piece fell off.

I felt that this was easy to refit and offered a quick refurb and back on the market.

Some of the chipboard had broken away, but with some epoxy adhesive I packed it and put sash clamps on it.

I will add some wooden blocks to reinforce the damaged areas.

We were going to Kelli’s mums for ice cream as usual. There was a bit of hesitation from Kelli’s part because moth balls had been added in the garage to try to get the bats to move out.

She did not like the smell, and it was evident as we got out of the truck, the stench was everywhere.

We were storing the second dresser there until we’re ready for it.

As I moved it into position I looked up and Kelli had found on old Covid mask which she put on as she carried in the two drawers, it was hilarious.

However, it did not stop the smell getting through, which just goes to show how useless they were.

7th September 2024 

The GPS was working at full stretch leading us in circles, apparently leading us to three places we had to collect some furniture from. I’m sure the aim of that technology is to consume as much fuel as possible, because most of the routes are not logical. 

Kelli had been busy trying to find things that we could renovate and refinish. Most were in the Zeeland area, some hidden in thick wooded areas that no one would think  a house was built there.

We ended up with three chairs, a dresser and a small bench with rather three tatty baskets in a rack in the base. The dresser was a traditional style but painted rather badly, the chairs were a style we’ve had before and sold easily, the bench, well we will see how that goes.

I had to get supplies at Menards on the way back and a plan to finish the side table tops.

Kelli had other plans, she had found two free dressers back in Zeeland, so we packed everything away and headed out.

The directions were vague, but once we sorted that out we saw the pieces on the roadside.

They weren’t the best examples, but what should we expect for free. The best of the two, I thought could be made interesting, until I lifted it up and the bottom fell out. It was a good brand, so we thought we should take it; I’m sure with some epoxy and a pair of clamps it could be made good. The other is a bit of a dog, this will take the wand of a wizard to make this into something saleable.

These may have to be stored at Kelli’s mums garage, but she had a problem with bats, and we are concerned that the furniture will get covered in bat crap, not a good thing to have.

6th September 2024

Bang! flash, and smoke. That about sums up my day. I successfully managed to feed 110 volts AC though a 12 volt power module. 

Kelli rushed into the room and described it like a scene from a Mr Bean sketch. The smoke was circling around my head, I had an expression of “ what happened there then”.

I Knew exactly what I did, I wired it up wrong, what a plonker.

I’ve been trying to get this cassette deck to work, and decided to give the motor a new 12 volt feed via a separate module.

I was really happy with my soldering, it has improved a lot since I’ve been messing around with this deck. Maybe I got a bit cocky, I don’t know why I got the wires mixed up, but I now know the result. The capacitors exploded and the whole board is a charred wreck.

It was much colder, the temperature dropped twenty degrees, and I felt it.

I had plenty to do, sealing the tops for the side tables and starting to shape the entrance piece for Elaine. 

We still have a dresser that hasn’t sold, and we don’t know why. It’s not like we haven’t had people inquiring about it, some have almost committed to buy it, but then drop out with some feeble excuse.

We really thought it was sold today, we were planning to deliver it to Hudsonville tomorrow, but a later message said that she would pass on it and buy one from Amazon.

I’m sure that will fall apart.

On the local news, Larry finally got rid of a red car that had been parked outside his barn. One of his cronies had it towed there a couple of years ago hoping that it could be fixed. That was about the time that his health took a nosedive and he stopped working on them. Ever since it’s rested and rusted sadly, but it’s gone to the big scrapyard in the sky. Funny, it was the same transporter guy who collected it who deposited it there in the first place, I guess it’s the circle of life complete.

5th September 2024

I am sick and tired of all the election stuff, the adverts, all the podcasts, and all the media bullshit. I would like just one day with nothing but peace and quiet.

There is an intense feeling that good must triumph over evil, but depending on what camp you’re in, who is one over the other.

Trump certainly has a powerhouse of people behind him, he promised the Elon Musk will streamline the government machine, getting rid of waste, that is all the civil servants that add no value. I bet they will be shitting their pants, that cushy job with no accountability, will disappear.

Musk’s record of cost savings with Space X are outstanding, he took the rocket motor design and took out complexity,  and saved money.

I had a number of tops to make for the two sets of side tables, and Kelli was in charge of the painting, but we did get a chance to float in the pool.

I missed the clanking of the refuse removal this morning, because Monday was a holiday, it all slips by a day.

I am also getting fed up with moving the six foot sideboard in and out, it’s a good job it’s on a cart.

4th September 2024

The beer tasting was back on. I checked with Lloyd if it was indeed today or tomorrow.

Wednesday is the best day because nothing really gets done because of our need to do shopping. 

I got to the Curragh a few minutes early, and ordered our two glasses of ale and waited.

Five minutes later Lloyd entered the bar, last week was a dry time, but with the sale of his old place and the purchase of his new, he was more relaxed.

Our conversation flow like a small mountain stream meandering through a maze of rocks, as we build our conversation so the water flows faster and the stream gets wider, by the time our glasses are empty we’ve reached the sea. Lloyd is interested in history, and he helps me to understand what makes America ticks. I know his politics, but we do not share the importance of the Covid vaccine. Despite all that we know about the effectiveness, or non-effectiveness of it he is proud that he and his wife Nancy are ready to take the next batch.

“It works” he said, “ I’ve not had Covid or the flu at all”. I backed off digging, people have to travel their own paths, but I urged him to do the research, it’s not the first cigarette that will kill you, but if you have enough of them, one will.