Author: peterb51

14th August 2024

Shopping day again, it comes round so fast, Tuesday’s dinner reflect what is left in the fridge.

We can take advantage of the tomatoes we’ve grown, but Kelli wants to store some away.

We’ve had some success with our vegetables, but we need to plant more next spring to cover the ones we loose.

We first had to pick up a free dresser from near Saugatuck. We were driving on fumes because we thought we would easily get to the petrol station, but the route took us away so now we were in uncharted territory.

Deep into the wildlands we came across a mobile home park, some looked reasonable, but typically the one with the dresser was not. There was a double bed frame in the front window and the place needed a good clean. The dresser was waiting outside, and not in a bad condition, we’ve had worse. Quickly loading it into the back of the truck, we doused our hands with sanitizer just to be safe, then it was off to do our shopping.

We found a petrol station eventually, much to my relief, I wouldn’t fancy walking to the nearest one, I’d be never seen again.

Once we were back home we took the dogs for a walk, necessary physio therapy for Kelli’s knee.

Then I set about  cutting half lap joints for the base frame for the new greenhouse. After twenty minutes and a mass of sawdust later they were done, just in time for a dip into the pool.

13th August 2024

Kelli had a doctors appointment where she reports her progress. 

She had taken the decision to reduce some of her supplements. She had done this a week ago without any detrimental effects.

This is a sign that she is taking control of her condition, which is part of any healing process.

She also had some realignment of her leg and hips that should help with some of her knee pain brought about by her recent injury.

This is all good news, and should help to lower the financial burden.

On the way back I had a dental bill to pay and we had to drop off some revised drawing to our interior designer for some blinds for the house.

Being out half the day meant a bit of catching up to do. 

I finished stripping the cherry coffee table frame and stained a top for the crappy dresser.

We even managed a dip in the pool, that still feels great floating watching the birds fly from the holly bush to the other trees in the garden.

The US presidential campaigns intensifies, Trump was interviewed by Elon Musk, but Kamala Harris was giving a speech where she will “lower gas prices, lower the cost of food and housing, and secure the border” which was bloody offensive, because the Democrats are in power, they could do that today!

Honestly, why is is so hard?

12th August 2024

I want to tell you a story about a piece of furniture that had sat in the Bulthouse family home for many years.

Just as homemade quilts have been a favourite item that are handed down through the generations, so have well crafted wooden cabinets.

This tale is about a piece made many years ago.

Home in the mid west cannot be called a home without a gun cabinet, where hunting weapons are stored properly, like pieces of art, so the enclosure had to be a thing of beauty.

This piece was made of solid walnut with glass doors and crafted by Kelli’s grandfather. I looked at it, envious of the joints and perfect mitres, no gaps no filler, just perfection.

For many years it had pride of place in an upstairs room which will be soon occupied by Matt and Brenda who will look after their patriarchal mother.

It was I that helped move it into Kelli’s old bedroom last weekend.

A family tradition is that may appear strange,is that most items in the house have been selected and noted to be passed on.

Since Dave’s passing, most of his possessions have been sold or given away, but the gun cabinet and a desk had been earmarked by Cameron.

This cabinet had been upstairs for the last six years hidden away and almost forgotten.

 Now everyone knew that the gun cabinet was Cameron’s but he made no effort to move it out, so Matt took it upon himself to sell it to a friend, who paid two hundred dollars for it, and collected it last week.

Roll forward to yesterday when Cameron finally learnt that the piece had been sold.

He went ballistic, cussing and shouting storming out of the house, it almost made me stop eating my ice cream, but it didn’t.

Matt had already left so did not witness the drama.

Kelli’s mum got upset, because she thought everything had been agreed, but now everything unraveled.

There were phone calls and messages flying about, I urged Kelli not to get involved, but a plan was hatched to get Matt to phone his friend and explain the situation and hope that the cabinet could be returned. 

Matt refused to do it and gave Cameron the guys number, so he did it.

The result, Cameron effectively bought the cabinet back, now he had to find a place to store it.

Luckily his girlfriend has a large basement so that’s where it will go.

Now I’m sure the atmosphere between Matt and Cameron will be a little frosty, and I will have to resist the urge to stir things up, I’m just glad there is never any alcohol about, because you never know.

11th August 2024

It was a no work day, well not in the garage, I had a job to do at Kelli’s mums house. 

Last week we moved a sofa up the stairs, but I had to cut the legs off, today I had to fit them back on.

During the week I was trying to find a safe way of squaring them off, but each one was tapered with very little flat area, so I abandoned that idea.

It just so happened that we had four old short legs that we salvaged from another piece. They were much easier to cut square. I fixed a four inch square wooden plate on the top which I intended to screw to the base of the sofa.

I took up an assortment of tools including my oscillating saw.

It was just as well as I needed to cut and level the remaining stubs where the legs were.

I started up the saw, almost immediately I knew this was not as simple as I thought. The timber used in the frame was ash so it was bloody hard.

The saw started well, but soon clouds of smoke arose from the cut. I had visions of the sofa catching fire with no easy way of putting it out, as the bathroom was down stairs. After more cutting, and a lot more burning I got through the first leg. I had to wait until it cooled down before I could fit the first new leg. 

It took a while, and a lot of effort to level off all remaining stubs. All around there were chunks of blackened ash, the pungent smell circulated downstairs causing a bit of panic, but as no fire truck were needed, I repositioned the sofa in its place and called it a success, now it was time for ice cream and a rest.

That didn’t last long, Matt now wanted help with getting an armchair upstairs.

I stood back, I didn’t want a repeat of the sofa debacle.

I took my measurement stick measured the doorway then went back to check it against the chair.

“ It isn’t going to fit Matt “ I said showing him the amount of  interference.

“Man not again” he said despondently.

“I’m not cutting the legs of this” I was quite firm on that.

I looked at the chair, it was one that reclined, so there was a metal structure inside.

By removing two bolts one complete side could be removed, then it could get up the narrow doorway, but that was for another day.

 But that was not all, the lady I refinished the record play for wanted me to refinish a cherry coffee table, so she brought it round in the evening, that will be fun to do.

10th August 2024

I was determined to get the carcass of the crappy dresser completed today. I had cut the broken side panel down and made a new support frame. Fixed to that is another frame with four legs, it looks a lot different now.

So that was done, but it will need a new top.

There was a lot of activity over at Larry’s yard sale, people were coming and going pretty regularly, it seems a lot of Hollanders are after a bargain. He was including some tools which tempts a lot of older guys, happy to trawl though boxes of rusty items which it what most of his tools are covered with.

We took a short walk with the dog mainly to get Kelli moving again. A lot of her leg muscles were not being used properly, so it reminded me of playing football after a long lay off, when the next day I could hardly move. Every muscle and tendon ached for a week easing off just in time for the next match.

Kelli painted some carved wooden boxes she had been keeping, hoping to find a space in the house. The benefits of having a small house is a lack of space for such things. We took some pictures and posted them on Marketplace, sales have been a bit lean, although we have a few pieces in stock now awaiting the right person to realise they need furniture.

9th August 2024

It was not my day today. 

There was a lot to do today, firstly I had to pay my phone bill, then we were going to the range to make more holes in plywood panels.

On the way we stopped off at our local hardware store to load up on ammunition and a couple of targets. I like this place, it’s an old style store where you can buy a single nut and bolt, or you can equip an entire militia group.

I noticed an elderly lady in the process of registering a hand gun, a monster of a piece, I hope I don’t get on the wrong side of her.

We drove off,  stopping for fuel, then came my bad decision, I should have listened to my wife, she is alway right, and I know it, (she tells me). and it will haunt me for weeks, or I will be reminded of it for eternity.

Outside an engineering works, standing in the car park were two large wooden shelving units, typical industrial, and in the words of my wife, “cool”. Well they were going free, and she wanted to grab them. 

I was not so keen, I wanted to get on and get to the range, I said we’ll see if they were there on the way back, after all who would want two wooden shelf units?

We got to the range, two of the three ranges were occupied, the third suffered from being waterlogged after the storms of recent days.

We made the best of it, avoiding the muddy pools in the middle.

Kelli as alway shot well and her grouping was consistent, mine was an improvement of my last visit.

However it is clear that I’m a better loader than shooter, I leave that to Kelli.

After firing about a hundred rounds we set off back to see if the shelving units were still there.

Of course they weren’t, so that is where the guilt started, and remained for the rest of the day. I must make a sign to hang around my neck that says. “ Kelli is alway right”.

We did get two things finished, a coffee table and a tv cabinet, they were posted on Marketplace ready for the weekend rush.

Larry had a stream of visitors to his yard sale, earning him enough cash for more cigarettes.

8th August 2025

I spent part of the morning rebuilding the coffee table that we lovingly refinished, but watching Larry hauling out stuff for his annual garage sale.

He and his mate set out the tables and placed large plastic bins on them containing a load of old tat left over from last year. He usually starts on the Friday and end on the Saturday. 

We go over and take a look at what he’s got and buy something and give moral support. 

Garage sales are very popular, and throughout the summer they spring up all over the town.

There can be a few jewels amongst the weeds, but we have not found any, but it’s the luck of the draw.

We had a rare dinner out, with our friends John and Patty, they do similar things but on a much larger scale. They have a large barn where they can handle large dining tables, oh! to have space.

It was a good catch up, and a chance to get away from cooking and washing up.

7th August 2024

It was the usual shopping day, but what was different was my beer tasting day. I was to meet Lloyd a day early. This put a lot of pressure on our timing, and with Kelli still walking slow, precise food collecting was essential.

There were other things on our agenda, like another trip to Plato’s with more clothes to sell.

However our plan did not include that within our shopping expedition, Kelli would have to do that solo.

The things we buy does not vary from week to week, I even know where things are, so I set off on my own to collect them. Obviously there are some unique items that she deals with.

I know both places very well, I’m familiar with all the staff and I’m sure they know me, at the moment everything is predictable, there is order in our lives, and that came tumbling down when Kelli saw a “Make America great again” hat on one of the shoppers. “Nice hat” she commented to the lady wearing it, the tattoos on her arms glistened as she nodded her appreciation.

“I’m going to get one of those for you” Kelli said to me.

“Oh no you won’t” I sternly replied, “ if you do, I will burn it on the driveway”

I certainly don’t want any association with Trump, and a flag on the front lawn was definitely out of the question.

Kelli dropped me at the pub and went off to do her errands, agreeing to pick me up after two hours.

That was our day, a couple of beers erased the monotony, and all I wanted to do was cut the grass in the back garden, so therapeutic.

6th August 2024

There was a lot of rain, and thunder this morning, and boy did it rain.

Fortunately it stopped and the land started to dry out, just as well because we had furniture to work on.

All the preparations I had done yesterday meant that we could get one dresser finish and for Kelli to prime a coffee table and TV cabinet.

I pulled out the dresser we collected a couple of days ago, and yes it’s a turd of the special order.

This is going to take a lot of polishing, but I have a plan.

 The scandal of the Olympic opening is still rattling on, quite frankly I couldn’t care less, if the French want to glorify transgender and inclusion that’s their prerogative, I find the whole subject to be quite sinister and life threatening. I have began to believe that it is a distraction, for what is happening and what is due to happen.

The riots in England are just the tip of the iceberg, there are rumbles over here, and this is a major campaigning topic, because the average American is fed up with subsidising illegal immigrants.

What pisses me off is I paid a lot of money to live here and am untitled to nothing, but these people get given homes, work permits, driving licenses, mobile phones, and a living allowance.

Yes, send them back, or give me equivalent benefits.

5th August 2024

I banished Kelli to the house today as there was no job she could do. She was being very cautious about her healing knee, being very apprehensive about bending it.

After two weeks of hobbling about with a straight leg it was difficult to try, and walk normally.

I had a plan to work on two pieces getting them ready to prime tomorrow. I was able to have my old gits music blaring out.

There had been a decent rain storm in the early morning, but the humidity was back,  making the working conditions difficult.

Kelli was inside filling scrapbooks with her children’s early schoolwork. She had boxes of stuff that had moved from house to house, most of those boxes were never opened.

About two years ago I suggested that she goes through them and save the best ones and put them in one place that can be easily available.

Since then it was seen as a “winter job” but it never got done, so finally today was a good day to start it.