Author: peterb51

15th July 2024

The skies were noisy last night, storms hitting us during the early hours, we heard them, even felt them, but we slept through it.

The humidity was high when I let the dogs out, like the blast of heat when the oven door is opened.

We had breakfast in the sunroom, then planned the day.

At the top of our list was a trip to the range, our first on our own.

Picking up some training rounds from the local hardware store, and drove out into the wilds.

The car park at the sports club was empty, I used my entry card for the first time.

It was nice to have the place to ourselves, and between us we fired off just under a hundred rounds. Kelli did better than I, her grouping was more central and mine was biased to the right.

I need to try to over compensate to the left a bit more to see if that makes a difference.

I did manage to skin my thumb because it was not in the correct position when the carriage slammed back. I must remember that next time.

We were out for just over an hour, and needed to get back to get some work done.

Club rules stated that we should collect all the brass casings and place them in a container, then we headed home.

During the evening Kelli called to me to come and look At Phoebe’s shoulder. For many months she had a hard lump under the skin. We did have her checked by a vet who wasn’t concerned, he said that it might reduce over time.

Well what I saw was nasty, somehow the lump had opened up and some horrible stuff was oozing out.

I had the job of cleaning out the wound, Kelli was not feeling good looking at the goo I was pressing out. At times I was using tweezers to pull thick muck out, and all this before dinner.

Phoebe handled it very well, it must have hurt, but she didn’t snap or growl.

Well that was the excitement of the day, and the anticipation of more thunderstorms was still to come.

14th July 2024

The story that everyone in America has been talking about was the attempt to assassinate Donald Trump.

All the media does what it always does is speculate and regurgitate. They were having a field day, calling on any “expert” they could to beat the story to death.

What this has shown how close America was to a civil war, in fact, about half an inch.

This is because has tried every trick in the book to stop him running. From his court cases, and the financial strain, death was the only option left. It is a sad reflection on America and its politics that this is even considered.

What this had done is effectively handed the future presidency to Donald Trump.

We had to drive to Hudsonville to deliver a dresser, a pleasant drive ending in part of the new suburbia, an estate of perfectly crafted houses, landscaped to blur the edges of newness. There is no old charm about these developments, all the concrete driveways are the same colour, the lawns are flawless, with no grass variations at all, but, they bought our dresser, so hurray!

We also sold the small dresser that we finished yesterday. I had to rush to fix and polish the top before they got here. The customers had bought a couple of things before, so we are always glad to see them again.

13th July 2024

Another hot day, we had breakfast using up the last of our eggs, so a ride down the road to see if the chickens had laid anything for us, was necessary.

Riding a bike in this weather is bliss, the air is warm, only cooled by increasing the speed.

Of course Kelli rarely has the correct choice of clothing, it’s either too hot or too cold, this time it was okay.

We were disappointed that there were no eggs there, so we turned around and went back the way we came, but continued on past home and on to the next portion of our ride, to Dollar General.

These are the cheap stores I hate, and I don’t know why, a lot of the items cost a lot more than a dollar, but there is crap stuff that is. Kelli loves the place, she can get dog treats and her shampoo and also in this case, bird seed. She was also tempted to buy a new floatation device for the pool, and was even more delighted when the cashier announced that she could get two for one, oh joy.

We stopped off at the cemetery to check on the flowers on Dave’s grave. It’s sad that no one else seems to bother, we try to keep some colour going.

Then it was back to the house. We finally sold the dresser that has been hanging about, but the inside of the drawers were a bit tatty. To tidy them up we had some self adhesive lining paper that I carefully cut to size.

Now I hate fitting this material, it takes so long to fit without getting air pockets, and I was trying so hard. I think it took me half an hour to fit three pieces, thank goodness I did it inside where it was cool, because I was getting very hot.

Que for getting into the pool and having a soak.

12th July 2024

It was a hot day, the AC was working well. This is the time of year when the fireflies come out in abundance during the evening. It’s a fantastic spectacle of flashes of light without an explosion at the end of it.

It was too hot to do much other than float in the pool.

We had to meet Nancy and Lloyd for dinner. We chose a Gastropub in the town where we could sit outside. These five o’clock dinners are a sign that we’re over the hill, although Kelli likes to have her chill out time in the evenings.

We sat talking for ages, well after we settled the bill. The establishment must have got concerned because they sent across the largest guy I have ever seen. He was so wide that he cut out the evening sun, plunging our table into darkness. Slightly embarrassed, and glad he didn’t ask for rent, we got up and left. It was our cue to say our farewells, tentatively making plans for our next get together.

We also managed to take pictures of the latest dresser off the production line.

The piece we finished earlier in the week still hasn’t sold, although there has been interest, it led to nothing. It’s bloody typical. What usually happens is people save it, and watch to see if the price goes down, then they make an offer.

Although Holland is an affluent town, most residents squeak when they walk.

11th July 2024

The night was again doomed to end in disaster, Kelli couldn’t get off even though she was tired.

We lay in bed for an hour trying to establish what her problem was. In a desperate attempt to change the trajectory of where this was going I suggested getting up and doing a tai chi exercise to aid sleep. This lasted twenty minutes but was very relaxing. We went back to bed and both of us fell sleep quickly. If it was coincidence or an effective distraction, I don’t care, it worked.

Kelli had a doctors appointment, so it was fortunate that she felt good.

He was interested in what triggered her bout of rage a few nights earlier. We established that the worst was the forth of July fireworks. Not that these were particularly bad or loud, but he believed that it stemmed back three years ago when she was really bad and not sleeping at all.

This was born out by the flicking of her eyes as he tracked them from side to side. I have seen these for myself, and it’s wierd.

So he spent time trying to calm these movements, he talked about re-programming the brain to remove the trauma that she carries around with her. I still can’t get my head around some of this, my brain has been trained to see a tangible result, not an invisible one.

I’m interested in seeing if we can help her sleep problem by distraction and calming the mind with tai chi.

Before the appointment, we arrived a bit early so we went into Goodwill. Now I expect the Zeeland store to be stocked with God merchandise, but to my surprise I found an old dresser for eight bucks, a bargain. The trouble was we had a piece in the back of the truck, so I had to drive back later.

Once the appointment was over we headed back to Holland, and to stop off at Plato’s Closet.

We dropped the piece we had in the back to Kelli’s mum’s garage, then went home for some lunch.

I was due to meet up with Lloyd for a beer, at three, so I had to drive back to Zeeland to collect the other dresser.

I parked the truck outside the donation doorway, and a young girl came out to meet me.

I explained what I was collecting, so she disappeared back into the store.

Many minutes later she appeared pushing a different dresser. I told her it was the wrong one, then helped to push it back into the store and found the one we had bought. Fortunately it was on castors, but when I asked for help to lift it into the Toyota she answered that she was not allowed to, therefore I had to struggle by myself.

Driving back to Holland, I arrived at the bar with three minutes to spare, boy, I needed that drink.

10th July 2024

We had another bad night. I find it hard to understand any logic when it’s difficult to go back to sleep after having only two hours of slumber.

Kelli gets uptight and angry at not being able to resettle. To me it’s counterproductive when she should be doing the opposite.

So after two more hours of non sleep she got up and started pacing the rooms getting herself more worked up, she went outside and drove off in the truck, as she has done many times.

I try to suggest things she could do to help calm herself down, but she doesn’t want to hear them, so I shut up.

Once she returned, I moved out into the living room to the old trusty couch, hoping that the peace would allow her a few hours of rest.

I was rudely awaken at eight in the morning by the city boys trimming the trees away from the power cables.

She may have dozed for a time, but still emerged with a face like thunder.

This set the tone for the day, which of course was shopping day.

That was a treat, she refused to go to the checkout because the cashier was someone she had the confrontation with a few weeks ago, leaving me to do the deed, not very embarrassing then?

Aldi faired a little better, the expression of thunder has eased to just chewing wasps, a hopeful sign.

Once back in the house, I got on with some work in the garage, I needed to get my mind of the grimness of the day.

I know it’s not about me, she is fighting a demon that I can’t intercept, and it’s frustrating, this that’s been going on for the past three years, and every time I see a little light at the end of the tunnel, a bloody train blocks it.

9th July 2024

It was all go to get the mid century pieces cleaned up and ready for the buyers. These are the furniture pieces we like, max reward with minimal effort.

This didn’t mean that is all we did, there was a smaller dresser that had to be painted and the drawers on the large dresser to sand. I also managed to strip and sand a table top.

All this, and it was hot as hell.

Late in the afternoon a red truck arrived to collect the two dressers. They said it was for her mother who was returning to the area, so we were happy that it was going to a good home.

Their money was also going to a good home, ours.

Tomorrow is shopping day, which is just to as well because we were right down to the groaty things left in the fridge, however Kelli managed to make a tasty meal from it.

8th July 2024

Well the good night sleep anticipated didn’t happen, it was dire. Kelli woke after two hours, and then stayed awake for four hours. She managed three more hours only after I moved into the living room and slept on the couch. I’m certainly getting used to it, but at least she wasn’t a grouch in the morning, in fact it was better than I expected.

We had the opportunity to purchase two mid century dressers from someone we sold a pair of side tables to. They got in touch and offered us these wonderful pieces, we’d be mad not to get them.

As we had slept in, we were a bit late collecting them, but boy was it worth it.

There is an active market for mid century furniture even if they are unbranded, and we have had success with many that we’ve worked on.

We could wait to get them home and start work on them. What was the amazing part is their condition, sure there were a few scratches on the top, but the rest was immaculate. We both spent the rest of the day cleaning and doing some minor repairs, and then took pictures.

Kelli posted them on Marketplace in the evening and they were snapped up even at the price we put on them. If we could find some every week there is a good chance to make some decent cash on them.

7th July 2024

After a good sleep lasting eight hours I woke up invigorated. It was a sunny day, and after our ten minute arm exercises, which I’m not sure are doing anything, I was eager to start work.

A breakfast of melon and pineapple, and some scrambled egg and toast fuelled my enthusiasm.

I had a large dresser to wash down and prepare.

I had already stripped the top ready for staining so it was sanding the surface to key the primer.

Kelli finished the dresser that was painted yesterday, so we took pictures of that.

It’s nice to be able to work outside, and whilst I’m in this mood I wasn’t to take advantage of the chance to get colour into my legs. For many years I was a pale specimen of an English man.

Since I’ve been here I do tan a bit, not like Kelli who looks like a Mexican, but I’m happy with the result.

It was ice cream time at Kelli mum’s. We cycled up there knowing that we would burn off the sugar.

We have adjusted our diets to remove grains and sugars, and although I don’t notice the change, Kelli does. We bounce around from sourdough, made from ancient gains to almond flour, I like the sourdough, but she believes it creates inflammation of her knees. She is far more susceptible to food effects than I.

6th July 2024

Another terrible night, a few irresponsible people were letting off fireworks even though it was now against the city ordinance. Kelli just wanted a quiet night to sleep, she was not happy.

With the ranting and raving I didn’t get any sleep either.

She was so worked up, even when the fireworks finished she couldn’t relax, an essential part of getting to sleep.

So she tried deep breathing to try to slow her heart down, that didn’t work, she tried listening to nature sounds but that failed to calm her down. Eventually we both drifted off, at what time? I have no idea. We both woke at seven thirty, Kelli still not happy, she wanted more sleep, but my breathing was too loud, so I did what I always do when that happens, I go out to the living space, she did manage another couple of hours.

That then set up back a lot, we eventually finished breakfast at one o clock, that was really late.

Fortunately I was ahead of the game with several dressers already to start painting.