Author: peterb51

30th October Wednesday

Quite a different sort of day from yesterday, our weekly shop, and a collection of a headboard from way out in the wilds.

We did our usual shopping run, we had scraped together enough scraps from the fridge for breakfast, now we could feast like kings.

We also had a meeting with Stacy our internal designer about blinds for the windows. It is true that we do take our time making these decisions, and I’m not sure why. We have been talking about them for about a year, and I finally wanted to order them, but suddenly Kelli wasn’t sure about our choice. The only option was to take back the catalog and double check which one we wanted, hopefully we can do that and place the order tomorrow.

Then it was back to wall building. The problem that faced was the mass of leaves that had fallen over the past twenty four hours. All those had to be cleared before I could continue.

29th October 2024

I took another step into the surreal world of American politics today by attending my first political rally.

The running mate to Trump, JD Vance was speaking in Holland so Kelli quickly signed up to attend. I thought it would be an interesting experience so I happily went along to see what it was all about.

The venue was a newly completed warehouse outside of town. We made our way there and followed the signs to the car park. All around us were construction machines resembling prehistoric creatures. That is when we saw the line of people snaking around various parked cars. We joined at the back, moving very slowly. Queuing maybe an acceptable English thing, but over the last couple of days I had my fair share.

There were the large muscular bearded, tattooed beasts, and the men were just as grotesque.

There were the young and old, the fit and not so fit, and then there was me, trying to look as inconspicuous as possible. Kelli wanted a new cap which then meant I had to wear her old one. Now I was one of them.

The line snaked around, all heading for the entrance. From the outside, the building looked big, there were eight loading bay doors, so very impressive. 

As we got closer we had to pass the security area where everything was inspected, I had new underwear on as a precaution, but I got away without the close inspection.

Then it was in through a large doorway to be met with a wall that divided the building in half, “What! “ I said, “We’ve waited all this time to arrive at a brick wall?” I was not impressed.

Gradually we eased forward, like water drawn to the plug hole, then magically there was space inside that we immediately filled. It was then that we noticed the temperature inside. It was not a cold day, in fact it was mild, and I was glad I didn’t put on the hoodie I was considering.

There were small fans in the ceiling that did very little but move the warm air around. We stood for over an hour before someone had the bright idea to open the loading bay doors a little. The first one they tried failed to open because the control wire snapped much to the amusement of the crowd. The others were more successful, giving a little relief. Kelli, her face red, was busy fanning herself with a fruit jerky pack.

Finally, the man came on to a rousing welcome from the crowd, as one would expect from a loyal following. Unfortunately where we were standing, we couldn’t see him at the podium because of a stack of speakers in front of us. I could see something if I looked through a small gap, but generally I was listening to the speech.

I quite like JD Vance, I have watched many interviews with biased media where he has ripped into their predictable questioning, and emerged as the stronger voice.

His speech has been polished after many similar events, he knows how to encourage the crowd, he knows when to raise his voice to get the applause, it’s all a lesson in public speaking. But like all campaigns they attack each other for not answering the real questions, but actually avoid to answer the questions themselves.

 No one has given a precise answer to the question “How are you going to lower the price of groceries?” They all talk around the subject but don’t even tackle a small part of it.

There are questions from the media, but they are just as incepted are media questions are. The only question that got any reaction from the faithful was when a young girl journalist asked about transgender treatment for young children without parental consent. The crowd went wild, cheering, standing waving their arms about, I bet she wasn’t expecting that kind of reaction.

Then the event drew to a close, JD walked off probably into an awaiting car to take him to Grand Rapids for, I guess, a repeat of the same.

Now it was a race to the exit, more swirling, this was like heading for the light and the air, and it felt good.

I had survived my first political event, and as the red wave dispersed, there was a feeling of excitement that a person of this standing had come to little old Holland to encourage everyone to vote.

This election is probably the most important one in the last thirty years, so votes will count.

Exhausted, we drove home, we had a customer arriving soon to collect a dresser and side table, we had to stay vertical a bit longer.

28th October 2024

Well my cup flowed over today. I went with Kelli to an early voting centre so she could cast her choice for the next American president.

We arrived at a very full car park at one of the council buildings. The signs were fluttering in the breeze, so we were in the right place. We walked into the building along with many others and followed the arrows down the stairs to the basement. We could see a line of people through the glass doors. We followed the line down many corridors that snaked around, finally reaching the end of the queue. There was an estimated one hour wait which did not fill my heart with joy. Soon there were people lining up behind us, so we felt that we were on the move.

Progress was slow, but as we shuffled forward there was optimism that the next turn would lead us into the voting station.

How wrong we were, there was another corridor and another corner at the end of that.

As my past life flashed before my eyes, we entered the large room with a row of officials with laptops and printers. 

I felt like a spare part as Kelli went through her application process. Once that was over the paperwork was printed out and placed into a large cardboard folder, she then moved towards the booths to do her duty. I followed her round, and was immediately challenged by an official who instructed me to move into the observation area that was marked out on the floor in orange tape. As I was the only one standing there I felt very vulnerable. 

It took Kelli a while to complete the paperwork, because there are many people listed on the ballot for many different positions like county commissioners, judges, police and other official roles, lavatory cleaners and car park attendants, all these had to be selected before she could feed her form into the machine that secured her ballot.

As we left, there were many more people arriving and tackling the stairs of doom.

“Well that was an hour I won’t get back”  went through my mind, but it was done and I survived.

Next stop was the landscape supplier for buy some dirt, not just any dirt, real black dirt.

I have had dirt delivered, but with the cost of delivery nearly as much as the dirt itself, I decided to get it in bags and collect it myself.

I managed to get twenty one bags in the back of the truck, poor thing, it’s had quite a heavy time recently.

All the dirt allowed us to continue with our project, which is turning out to be a mini wall of China.

My aim is to make a better job that what was there originally, so with my spirit level and my rubber mallet at the ready, I continued my construction.

27th October 2024

The sun was shining through the golden leaves, there had been a mild frost overnight, so I expected the trees to have dumped all their leaves. Instead it was a perfect day to continue the landscaping. This was hard work, even with a brand new spade it was difficult to dig the trench. I also now know why the grass has difficulty growing, the ground is heavily compounded. There were roots of every kind, many from trees no longer growing, but they were stubborn, and I was determined to remove them.

I was working against the clock because Kelli had found a free bed frame and a corner entrainment unit that she wanted collected.

We also had to take Matt his birthday present.

We set of for the north side to get the bed frame.

As I have said before, there is always a reason why it’s free, and it was evident the moment I picked it up. One of the side rails had delaminated, not a big problem, but it’s something I will have to fix.

The corner unit was difficult to handle, this piece was in good condition, not a lot of repair needed.

We gathered at Kelli’s mums for the Sunday ice cream feast, there was a Trump rally on the television, and with the family all ardent Republicans all eyes were on the screen.

These rallies are spectacular events with everyone and their dog in attendance.

I find it interesting that all this effort, and expense is to carry the message to the converted, it must be a real ego boost to have such large audiences hanging on your every work.

What is also interesting is what the Democratic Party will do if Trump returns to power. They know that their candidate is a dumb as a rock, I’ve watched many interviews with her, and I don’t think she has ever answered one question.

The term “ Word salad” has been invented just for her, and it’s an accurate description.

26th October 2024

I needed to get to Lowes to purchase wall blocks to work on the small landscape job in the front of the house. 

It is intended to join the raised pebbled berm area to a small circular flower bed sitting alone within the lawn.

Although trying to get the exact same blocks that must be forty years old is impossible, however the ones I found would be perfect for those that are buried in the grass, then I could use the old ones where they will show.

Lowes isn’t my first choice, but they had a better selection than Menards, so grabbing a trolley I headed over to the block area.

As it’s the end of the season, stocks were low, but I found the nearest colour match, so started to stack them carefully. I managed to get twenty that were not chipped or damaged and pushed the now very heavy trolly towards the check out.

I had parked the truck as close as I could which was convenient just in case the trolly ran out of control, then I wouldn’t be damaging anybody’s vehicle.

I laid all the blocks out evenly in the back, my attention was then distracted by the loudest exhaust note I have ever experienced. 

A black mustang drifted past, not even being revved, just ticking over, it was ear splitting.

I have noticed that many young Mexicans love to have loud cars, most have lowered suspension, but the noise is brutal, I guess they like to be the centre of attention.

I was alway embarrassed by the start up sound of my Jag, this had a valve that closed after a few seconds to reduce the noise, or it could be left open for the rich burbling sound. 

Anyway this was no comparison to the ear bleeding roar of the mustang, there doesn’t seem to be any legal requirement for noise over here, which is typical.

Kelli finished an entertainment piece today, she posted it, and after a couple of hours it was snapped up by none other than Nancy and Lloyd. They must be on track to win our greatest number of furniture pieces bought from us award.

Which reminds me, we still have their chairs to repaint, and a desk to refinish, no pressure then.

25th October 2024

It was off to the range, having been away from it for three weeks expectations were not high.

We were lucky that the ranges were unoccupied, so we had the choice. Each one had new plywood panels in place, making the attachment of our targets easy. We each had four, this is easier to check our grouping. After an hour, we were happy with our results. It showed that we both knew the quirks of the weapon, and made the personal adjustments to hit the target where we intended. That’s not to say we didnt have a few rogue shots, but we knew what had happened.

Then it was back home for a bit of lunch and a bit of work in the garage.

We took the dogs for a walk, just about the same time as all the other people, so part of the routine is keeping our animals away from others.

24th October 2024

I went on the hunt for some special primer, this stuff sticks to just about anything, and is ideal when surfaces like Laminate and melamine have to be covered.

The first place I visited was Repcolite, the supplier that the professionals use. I looked around but all they had was a spray and a gallon  can at over a hundred dollars, uh, no thanks.

Then I decided to visit Ace Hardware, a smaller DIY store that I found to be a friendly place. I was not disappointed, as soon as I entered someone leapt to my assistance.

It was a good job I knew exactly what I wanted because I could have been intimidated by their enthusiasm. They had the tin size I wanted, and, they had a gallon size at over thirty dollars cheaper than the previous place.

 But I like this place, and to show my appreciation I even bought a square edge shovel to work on our landscaping project that hopefully we can start at the weekend.

Now I had the primer, I set about preparing two matching side tables ready for Kelli to paint.

I did a bit more stripping on the bureau, it really has been painted badly, it’s not going to be a quick job.

23rd October 2024

My first trip to the supermarket for three weeks, it was like I was never away. 

There was still a shortage of decent toilet paper, that’s three weeks that the shelves haven’t been restocked.

We had plans to add extra tinned items to our trolley to build up some stock in case of a hard winter or an early apocalypse. Although since I’ve been here the snow hasn’t been that bad, that it’s trapped us in the house, but with  Michigan weather that isn’t always guaranteed.

The first shop we visit is Nature’s Market where all the foods are of the highest quality, often with a price to match, but in order to eat healthy you have to pay for it. The meats are locally sourced without additives, a rarity in America where animals are injected with hormones that make people fat. There is so much evidence of that, but nothing is everyone to change it. The general population have not made the connection between bad food and bad health. Low income families can only afford junk and are therefore destined to die early, but not before they have spent a fortune on drugs to counter all the bad food. 

I was quite surprised that a lot of vegan food is up there on the highly processed list, so even those poor sods are being misled.

By the time we had done our shopping, taken returns to the UPS store and sold stuff At Plato’s there wasn’t much point in doing much in the garage. I did a bit of stripping on the bureau, but even that was hard work, so I finished early.

22nd October 2024

We ventured out to the north side to collect a secretary, yes, I get confused, it’s a desk with a pull down front that becomes a writing surface, what we would call a bureau. 

Well it was free, and in not bad shape, although the paint job left a lot to be desired. it looked pretty solid, so it should be fun to restore.

We finished a dresser and a night stand and the weather was good enough for some pictures.

The trees are beginning to change, the maples replacing the sun’s golden colour, it’s like every tree is on fire, a wonderful time of year.

My cold is getting much better, I can now spend more time outside, although I feel I need to keep a coat on even though it was in the seventies.

Kelli still talks with a frog in her throat, much to her annoyance.

I’ve had my scank now for a week, that’s enough.

21st October 2024

We are slowly coming out of our sickness funk. I can’t say I will be sad to see it go. I know the cough will hang around for a while, but we can deal with that.

The race to the white house is building up with both sides slinging insults at each other and both sides spending a disgusting amount of money on tv advertising. The election will be won by the candidate that is less loathed than the other. One will continue with the policies that have been running for the last three and a half years that have sent prices through the roof, and filled the country with up to six million illegal, untraceable immigrants.

The other will cause havoc within the corridors of power seeking out the corruption and trying to save the American auto industry. A person that has no tact, and cannot put a complete sentence together that makes sense.

I have started to tune it all out, but I keep getting drawn back in when these people just make things up.

The weather was very pleasant, and both of us managed to drag our weary bodies into the garage to do some work.