Author: peterb51

15th June 2024

Another glorious day in America. Kelli had some returns to do at UPS and I had to buy some modelling clay to make a mould of a lock escutcheon to add to other drawers where they were missing.

We also had to pick up a couple of furniture pieces from our storage facility.

I got my clay from Hobby Lobby, a vast emporium of reproduction farmhouse furniture and every sort of craft materials you can shake a stick at, and even the stick itself.

On display were stocks of autumnal paraphernalia, and it’s not even summer yet.

These sorts of stores leave me cold, there is no soul. I enjoyed the small arts supply shops that draws you in and you can’t leave until you have bought something. I have numerous drawing pads, crayons and pastels that have yet to be used.

Fortunately there is a stationers in the town, where I used to buy the primacolour coloured pencils that I used to take back for my friend Martin.

Yesterday Kelli got some gossip from a neighbour about the noisy vehicle that has suddenly appeared across the road. Apparently it belongs to the lodger that lives there, so it won’t go away any time soon.

This brings the total number of cars over there to five, it’s like a bloody car park. Kelli will be monitoring the noise level from this vehicle, so City Hall, get ready.

14th June 2024

What a glorious day, definitely shorts weather, now this is what I like.

We even had our inaugural float in the pool. Kelli launched her new flotation device and I searched in the shed for one that didn’t have a puncture.

There wasn’t much of an appetite to do much furniture today, I potted about on the one dresser we have left to do, scraping around some fine details getting it ready for Kelli to prime.

The lake was buzzing with boats guzzling precious fuel going nowhere and looking quite pleased about it.

We sold the blanket/toy box at last, things are really slow, I’m not sure if people are putting food ahead of buying furniture, I wish they would get their priorities right.

Kelli made the first sourdough bread, after feeding the starter for five days. The smell that filled the house of freshly baked bread was wonderful. She has made bread from almond flour, and another using Eincorn flour, but sourdough is better for the digestion, and more suitable for people who are sensitive to conventional flour.

Her first attempt was really good, as she gets more confident she can make other bakery items as well.

She also made her own granola, the non grain stuff you buy in shops are so expensive, and there is so little in the packets, it’s daylight robbery in a bag.

So what she came up with used coconut flakes and various seeds and tastes terrific.

13th June 2024

We had to deliver the long white dresser this morning. It all happened quickly, this is usually the sign that something would go wrong, but they were seduce by the free delivery.

This is when we realised how heavy it was, it was solid, not in a quality material way, because the only real in it was the top, and that was a veneer.

On the way back we picked up some plants that were set by the roadside, Kelli had seen them on the way out to do the delivery, but having a full truck we couldn’t stop.

There were quite a few blackberry lilies, which, if they survive might spread like crazy, but we’ll deal with that, if they overrun, we’ll set them out by the side of the road.

I wanted to work on the cover for the raised bed.

I had some chicken wire, so I found my electric stapler and the staples.

Dealing with the wire is line handling a snake, it has a mind of its own. Eventually I positioned it where I wanted and fired in a staple. Then I stretched it and tried to fire in another staple, but nothing happened.

Was there a jammed staple? I couldn’t see anything, but it wasn’t working.

I thought that taking it apart might be the best solution, so I started to undo the eight screws holding the mouldings together.

I carefully prized the two pieces apart, suddenly all the parts fell out, oh no! Doomed.

Now I was face with the guts of my stapler in my lap, and no idea how it went together. Panic took over, I couldn’t understand how the part was designed like that. I would have expected the components to be assembled so that the top part lifted off exposing all the parts.

With a bit of thought, and trial and error I rebuilt it, refitting the eight screws, I gave it a test. One staple fired, then nothing. Removing the eight screws and lifting off the cover I discovered that the solenoid had interfered with the wires that connect to a micro switch. I noticed one of the wires had been detached from the switch.

I found my soldering iron and reattached the cable.

This time I rerouted the wires to avoid the solenoid, refitted the eight screws, and gave it another test, this time it worked, hurray!

It had only taken me an hour, only fifty eight minutes more than the six year old had taken to assemble it in the first place.

12th June 2024

Two cents?, that is what can change a day from good to bad.

Kelli had a doctors appointment, another round of resistance testing, supplement sampling and frequency adjustment, with a little bit of joint pulling thrown in.

All this went well, one supplement less and another reduced.

Then it was back to Holland to do the weeks shopping. The first one is Nature’s Market, where all the good food is selected at a premium price. All was going well until we got to the checkout. All the goods were in the paper bags and the total was calculated. At no time was this total mentioned, Kelli handed over the notes and the cashier announced that the change was ninety eight cents. Kelli said that she had the two cents, so could she have a dollar note. By this time the drawer was closed.

“Sorry, the drawer is closed, there is nothing I can do about it”

That was it, Kelli, with a face like thunder stormed out of the store leaving me to face the startled cashier.

“Oops” I said, slightly embarrassed by the scale of the confrontation. I also had to struggle with two bags of shopping.

She was angry, there was no reason why the drawer could be re opened and the change altered, but maybe due to inexperience the girl didn’t know what to do.

Anyway that put the mockers on things as we drove to the next place. I tried to make light of the situation, but it fell on deaf ears.

I even said that I would look for something that cost ninety eight cents so she could use up the change, but that was met with a stern look.

After a little while she settled back and without any issues at this checkout we drove home.

We finally sold the small dresser that had three different drawer handles in its short life. We were glad to see the back of it.

We also sold the finished the century dresser that was picked up by the customer that had commissioned us.

So a day of different emotions, “love is a battle field” queue for a song.

11th June 2024

I can be bloody minded sometimes, I know it, I can’t stop it, I just try to control it. If the truth be known everyone has the ability to be awkward and stubborn, we get to know the signs and try to avoid confrontation.

The story starts when I should have paid my American phone on Sunday, but we were at Kelli’s mums for ice cream and by the time we got to the shop, it was closed.

“Don’t worry you can pay it tomorrow” I was told.

Monday came, and I suggested that I pay my phone bill today.

“Pay it tomorrow, we’ve got to go out” I reluctantly agreed.

Tuesday came, I had a dental appointment so Kelli suggested we pay it on the way, but this is my wife, she is late for everything. Needless to say we didn’t have time, so we headed on to the dental surgery.

I was now two days late with my bill meaning I had no phone service, but I thought I could still use the internet.

Kelli dropped me at the surgery and then went off to do what Kelli does.

My appointment lasted an hour, quite long for a cleaning, but they squeezed in a couple of X-rays for good measure, and to boost the bill.

I tried to use messenger to say that I was done and waiting for collection, but I didn’t have any service. How was I going to contact my wife?

I thought that she might be at Plato’s closet, she is always there, so I walked to see if she was there. I survived crossing the big road, and made it to the shop, but she wasn’t there. I had no option but to walk back to the surgery and wait.

Now this is where my bloody mindedness came into play. I could have gone back to the surgery and asked to use their phone, but no, I wanted to wait and see how long it would take for her to get concerned and finish what she was doing and drive back to see what had happened.

I waited over three quarters of an hour before she turned up, by then I had calmed myself down.

“Why didn’t you asked to use the phone in the surgery, they have my number”.

I had no answer to that, I now looked a prat, and she knew it.

I could smell the wood burning under me, my martyrdom was a pointless demonstration of male stupidity, and I didn’t like it.

10th June 2024

A cold breeze made me realise that I should have had sleeves as we took the dogs for a walk.

We tried to start much earlier in the day, there was a lot to do this week.

The temperature is due to fluctuate quite a bit this week, although it is bearable in the sun, the shade is a different matter.

I hauled out my work coat, but as I was wearing shorts it looked like I was wearing a dress, or a flasher Mac.

I spent most of my time rebuilding the dresser I collected from Muskegon. I stripped and sanded the top which was solid walnut, the second dresser we have, and this is going to the same customer. I had to set in a piece of timber to an area where some was missing. This is satisfying work, I also had challenges with the top. It had been attached with screws, leaving large ragged holes that had to be filled.

Kelli was busy spraying a clear finish to various tops and drawer fronts.

We decided to add a darker tint to the mix, that didn’t work out as planned, so a lot of sanding will have to be done tomorrow.

9th June 2024

The worst part of outside grilling is the cleaning of the grate. It is a mindless task of scraping a rubbing to remove the remains of the last time it was used. Armed with a tin of Barkeepers Friend I polished each rung until it shone, my fingers were now ground in black, not a good look, and not easy to clean. I did light the charcoal first, therefore had plenty of time to do the cleaning operation.

“Why do you go to so much trouble, the heat will burn it off” said my wife mockingly.

“Things have to be cleaned” I replied in a rather sulking tone, meaning I wished I’d thought of that. But I continued to the end, and finished just as the coals were ready to start the cooking.

So after spending about an hour cleaning, we we ready to grill one piece of chicken, not two or three, just one, my only glimmer of joy was that there is only a small area that will need cleaning next time.

Activity in the garage was slow, however the large white dresser was finished enough to take pictures. I didn’t feel too bad it was Sunday, you know, the day of rest.

8th June 2024

Kelli has a great knack of finding stuff. Yes, she searched out the furniture, and often that leads to something else.

Recently we picked up an old desk from a house quite close. There were also various terracotta flower pots that she also grabbed.

In the various messages from the house owner we learned that there was a whole lot more things he was planning to offer us.

Well that happened today. A message came through that an old tool chest and a lot of timber was ready for us to collect. So once breakfast was over we set out on a new adventure.

We arrived to find a long bench at the end of the garden with all kinds of items stacked on it. there were a few eight foot lengths of six by twos. They went straight in the back of the truck,along with some planks of straight grain pine. The power came out to greet us and invited into his garage to view the tool box and a stack more of timber.

The tool box was old, probably made by a woodworker at the start of their career, it was solid, and heavy even without any tools in it. I don’t know how it could have been lifted by a single person once it was fully loaded.

I was not going to turn down the timber, it was old, good quality material that today costs a bomb. I have enough to fulfil all the furniture I still want to build, now I have no excuse not to start it, but hang on, I have furniture to repair.

7th June 2024

There was a full day planned, a frantic exercise in catching up.

I had wanted to complete two dressers, one that had money on it, the other to get some space.

Throughout the week we had accumulated a desk and another dresser, getting the bikes back in at the end of the day is like threading a needle.

We didn’t reach our goal, we lost a couple of days in the week, but using the weekend should put us back on track.

Kelli decided to make change to the small white dresser that hasn’t sold. She felt that a change of handles might do the trick. So with a drill, glue and dowels she plugged the old holes and a blob of Bondo. Hopefully, with painted wooden knobs it should look better.

I started the repair to the dresser that I collected yesterday. A number of the drawer runners were missing, so dragging the saw outside I quickly made some new parts.

We also managed to sell the desk even before we have done any work on it.

There was a moment of drama when a spider ran over Kelli’s foot. The scream that she let out was loud and shrill, almost a 911 call. The windows and doors rattled of the house, my ears bled, and Larry thought his time was up. In terms of frequency, it was up there with the hypersonic,but fortunately it was only a small spider, I can’t imagine what would have happed if it was a big bugger.

6th June 2024

On this memorable day eighty years ago when the allied troops sailed across the channel to liberate Europe, I also ventured into the unknown.

It wasn’t so terrifying or life threatening, but for me it was.

I may have been to Muskegon once with Kelli but this time I was going solo. My mission was to collect a dresser that was going to be finished to match one we had already sold. These would both go into the same room, so they had to have similar features.

It wasn’t a complicated journey, it was the intimidation I received by the truck drivers who were right up my rear.

Even driving within the speed limit I had the truck grill filling my rear view mirror. It is very common for them to undertake then pull in front, you have to have eyes in the back of head.

I was warned that certain parts of Muskegon were a bit dodgy, but luckily where I was going should have been a bit more affluent.

It was, the houses were large with lake views quite a desirable area.

As I pulled into the drive the garage door opened to reveal piles of unsold furniture. What I was there to collect was looking a bit sad in the corner. The middle drawer was sagging as it didn’t have any guide pieces, and areas of the top were a bit flaky, but nothing that we haven’t seen before.

I loaded the item into the back of the truck and headed back. It was forty five miles back to Holland, so with the radio playing I made my way.

In the meantime, Kelli had painted the large dresser and the drawers, and sorted out what she planned to wear this evening when we were due to meet up with Lloyd and Nancy, our new customer/ friends for dinner.

Which, by the way was great fun, another two glasses of Old Speckled Hen went down a treat.