Author: peterb51

25th May 2024

It’s gone, the shredded tree is no longer piled up in the drive. There was one last push to fill the remaining area, and the small amount left was piled in one of the compost bins for any further needs. I admit, I was glad as I swept the last remnants into the bucket, but the garden is now looking better.

Straight after breakfast we had to collect a small desk from the north side. This is the style that we have bought before that is relatively easy to convert into matching side tables.

When we arrived at the house there there were four vehicles lined up on the driveway, and two trucks in the garage, there was even white lines painted on the drive to denote each parking spot. A young lad came out to meet us, I asked him if he was also selling cars, he saw the funny side, thank goodness.

The temperature was a bit cooler, but it was still sunny, and pleasant to work in.

We stopped off at the corner shop to buy stuff for our party for Memorial Day, plus the necessary bottle of wine, this is my medicine, relieves pain and boosts my tolerance, and as I will be tending the grill I will need to be happy.

24th May 2024

I suppose it was inevitable that we would end up at a garden centre, I’m surprised that we have lasted this long. There were a few gaps in the flower beds, once we cleared the grass and weeds, that needed to be filled.

We chose today because it is the Memorial Day weekend, so tomorrow will be crazy with all the guilt riddled families buying up all the baskets and set arrangements, and the staff know it. They are smiling and chatty with everyone, the cash register are ringing constantly, and they take advantage of the relatively short season.

Our specific requirements went straight out the window as soon as we stopped the car, luckily I chose the smallest trolley, but that quickly filled. We even got a new plant for the pond, well it was for the frog actually, the existing stuff growing is a bit manky.

Once returned I continued to lay wood chips, it has made a big difference, there is definition now, the paths are places where we can walk and not hidden by the wild undergrowth.

It’s been three days hard work, but worth every drop of sweat.

There is still a pile of shredded tree in the drive, but it’s much smaller now, there is also heat coming out of the centre where the leaves are starting to rot, it a race against time before it spontaneously combusts.

There was an amazing incident that happened in the back garden.

I had been cutting the grass and I moved a bench on to some unlevel ground, Kelli went to sit on the corner, the bench flipped up and she slid gracefully on to the ground. I wasn’t sure if to laugh because she went quiet, and laughing would only heighten her embarrassment, so I thought, but then she started laughing, phew! That could have done easily gone the other way.

Fortunately she landed on grass, so no damage, except to the grass.

23rd May 2024

The wood chip mountain was as tall as ever, after our efforts yesterday it didn’t seem to make a dent.

There was a lot of work planned today, that must reduce to heap considerably.

There was another complete bed to fill, but that required removing grass and weeds first.

The city truck collected the overflowing green waste with a clunk, the lumps of sod that I had removed did weigh a lot, but as soon as the bin was emptied, I started filling it up again.

I even had to wear a wide brimmed hat, I didn’t care what I looked like but I had to protect my head.

I set about digging out parts of the old grass trying to reclaim as much dirt as I could, whilst Kelli came behind to spread the chips. Digging was the worst part, as the afternoon progressed the aches began.

I was bouncing around from one end of the garden to the next trying to give Kelli areas to work on.

I must have pulled up some plants I shouldn’t have removed, these were spotted and replanted.

We learnt the lesson about keeping up with the weeding although we had the wild look that we wanted, it needs to be managed better.

The day took its toll, we had done a lot, and the pile has visibly reduced, so another day on it will hopefully finish the job.

The early shower felt fantastic, the dirt washed away just leaving the aching joints, but it’s worth it.

22nd May 2024

Oh the routine of it all. The wood chip pile is still there, it’s looks bigger than it did yesterday.

We did the weekly shop, and then moved more materials to complete the first flower bed.

“ We must have used half of it” Kelli optimistically announced, oh no, I thought, not even a quarter.

There is still lots to cover, we did the flower circle and a small bed at the front of the house, moving closer to the half way point.

At least the weather was a little cooler, the breeze was welcomed, but I used the opportunity to burn a lot of offcuts that I’ve been meaning to do for ages.

The smell of grilled food wafted past my nostrils, it was wonderful, I can’t wait to get our grill going as Memorial Day is coming up.

21st May 2024

It was set to be the hottest day so far, so my idea was to take it as easy as possible.

The sound of tree munching was close by, we had noticed the red crosses against a few tree trunks on our walks, so it was to be expected. So with this noise in the background, Kelli made her “ I’ve just had an idea” announcement. This usually sends the dogs scuttling away, and me with the dread of having to add yet another job to my list.

“Let’s see if they will give us the wood chippings for our garden” she had heard a podcast where it was mentioned that the tree people were only to glad to give this stuff away. We got on our bikes and rode to the next street where the action was happening. The tree they were working on was enormous. There was the cutter man at the top of an extended mechanical arm chopping through the boughs and letting them drop to the ground. Others would throw it into the muncher letting it do the job of chipping it into small pieces.

In a lull of activity Kelli talked to one of the men about taking the chippings. He was happy to drive the truck to our place and dump it in our driveway.

And that is what happened, the truck arrived and dumped at least ten cubic yards on the drive, it was vast, there was enough material to raise the level of our garden another two feet.

Now we had the job of moving it, and spreading it around the garden.

On the hottest day we were lugging plastic tub fulls of wood bits and laying it in the beds. The sweat was dripping, my eyes were stinging, and I was needing to drink gallons of water to replace what I was loosing.

It was hard work, and it hardly made a dent in the mound. With the price of mulch what it is, we must have several hundred dollars worth sitting outside.

Needless to say we didn’t get much furniture done, but I did an experiment where I could use up the number of old wooden cabinet doors.

Cutting them to the same size, mitring the corners and gluing them together I turned it into a storage box, I’m not saying it won’t set the world on fire, but I have a lot of doors to do something with, and this could be a good way of using them up.

We finally sold the bench, at a bloody knock- down price, but it was sitting around, and Kelli threatened to repaint it, so taking a lower offer saved that waste of effort.

20th May 2024

It was a day of thunderstorms, one in the morning and the other late afternoon.

The rain is torrential, so heavy that the view is obscured, like looking through a sheer fabric.

The water was rushing down the road heading for the lake, the circle was complete.

I watched the radar images, the timing was spot-on.

We managed to finish one long dresser and we changed the handles on another.

There had to be a reason why it hadn’t sold, it was a safe colour, but on reflection, the handles might have been a bit heavy for the scale of the piece. We managed to get pictures before the second storm hit.

It had been a difficult night, Kelli woke up early, and not able to go back to sleep, meant she was not in the best of moods. But despite that, we got done what we needed to.

19th May 2024

The day started with an hour and a half Skype call with my friend Martin. He was early with his call, even before our breakfast. After half an hour I had to halt our conversation and pick up after our food. It was awkward because to was giving me an update to his health condition.

I knew it was bad the last time we spoke, but this time it got worse. A CT scan of his brain showed that areas were dying and affecting his lymphatic system. There is no doubt that the prognosis is not hopeful. He is suffering severe flight and fight attacks, with high anxiety and paranoia.

His doctor is requesting an MRI scan but it’s not going to change anything.

That news was not that I wanted to hear, so when I called him back we concentrated on our history together, we’ve had a lot of laughs, and shared many stories, that lightened the mood a bit, but it’s hard to accept that I will lose him soon.

I was in a bit of a reflective mood for the rest of the day, even though it was warm, and I wore shorts for the first time this year. There were tomatoes to plant and more grass and weeds to pull up.

In the afternoon we rode our bikes up to Kelli’s mother for ice cream, a welcome break from the sadness I was feeling.

18th May 2024

The police were out in force across the road. I was beginning to believe that Central Bay is a war zone. There were four police vehicles and a handful of officers armed to the teeth approaching the house. This followed wheel screeching and a lot of shouting. Kelli, as usual was at an open window trying to listen to was was being said. A couple of officers climbed the steps to the front door calling out to someone inside. The couple and their children had driven off some time before the police arrived, which left, we believe, a lodger who had been living there also. It got very confusing, and when the family returned there was a lot of talking and raised voices. Finally the police left taking their heavy artillery with them. Kelli heard the work “Warrant” which they would heed to enter the house.

Once they had left, the couple were walking about outside, trying to communicate with the person inside. That is when we got back to what we were doing. It was a hot day, great for working outside, there was staining and painting, and in between that a bit more weeding .

I even started scraping the paint off the top of the dresser that we’d collected yesterday.

I heard the sirens gradually getting closer, they blocked the end of the road and about five or six heavily armed cops crept closer to the house, some hiding behind trees in Larry’s front yard.

I joked with Kelli that it has been twice that he has had to flush his stash down the toilet only to find out that it wasn’t him they were interested in.

There was more talking and rattling of armaments but no action, eventually they left again, with no action happening. It’s frustrating not knowing the details, but there was a bit of movement of cars but nothing made any sense.

Maybe we will never get the story, I can’t imagine Kelli knocking on their door asking what happened, we will just have to wait for the next time, with their record, it will be in a couple of weeks.

17th May 2024

“The one thing you are good at is finding ways of making money” I blurted out, this was not what I had intended to say.

“The one thing I am good at!!” Kelli exclaimed,her mouth was wide open.

I meant to say “ one of the many things you are good at…” it just goes to show how a few additional words can make a tremendous difference, and avoid a punch in the mouth.

We had a good laughs about it.

The whole conversation started because we collected a free dresser from an address in Saugatuck that we had visited before. The owners had a garage of furniture from a second home that they had sold. We loaded up the dresser and a blanket chest, but the rest of the furniture they planned to sell on Marketplace.

There didn’t seem to be a lot of excitement in the lady’s voice, so on the way back Kelli hatched a plan to offer her services to post the furniture and to take a commission. I thought it was a good idea and made the compliment, which didn’t come out right.

I guess I will be ribbed For a long time, as “ Golden tongue Pete”

Later in the afternoon I met up with my new friend Lloyd for couple of beers. As we were engrossed in deep conversation, I felt a tap on my shoulder, I turned to see someone I didn’t recognise, he then introduced him self in the Geordie accent I did remember, it was John O’Hara. He was surprised to see me, so I gave him the quick version of how I got here, then, after sharing a “great to see you” he went back to his table outside.

Two beers later I said bye to Lloyd, then we both went to the gents, funny that.

I walked outside and saw John sitting at a table with Mark McNally, I walked over to say hi and Mark explained that he just “retired” from Herman Miller.

Of all the time I’ve been here I hadn’t bumped into anyone I knew that worked for Herman, yet today I saw five, as the people who gave us the dresser had also worked there in the past, funny old world ain’t it?

The squirrels around here are always emptying our bird feeders, and they are so blatant about it. We always joked about getting something to scare them off, so a bought a catapult. It’s not a professional type of titanium and carbon fibre, it’s just made out of wood. Ever since it arrived I have tried to hit something, with no success at all. I can’t even hit our postbox.

The squirrels still persist, safe in the knowledge that we couldn’t hit a barn door even if we were standing in front of it.

However, whither it was a fluke, but Kelli fired off a shot at a blighter that was upside down on the feeder. Twack! It hit the target. It flew off and ran off like a scalded cat. Kelli couldn’t believe that she hit it, and I was amazed as well. We high fived each other, it was more the fact that we had hit something, rather than what we hit, but for the rest of the evening she was concerned about the wellbeing of the creature.

16th May 2024

We had a second lesson at the range. Now that we are members, this was the first opportunity to fire off a few more rounds.

We stopped off at a store called Bullethole to pick up some proper ear protection and some training rounds, then it was off to the Chickowa sporting club. The weather was perfect, drove through the gate and down to one of the available ranges. James, our instructor was waiting. After a bit of pre-amble we got down to some serious shooting. One of the targets showed an armed assailant aiming at us, he was who we had to focus on, and not the lady assistant standing behind him.

Kelli did really well, grouping the shots ensuring that he would never rob a store again. I on the other hand didn’t do so well this time. I had trouble with my grip, and I wasn’t so relaxed as I should have been. But we did some damage and created quite a pile of brass casings that no doubt will get recycled.

I only managed to do a little work in the garage before we had to leave, and there wasn’t much time after, so a casual day.