Author: peterb51

15th May 2024

Not much was planned as far as work was concerned, although it was a busy day.

Kelli had to drop some Amazon packages to the UPS for return. You see, she doesn’t keep everything. Thankfully that doesn’t take long, then on to Plato’s for yet another bag of old clothes, I think I would be worried if we didn’t go there at least twice a month. Then it was off to Zeeland for her doctors appointment.

She keeps notes of everything that she experienced throughout the month, and the doctor has to check out all of them. It is a good way of exercising her concerns, although it hadn’t reduced the supplement intake at all.

I asked the question regarding HRT, and what benefits Kelli might get from it. I was quite surprised at his response. He explained that the treatment is not without its drawbacks, especially getting off it, and he would only support it as a last resort. He was happy that Kelli was handling the change well and as her sleep was more stable she should continue with her program.

By the time this was done we were both hungry, so we had a bite at Jo 2 Go a small snack bar back in Holland. After that it was the usual shopping expedition.

By the time we got back it wasn’t worth changing into our work clothes, so we took a bike ride instead, picking up two dozen eggs on the way. It made a change to get other things done, and tomorrow is equally as disruptive.

14th May 2024

Not everyday is the same, it’s not everyday that I zoom down the road to see if there are any eggs out for sale. I engage turbo and set off, reaching twenty miles an hour before I backed off avoiding a lady with a dog. My journey was successful, a dozen eggs were in the box waiting.

I did the return run with the same enthusiasm, reaching just over the twenty, leaving me breathless for our exercise session.

We’ve been keeping up the them as I have mentioned, but twenty minutes can be an eternity waving eight pound dumbbells around.

Our only release is shouting loudly at the instructor who Kelli calls “ Paperclip” because she is so thin, not an once of fat or any sign of muscle, it’s so annoying.

So far my morning has consisted of gasps and heavy breathing, something I could be arrested for in many states.

I did a bit more weeding around the elderberry bushes, and where I had cut them back in the autumn and left them chopped up in short pieces, where they had touched the earth, they had sprouted roots and had leaves growing from them, it was amazing. I found some old pots and planted a few of them in new soil, maybe if they continue to grow we can sell some, a nice little earner Rodney.

We finished another dresser, and took pictures once the sun had stopped making shadows on our background. It went on Marketplace straight away looking a lot different to when we got it.

13th May 2025

We headed out to the north side of Holland to look at a free dresser that was up for grabs.

This can go many ways, sometimes the piece is in perfect condition, with all the drawers sliding smoothly and very little damage. The opposite to that is total crap, with broken and missing parts where the thing should just be burnt. The one redeeming feature is if it’s solid wood then anything is possible. When we turned up at the address, the house stood out from all the rest. The houses around it were very respectable, well kept gardens and lawn, but this house looked like it was the target for a bomb run, the house was grubby, the garden was overgrown and there was junk everywhere. At the end of this unruly mess was this dresser. From the road it looked okay, similar to ones we’ve had before, but when we got closer it was awful, cheap plastic film wood grain all over. There was a little real wood, but for once I said no, we’ve polished a few turds but I wasn’t going to start rubbing this one.

So we headed back, and I started on the long black dresser we picked up a couple of days ago. This one is going to need a bit of intensive care.

I fitted the tops to the two side tables and Kelli messaged the customers who wanted it.

Then we went for a bike ride, not a long one, our bottoms are not ready for any serious rides. We took notice of the garden arrangements that we passed, just trying to get ideas for when we tackle the front garden next year. I think it will need a lot of big boulders to give the space a bit of height, that should be fun moving those around.

Kelli was busy painting, keeping the production line busy, but the humidity was slowing down the drying time, so that did limit progress.

The call of the weeds was too strong for me, after I cut the grass on the back lawn, I threw myself down on my knees and prayed to the god of trowel and dirt clearing more of the overgrowth.

12th May 2024

It was Mother’s Day over here, so that tied up our afternoon going to Kelli’s Mother’s for an ice cream feast. It was a stonkingly warm day, one of the hottest of the year so far. We spent time doing more gardening, I continued to cut new shapes on the borders, the only issue there is it will need more plants to fill it. But we all want to create our personal piece of paradise, don’t we?

The customers arrived to collect the dresser from yesterday, always a good part of the day. I helped to get it into their vehicle, and handed them the little pot of touch up, they were surprised, it was like I was giving them the elixir of life, they were so appreciative.

11th May 2024

It was the day to get some serious gardening done. I had bought six rolls of edging to put around the beds to give some definition, so a lot of shaping was needed. There was a lot of grass and weeds growing so I found myself digging and removing that as a distraction to my main task. That is what gardening means to me, I just get distracted all the time, I see a weed and have to take it out, I should have a trowel attached to my belt at all times.

Then there is the question, what is a weed? I have no idea, I carry my phone with a plant identification app on it. That is a vital piece of technology, I have been known to dig up a perfectly good shrub and toss it in the bin, not anymore.

That was the main objective of the day, and boy, don’t my knees hurt.

We had a lady come to collect a wall cabinet that we gave to Greer a few years ago when she moved into her mobile home. Since she moved back to Grand Rapids her new apartment won’t allow anything to be attached to the walls, so she gave it back to us.

In true style, if it’s in the garage, it’s for sale, so yesterday Kelli posted it on marketplace and it sold straight away.

We also posted the latest dresser, and that sold immediately as well, but I have to put a couple more coats of finish before it gets collected tomorrow.

10th May 2024

We were off to collect our new breakfast set from Hudsonville. The road closures around Holland were horrendous, and with the extra traffic caused by Tulip time it was not the best day to be out.

But first Kelli had to collect an iron plant stand.

We have quite a varied collection of plants in the sunroom, and with a couple more she found at the side of the road a couple of days ago, we needed a stand for them. “Oh what luck” I thought “ that’s exactly what we need, another plant stand”. So picking that up we learned that the seller had been a customer of ours a couple of years back, so a small world.

Getting to Hudsonville by an arduous route we saw the furniture outside in a porch. I was worried it might be too big for the space, but thankfully it seemed okay.

We drove back and installed the furniture in our sun room, then we set about sanding and painting more pieces.

Late afternoon we had the customers arrive to collect the long white dresser we sold earlier in the week.

9th May 2024

One of my all time favourite sitcom was Only Fools and Horses. I liked that Del Trotter was a wheeler dealer, and every episode had their flat decorated with different furniture, inferring that everything was for sale. Sometimes I feel like I’m living in a similar place.

A case in point, Kelli saw a small table and chairs that was being sold by a neighbour friend, and thought that would be perfect for our sunroom. However we already had a set, a glass topped table and two chair that were ideal for our breakfast. These immediately went on sale and was snapped up. So out they went and in came the new. We’ve had it for a few weeks, so today Kelli showed me a picture of another glass topped table with two chairs, telling me they were classic, and she could sell the current set and only pay a small amount to get them. It seemed that the deal had been done. Next I was told that someone was coming to get our current set, and we would pick up the new one tomorrow. Sometimes it’s hard to collect my breath. Anyway, if the truth be known I wasn’t a fan of the old set, the seat was hard, and a bit low, being used to a slightly higher and softer seat, I ending up dropping down hard, not a good thing.

I think I shall tie these to the floor to ensure they don’t move for the foreseeable future.

8th May 2024

Another turbo cycle ride before breakfast to see if there were any eggs available, only to be met with none. However the lake looked wonderful and blue, there were no boats out, probably too early for the water people. Fortunately we had enough for breakfast which was just as well because as soon as I returned home we had our weight exercises. We had continued with these for quite a while as I was determined to get rid of my chicken arms. Some days they look to be tightening up, others times they still look stringy.

The session that Kelli picked out was a twenty minute dumbbell workout with body movements as well. That is challenging for me as I lack coordination, and the desire to do any movements that could antagonise my weak knee. My eight pound weights were certainly put to good use, up, down, across, and out, it feels like hell. As the final exercise finished there is still the accomplishment of still being alive, that in itself is a positive.

We had the usual outing to the supermarkets, but the added excitement( sarcasm) of going to Plato’s for yet another selling of unused clothing from Kelli’s tardis-like closet (more sarcasm) it did give me the opportunity for another coffee, and the opportunity of hitting an old lady who had forgotten to ask for syrup in her coffee. This caused a delay that I had not factored in to my already tight schedule. I had thirty minutes to leave Plato’s, get to Starbucks, order and drink my coffee, nibbling at my blueberry scone between slurps. This delay used up several precious minutes. I certainly would have got really annoyed if they put the wrong syrup in altogether. I did calm down eventually, I set my timer and devoured my beverage.

I returned to Plato’s with three minutes to spare, this of course is a self imposed timing, designed to stop Kelli walking around the store picking out things she would then try on and eventually purchase. I think I did well, she didn’t buy anything.

7th May 2024

There was a tornado alert on my phone this morning, the forecast was for rain and thunder most of the day, hopefully that would be all.

I cycled to see if there were any eggs at the house along South Shore, but I was disappointed, we seem to go through a lot of them in a week.

I then prepared the garage for the oncoming storm by moving the bikes deep inside so Kelli could do a bit of painting.

I worked on preparing the second side table for painting then headed off to Menards to get some supplies we needed. The highway was particularly busy, because of major road works around the town. Why this time of year? people shout, well most of the damage is done during the harsh winter, but they seem to be changing over from concrete slabs to tarmac, we’ll see how that works.

I collected a small dresser from our storeroom in Kelli’s Mum’s garage, as we may have a buyer for it already, nothing like a pending sale to focus the mind.

6th May 2024

Kelli wanted a small freezer that we could fit into the storage room so that we could store any vegetables and other things for the winter.

Ideally it would be a 3.5 cubic foot unit that wouldn’t take up all the space and we don’t intend to keep a deer in it. So Kelli searched Market place and found a free one, but in my opinion it was too big, but we agreed to go and check it out, so that was the first thing on our agenda for the day.

We found the place, it was relatively close, and it was a duplex. This is two houses joined together, we would call it a semi-detached. We were told that the owner would leave it on the drive for us to look over it, but it wasn’t there. All that I could see was a brown sofa that looked like it had been attacked by a werewolf, not something I would like to sit in.

So we left to go on to the next port of call, a house that had a bag of knobs and handles.

That was easy, next was a hardware store to buy some edging for the lawn. We knew the kind we wanted but did not see any on the shelves.

I decided to ask for assistance, there was an old chap at the end of an isle but he had his back to me. I tried to make as much noise as possible in my approach so as not to frighten him to death.

I asked him for some help, nothing. I asked again this time a bit louder, still nothing. I noticed he had an hearing aid, I guess it wasn’t working. I decided to walk away and try and find someone else. The next person had perfect hearing so we explained what we wanted. Unfortunately they didn’t have them in stock but assured us they would be in stock on Wednesday. With this promise, we set off back to the house.

We finished the large dresser dragged it out and took pictures, Kelli posted it and within a few hours we had a buyer. The bench that we posted yesterday hasn’t had much interest, hopefully that will change soon.

I spent time weeding the garden, filling the wheelybin up to the rim, that will take a bit of lifting into the truck, it’s amazing how heavy grass and weeds can get.