Author: peterb51

1st May 2024

Five months in and what have we got? Well it was a warm day well into the mid sixties and just the job to go shopping. Kelli had arranged to collect some cushion covers from an address close to the edge of Lake Michigan, in other words the stonking rich area. Some of the houses are vast, and really over the top. People rarely have ten kids anymore, so it’s more like showing off.

The place we were looking for had a copper roof above the entrance, very nice, just waiting to be stripped off in the middle of the night and taken to the local scrap metal dealer. Not that it happens here, I’m amazed that building materials are left overnight without fear of them being stolen.

We did our usual shopping trip at the two stores, I had joy at finding another cart with the coin stuck in it, well it’s only twenty five cents, but it the feeling of getting something for nothing.

We returned home, had some lunch then got straight into doing some gardening. It just wasn’t worth starting any furniture jobs, so it made sense to clean up the front area where the wild flowers are, although it looks a bit sad except where the bluebells are starting to flower.

I even managed to cut the grass at the front and back, I was on a roll, and at the end felt quite an achievement.

30th April 2024

It really feels like we’re heading into full spring, the sun bursts through the bedroom window, and the dogs cannot wait to rush out and water the grass.

I made a start on the two bedside tables, scraping and sanding, wait a minute, that’s what I do on every piece, it’s about time I did something special.

Over breakfast we listen to any alternative news, I am sick and tired of the Biden/ Trump crap, both are useless old men, and if that’s the best that’s on offer, load the fan up now.

There is a lot of news filtering through of the potential damage done by the Covid vaccine, most countries around the world have recorded surges in unexplained deaths, more of this will come out I’m sure.

We made the decision to have dinner out, we invited our friends from up the road Scott and Karen to join us. We went to the Paisley Pig just along the road, when we arrived the car park was very full, and when we walked in we could see why. It was around five thirty and there were old people everywhere, the late afternoon sun was glinting off the mass of white and silver hair, I had to keep my sunglasses on whilst being led to our table.

However we all blended in well, and had a fun packed dinner.

29th April 2024

Spring is the time when the gardens come to life, the daffodils and the blankets of small wild flowers growing in the lawns. For the short time that they soften the landscape everything looks natural, that is until the lawnmowers are let loose.

We were taking the dogs for walk to the corner store when we passed a large house with a substantial garden laid to lawn, this was covered by a blanket of small purple flowers.

As we passed, the man of the house was mowing these down. Kelli almost went into a rage at the sight for these blooms being destroyed.

It’s so important for the bees to have a source of food, and all this guy was concerned was how his grass looked. As of yet we don’t have many flowers in our lawn apart from dandelions, but while they are in bloom we are doing our bit to feed the creatures.

I finished the dining table, loaded it up into the truck and delivered it to Mantesh up the road.

I took it up in pieces and reassembled it on site.

He was very pleased with how it turned out, I was pleased, and it gave us more space to work in the garage.

28th April 2024

Not a brilliant night, Kelli didn’t sleep well, the weather is rather humid which didn’t help.

I did a bit of work in the garage, mainly getting the table ready for finishing.

We are nearly finished with a dresser that I cut down from a tall combo unit. Kelli uses a dirty yellow with a stripped oak top, it’s a bit of a risk, but we have to try something to jazz things up a bit.

We had an ice cream party at Kelli’s mums house, taking the opportunity to store two dressers that Kelli collected of Saturday while I was getting merry with Lloyd.

I wanted Sundays to be a rest day, I have a number of books to read and of course the garden to tidy. That’s on the list when it’s not raining, which it is today.

I’m amazed how quickly the trees change, I’ve just looked out of the window and green is everywhere, it’s such an energising effect, if only it stopped raining.

27th April 2024

The mid century style dresser was picked up, and also a king size bed frame giving us a good start to the day.

It was windy all day, the blossom from one of our trees fell like snow on all surfaces, but unlike snow it didn’t melt, it stayed there. I managed to stain the dining table but was unable to apply the finish with all the crap flying about.

Kelli did manage to put a final coat on a small dresser, so not all was lost.

I was due to meet Lloyd at the Curragh the Irish pub in the town, the streets were heaving so I was concerned it we could even get a seat.

I had a pint of Old Speckled Hen and waited for my guest to arrive. I was a little apprehensive as I had only spoken to him briefly once, but he had worked for Baker furniture in Holland so we had something in common.

Once he arrived we started talking, and it turned out to be one of the best afternoons I’ve had in a long time. I learned that he worked at Herman Miller in the late eighties working on the shells of the Eames lounge chair, sanding and applying the gun oil to bring out the grain. He was very proud of every one he finished, but he left soon after the line was sold off to another manufacturer. He lamented the change to the company once “the people from New York” took over.

We talked for over two hours and consumed a few pints as we did so. He is a couple of years older, but we grew up in the same era of music which I’m sure we will talk more about at another time.

26th April 2024

Life is strange, I spent yesterday ranting about the lack of “friends” inviting us out, and blow me, I had a call tonight asking that I meet up for a beer tomorrow. This is an older guy I only met this week when we delivered all that furniture to the small cupboard storage unit.

It took me completely by surprise because he rang on my American phone, the first one I’ve had. So stunned was I , I had forgotten how to answer it. I must have sounded like a complete idiot, but he persisted and we agreed to get together at the Irish pub in town.

Earlier this morning we had a couple arrive to collect the long light green dresser, a welcomed sale. We are hoping that the blue mid century dresser gets picked up tomorrow.

There was a lot of activity in the garage with Kelli painting a small dresser and I took apart the bench we picked up by the side of the road in the week. The paintwork was flaking and easy to strip, but somehow the black dust covered my face and made me look like a panda.

We managed to drive down to the beach to give the dogs a good walk. It was a sunny day just right for a stroll amongst the dunes. No doubt the bulldozers will be out smoothing out the sand ready for the holiday season.

On the way back Kelli noticed that Dhama was hanging back, I was in charge of her, and didn’t notice that she was laying dog eggs on the pathway, of course these were quickly bagged up, but then it had to be carried unceremoniously back to the truck. There is nothing I like worse than holding a bag containing dog dods, other than scooping it. So an interesting day full of variety.

25th April 2024

What is real friendship? Since I’ve been here, I have noticed that family is more significant than friends, as one would expect. But I’ve noticed that if you don’t put yourself forward, and invite people we know, out for dinner, or generally hang out, no one reciprocates. It’s always us that makes the first move, and it’s bugging me.

We always have a good time with people, plenty of conversation and laughter, all feeling perfectly normal, but at the end we go our separate ways, promising to get together again soon, but nothing happens.

I noticed that when I used to go to the Design Yard for meetings everyone was friendly and helpful, but as soon as I walked out through the door I was forgotten.

Does there have to be an “angle”? Do people use friendship to get advantage? are we only attractive if we have something to offer? That I’m not sure. I have spoken in the past that “ putting the kettle on” over here is an unknown concept, you might get too comfortable, and stay too long.

There are a few that I know here that I believe are genuine up to a point, they live in their bubble of politics and religion and keep others at arms length.

We have started an experiment to see of our “friends” if any will invite us out without prompting, I have suspicions that none will.

And that will prove that there is no soul here, “have a good day” is a hollow saying, in the same way as “take care” doesn’t mean they do.

In the end it’s not the end of the world, I have Kelli, and she has me, that’s all we need.

But it does raise another question, maybe they just don’t like me?

24th April 2024

Another Wednesday in my life, and predicted visit to Aldi. What joy there is finding a coin left in the shopping trolley, but also the guilt of taking it. I established the reason why it was left in the slot, it was jammed. Now it didn’t take a rocket scientist to work out how to free it, because I’m not, but using basic engineering knowledge I wiggled it free. Imagine my delight when I found another trolley with the same issue. But rather than getting drunk on my success, I left it for another problem solver to remove it.

Kelli insisted that I leave the coin on the window sill by the trolleys. I reluctantly did on the proviso that if it was still there when I returned the trolly, I would take it.

However guilt took a hand and I left it for someone less fortunate than myself, my good deed for the day.

I was fortunate to visit Starbucks on my own while Kelli took even more old clothes to Plato’s, I think they should rename the place to incorporate the name of its major benefactor.

I had thirty minutes to get to the place have my beverage and return. It gets so serious that I have to set my timer, if I don’t, I run the risk of Kelli finding more clothes to buy, thus defeating the point of going there in the first place.

Fortunately she only found a couple of things, and as they had a seventy percent off sale it wasn’t as expensive as it could have been.

Once that was over we had to collect a large umbrella to for our outdoor dining table. We planned to do it yesterday, but neither of us had the exact money, correction, I didn’t have the correct money.

It always takes us most of the day to do the shopping stuff, so little gets done in the garage.

Kelli had planned to make spaghetti bolognaise, a simple dish, meaning we had some time to put the finishing touches to the two dressers that hopefully will be picked up on Saturday, I say hopefully because we know what the bloody Dutch Hollanders can be like.

23rd April 2024

We finally moved some of the pieces we had been storing for a lady who lived in Florida, but was moving back to Holland. We agreed to meet at a nearby storage facility where they had rented a room. When we got there the lady and her husband let us into the compound, and led us to their rental space. I don’t think you could rent a smaller place, it was like walking into a cupboard. Considering we were delivering a dining table and four chairs, two dressers and two side tables, and a headboard, although we hadn’t started that yet, we would be lucky if we would get it all in. But that wasn’t really our problem, we needed the space and it was a relief to get it out of our hands. The couple were moving back after living in Florida for the last six years, they still had a house to sell there, and somewhere to buy here, not an easy task, as property in Holland is expensive and very difficult to find.

Still we managed to squeeze most of the pieces into the space, with just one more dresser to go.

I managed to strip the second half of the table, and bought the materials to finish it.

It was rather windy, which meant most of the sanding dust blew away, fortunately in a different direction.

22nd April 2024

It was start the table day, first it had to be stripped down, and because it was sunny I could work on it outside.

I was told it was solid maple, so I set about scraping the old finish off.

I was able to remove it very easily, and it was solid, but not solid maple. It was soft and sanded very easily, it was pale, more like poplar.

I managed to strip one half very quickly giving me time to do a bit of weeding in the garden.

Kelli had finished the mid century dresser so we took pictures outside, it wasn’t the best example to begin with, so I hope someone out there likes it.