Author: peterb51

21st April 2024

Finally I did some garden work. After a long winter time I got the chance to cut down the grasses and sweep up the leaves that we heaped onto the flower beds. Having a large garden area will take quite a time to clear, so I’ll have to dedicate a bit of time each day to the garden. It was a sunny day, but cold, it was definitely coat weather although the top of my head got the sun, ouch! When I got into the shower.

Kelli wanted to paint the mid century dresser, which came out well, the piece wasn’t the best quality, and the original paint finish was terrible, but after a lot of sanding and filling we got it the best we could.

There seems to be more activity over the road. After the guy’s wife was taken away by the police Friday. The guy himself was walking about in shorts and tee shirt, which as it was cold was not the attire to be wearing. Later he walked back, got in his Jeep and went tearing down the road, he arrived back some time later. The house remained in total darkness for the rest of the evening and into the night. This is a family that are never about, their children play outside but we hardly ever see the parents, I know that Kelli is dying to find out what is going on.

20th April 2024

There’s never a dull moment, or so it seems here in Holland. Kelli had bought another dresser that had to be collected today.

As we were running on fumes, we had to get fuel first. After handing over a twenty to a lady with more piercing than a porcupine, I pumped the gas. Then it was off to find the house with the dresser. It looked quite substantial and it took a bit of effort to get it into the truck, but it was yet another long one. Stopping off at Menards for some supplies we headed back.

I, as usual was minding my own business when the sharp eyes of my wife spotted a bench by the side of the road. My only inclination that something was up was the sudden about turn, and sprint back the way we came.

Then I saw it sitting next to the road. The truck suffered to a stop in a driveway next to the piece. Kelli jumped out to talk to a girl working on the front door. I could see how the discussion was going so I got out the car to look over the bench. The paint was chipped around the seat, but otherwise it was in good shape. However there was no room in the back, therefore the only option was the roof. We strapped it down with bungees and drove back looking like the Beverly Hillbillies were back in town.

Once we were back I had to take the desk apart that we got yesterday. Kelli managed to get a sale for the side tables from a lady that bought a dresser from us a couple of days ago, she also possibly sold the bench to the same person, funny how things turned out.

The desk was a bugger to take apart, there were hidden screws and nails holding it together, but it succumbed to my delicate hands, and a large mallet.

A totally unplanned project was the repainting of the bookcase in our living space. Kelli wanted to change the colour because there were to many pieces within the same colour range, so while we were at Menards we chose one, and she couldn’t wait to try it.

Everything had to stop for this, but it turned out well, and now we can concentrate on our real jobs.

19th April 2024

There was drama at Central Bay this evening.

Two police vehicles were parked on the road opposite our house. Kelli was at the window trying to listen to what was being said, even opening the windows slightly for a bit more clarity. The officers were over at the house opposite, but slightly further up talking to the owner. Later the owner’s wife was led in handcuffs to one of the police cars. By now Kelli was going crazy to find out what was happening. We didn’t hear any disturbance, so it remains a mystery.

Normally it’s Larry’s place that get the visit from the constabulary, he must have breathed a sigh of relief on that one.

We drove down to Saugatuck to collect a small desk that we will convert into matching side tables, our usual repurpose.

I went a bit wild and cut in half the large heavy piece we picked up from Hudsonville. We had decided to convert it into just a dresser. We thought this might work for a customer who wanted something for their boys room. When we learned that it wasn’t what they wanted, we decided to repurpose it.

It was a well made piece, but with careful measuring I managed to get both sides the same dimension. I did-assembled what I could, taking off the top, doors and shelf, keeping all the solid oak pieces for other jobs.

Kelli finished the dresser from yesterday, so we took pictures and on to marketplace it went.

We then started on the mid century piece, this needs a lot of love because it was originally painted with a roller, and that really hard to smooth out.

18th April 2024

Well the secret of what was on the micro cassette can be revealed.

Finally I had a machine that could play it, so we wasted no time to insert the tape and press play.

It turned out to be an answering machine tape with a number of short messages on it.

The most interesting was from a lawyer who was mumbling something, but ended with “ and if I don’t hear from you I will pass the information to the authorities”. It’s a shame that we will never know what the information was, but maybe we don’t want to know, but what an anti climax, and why was it hidden?

After that earth shattering revelation we got on with our work.

We worked on a long dresser that hopefully will be finished and posted tomorrow.

Mantesh, the Indian guy from up the road stopped in to ask about the dining table he wanted finishing, I agreed to drive up to collect it later. He was off to California for a few days so wanted it started whilst he was away.

I drove up to his house, and was greeted by him at his front door. There was no sign of his wife, who was probably hiding in the bedroom, she apparently is not very sociable, according to their neighbours.

The table was quite substantial and manufactured by a good company, so I look forward to starting on that one.

Later, when I was closing up and putting the pieces back in the garage, a lady approached me and said that she had bought a piece from up in the past and asked if I could refinish her dining table. Never to turn a job down, I explained our workload and we agreed that I could take it on sometime in May. I guess our reputation is spreading.

The customers came for the piece that they commissioned us to repurpose for them.

And typical I didn’t take a picture of it.

It turned out pretty good, and at least they were delighted with it.

17th April 2024

It’s no surprise that life is a routine thing, there are days that merge into each other, and slip away without any significant differences.

I try to observe differences when we do the shopping, I smile when my accent is noticed, after all it’s the only one I have. I sometimes forget where I am, only brought back to reality by the throaty sound of the V8 trucks.

I have been trying to connect with my friend Chris who I had done a lot of recording with before I moved over here. It’s funny, I seemed to have more time when my visits were short. Now that I have my local phone we have started messaging trying to find this elusive time when we can meet.

We did finally get the large and very heavy furniture piece out of the truck. We think we can repurpose it as a child’s wardrobe and dresser, I bloody hope so. It’s not something I would like to keep moving around.

We made a bit of progress in the garage, finishing off a piece that is due to be picked up tomorrow, and if the weather stays dry we could have another ready by the end of the week.

16th April 2024

There was an early start to the day, and the sun was still shining.

I worked on the top finish for the commissioned piece, and there was a lot of sanding to another dresser we collected recently.

Kelli was still suffering from a head cold she must have caught from me. I deny it of course because it’s been a couple of weeks since I had mine.

However that had slowed her down, but production hasn’t been bad.

Spring is a time to take stock and plan, the trees are starting to have a green tint, so in a couple more weeks the season will move into top gear.

It will be soon time to get the e-bike out of hibernation, get the batteries charged and tyres pumped up, this I’m looking forward the most.

There are lots of plans for the garden, these will be tackled as finance allows.

15th April 2024

Oh what a sunny day it is, Kelli has a list of places to go, so let’s get started.

Of course we were running late, the clock in the house is running slow, possibly caused by her cramming cotton wool in the back to quiet it down when she had trouble sleeping.

That is still weird to me, electric clocks hardly makes any noise, but she could hear it.

So we were already late. She wanted to go to Plato’s to sell some more of her unworn clothes, but we discovered that Chicago Drive was being dug up, so we had to detour. The trouble with that is everybody has to do the same thing.

A side note, earlier as we drove through town, I noticed this young kid, he looked about twelve, driving a flashy Lexus. I remarked that he must have stolen it, or was a trainee pimp or drug dealer. At that point, Kelli accused me of being a horrible person for making those accusations.

I replied that I’m British, and that’s what we do.

Normally young kids drive cars that look they’ve been in a war zone, and if they don’t have any dents or scratches they will hit a tree so they don’t stand out.

Anyway, because we had to join a long queue on the detour, I noticed this kid in the car in front of us again, I started up the tirade again, which killed a bit of the time we’re were stuck in the queue. Kelli was not impressed because it was now too late to get to Plato’s. She decided to drive straight to her doctors appointment which was the next thing on her list.

We arrived five minutes late, but it didn’t stop him giving her the rough treatment. I find it quite relaxing to watch someone else getting manipulated.

Once that was over we drove, yet again to Hudsonville to collect, from the same house, another piece of free furniture, at this rate we’ll have everything in their house.

It was a heavy bugger, but Kelli had a plan. She had been asked by a customer if we had, or could find a tall dresser, well this was that, hopefully it will be acceptable.

We then drove back to Plato’s for Kelli to deposit her clothes whilst I went for a coffee.

With little of her stuff selected we then drove to HR Block to sort out her tax return.

What a dull place full of dull people doing a dull job, I was glad to get out of there. They used Action office in the most unimaginable way, but that was par for the course.

14th April 2024

Kelli had an awful night, she suspected it was an allergy attack brought on by dust from a dresser she was painting. She spent most of the night sneezing and blowing her nose. It made it difficult to function properly during the day.

But one good news was we sold the long dresser. We have a total of two more being worked on, and then she found a third that we had to collect.

The commissioned piece is coming along, I drilled the holes for the shelves with just the top to stain and finish.

It was a glorious day, the sun was shining and I had to abandon my coat.

There was bad news from Matt, Kelli’s brother, they had to have their small yorkie/ schnauzer put down. He used to be the entertainment at the family get togethers, all it wanted to do was chase after a tennis ball and bring it back, dropping it at your feet wanting to do it all over again. At times it was bloody annoying, so I tried to throw it to places where the little bugger would have difficulty finding, but I failed every time.

So future get togethers will be quieter, but the tennis ball will remain as a testament to Mr Mick.

13th April 2024

It was the time of year to give the front lawn its first treatment of organic growth solution.

I have followed the same course for a few years, and I’m not really sure it makes a vast difference.

Why would I continue? I hear you say, I guess I alway wanted a good lawn, and at the start of the season it looks its best, as the seasons progress it gets to look a bit tired, and that is where it needs a boost.

Most of the other properties around have regular treatment from the many landscape businesses that are around, but they use toxic chemicals that are not safe for anyone, in fact they have to post signs warning people to keep off.

Our place is a haven for all creatures large and small, the autumn leaves are heaped on the beds as a place for bugs to live through the winter. The downside is the place looks untidy, but I am assured that as soon as the temperature stays in the fifties for a week or so the big clean up can begin.

12th April 2024

The saga of the tape continues. We picked up the tape player, but we were warned that it didn’t work.

They were right, it didn’t. I suspected it was the belt, they usually stretch and not elastic any more, so we are no closer to finding out what is on it.

We drove back up to Hudsonville this time to collect some outdoor furniture for our deck. There was a table and three chairs, we don’t have many people coming over, so three is just fine for us.

Once back we did more work to the mid century dresser, trying hard to salvage something.

We had a near miss road rage incident when an old guy ignored a stop sign, luckily Kelli slammed on the brakes, but there was a lot of hand gestures and heated language. I was more concerned that he might have a 357 magnum in his glove box, you can’t be sure in this country.