Author: peterb51

22nd January 2024

There is one thing that gets my goat, when someone beats us down on price then asks for change.

Kelli accepted a much lower figure for the pair of matching side tables that we had for a while with few takers. We needed the space and she accepted and offer of ninety dollars. When the couple arrived they waved a hundred dollar bill and asked if we had a ten. Stupid me said yes.

As they travelled from Grand Rapids, I should have said no, would they have passed on the deal? I should have tested that.

We made a start on a large dresser that we got free a couple of days ago. It’s not a particularly quality piece with a label “Made in Malaysia” all the drawers had ball slides in various stages of disintegration, some had been replaced, but the cost of replacements would not make it profitable. We had some roller slides that, I hope will be good replacement. The drawer fronts we heavy, they were made up of three shaped blocks that were nailed to an MDF backer. The idea is to strip each piece and re-stain them, so a lot more sanding to come.

21st January 2024

I did another driveway clearing job after the big snowplough had cause a huge bank to close off our entrance. I’d also made a cutting so that the post man could get to our box, the snowplough man laughed at my pathetic attempt, and filled it back up with snow and ice. After many passes, and some replacement batteries I recut it. Now the bank is nearly two feet tall, but I felt better that I had made the job of the postie a lot easier.

I had to walk to the corner store to buy toilet paper. Now was my chance to get the good stuff and not the thin cheap stuff Kelli gets. There’s so much choice, from transparent (the kind Kelli gets) right up to paper you can make clothes from, that’s a little too thick. I chose the kind in the middle. The walk there was exhausting, I don’t know if it was the weight of the boots I was wearing, or the uneven surface of the in ploughed pavement, but it took a toll.

The walk back was even worse, and at the end of it Kelli was offended that I carried the toilet paper WITHOUT A BAG for all to see. Everyone knows what toilet paper is used for, clogging toilets.

We had Gill, Chris and Morgan over for dinner, always good to see them. Kelli made a chicken stew and baked some bread rolls to go with it. It was so good it was almost a shame to share it with them. Of course I don’t mean it, well, maybe a little bit.

We did sell the dresser that we posted yesterday. I had the pleasure of clinching the deal, which wasn’t difficult. Well I didn’t do anything, she said she’ll buy it straight away, job done.

20th January 2024

It started snowing early and continued all day. It was light flurries followed by heavy falls.

We had a customer coming to collect the double bed frame that we have been sitting on for a couple of weeks. This meant getting out early to clear the driveway, there was about two inches, so only taking ten minutes to do it.

Just after 10.00 a truck turned up, not the best choice considering the weather, but what can I say.

Once loaded, they set off with the bed frame open to the elements.

There was a couple more snow blowing bouts, must have been twelve inches throughout the day.

I ventured out in the truck, which was daring, there were a couple of”whiteout” sections where the road hadn’t been ploughed and the snow blizzard was in full force. Most sensible people stayed home, I don’t blame them.

When I got back home I was greeted with the aroma of freshly baked bread, there is nothing that beats a slice of a warm loaf with butter, yum!

19th January 2024

We had something different for breakfast, German pancakes. I never heard of them, but Kelli trawling through Pinterest found a recipe, and decided to try it.

She mixed up some batter and poured it into a heated dish lined with butter, after twenty minutes there was a German equivalent of a Yorkshire pudding, but lighter and a little less crunchy, but absolutely delicious.

That was a great start to the day.

During breakfast we catch up on the latest news via the alternative media, get a little depressed, and then get ready to do work in the garage.

There was one dresser that needed finishing and another the paint.

We did venture out into the tundra with the dogs to go to the corner shop, thank goodness for warm clothes. I could feel reality on my face, it was cold, my nose froze but kept running.

Once we got back we took pictures of the new dresser and posted it.

18th January 2024

This is the kind of weather that Tesla owners hate, the cold drains batteries and therefore reduces their range. Therefore the big burly bushy bearded Trump supporters in their gas guzzling V8 trucks laugh in deference.

I’m reading an autobiography of Elon Musk at the moment, and although he has a brilliant mind his empathy with his employees is shit.

His record of investing in startups, pissing everyone off, then taking over the business is legendary.

Thankfully I’m not like that, which is why I’m not a billionaire.

Talking of which, we delivered the large dresser to a place in Jenison, it was the second time in so many days that we had loaded it into the truck, but this time it was a firm sale.

I helped move it into the house, down the stairs into the basement, my favourite place.

Fortunately there was no damage to the walls or to me, so I call that a success.

On the way back Kelli had arranged a pick up of a free dresser in Zeeland. This, like most freebies this comes with challenges. The drawers operate on ball slides many of which are slightly buggered.

Kelli managed to give another coat of paint to a dresser, she had the garage door open, and it was cold. It was a case of spraying as quickly as you can and straight away closing the doors. It is still cold but more bearable, then it was into the house to warm up.

17th January 2024

There was blue sky this morning, making the snow scene beautiful, it was a bit warmer than yesterday, but still bloody cold.

Breakfast was a bit sad as we had run out of everything, but this is something that happens every week.

Wednesday is shopping day, that is a trip to the bank, and then on to Nature’s Market which is conveniently next to the bank Kelli had forgotten the list of things she needed, so we had to go all the way back to collect it. We then retraced our steps, and collected all the required produce. We picked up two pack of the flour that Kelli uses to make the amazing bread.

Then on to Aldi for the bulk of the shopping. The contents of our trolley looks pathetic against some of the other shoppers, but we pride ourselves on quality not quantity.

16th January 2024

Nicely refreshed from a good nights sleep, I was ready to tackle the O2 website.

Amongst my other issues, I couldn’t seem to use my new phone to call the UK, so I needed to check if my plan had that option.

I repeated using the virtual assistant, typing my question simply hoping to get some help.

Back came the vague answer that wasn’t useful at all, but embedded in the reply was another clue to aid my quest. Apparently there was another process for communicating with an actual assistant, but first I had to find it.

More by luck that judgment I managed to find my way in.

I started my messaging by asking my simple question, I could tell that there was a human on the other end. Within minutes I had the confirmation I needed that my contract included international calls, so why wasn’t it working?

What came back was a detailed troubleshooting list, including removing the SIM and cleaning it, another was to reset to the phone.

Well I did both these, and it worked!!!

The assistant made the fatal mistake of asking if there was anything else he could help with.

I cheekily I asked if he could unlock my old phone.

He responded by saying he could, and once I gave him the phone’s IMEI number he set about booking it in, I guess it was too much to ask for them to do it straight away, but at least it’s being done.

So whilst I’m waiting for the code to do the unlocking I got on with other stuff.

We were due to deliver a large dresser, but the person cancelled at the last moment, this did piss us off as we had loaded it into the truck.

Needless to say we blocked her for ever seeing our posts again, we don’t these people.

15th January 2024

Technology has never been a friend to me, although I’ve embraced it, there is something about it that will bite me every time.

When I was in the UK, I upgraded my iPhone, but I brought my old one with me intending to get a sim to use it here.

Well today was the day when I took it to the store to get things sorted.

I thought it was fully charged, so the only thing I was able to do was walk out with the phone and the card to charge everything when I got home.

That is when I hit the first problem, the SIM card was not recognised by the phone.

I was sure that it had been unlocked after all the data had been transferred, but maybe it hadn’t.

So I spent the evening looking for information to do it.

YouTube wasn’t much help, there were many “dudes” spouting bollocks on screens I didn’t recognise, so I gave that up.

I went on the O2 website which was as clear as mud also. The so called standard questions did not apply to me and the virtual assistant didn’t, it kept going around in circles, in the end I gave that up until tomorrow when I will have a clear head ready to take on the establishment again.

On a lighter and more happy note, we delivered the cedar chest back to its owner. She was delighted because she hadn’t seen it in its plain cedar colour for sixty one years. That was a great start to the day, and made the drive in the snow worthwhile.

Talking of snow, the old plough has been busy, I have been out there twice a day, the snow continues to fall in light flurries making it light work for the machine.

The warmth of the home and the smell from the kitchen helps me forget the cold, and sets me up for an evening to chill.

14th January 2024

The snow continued to fall, my freshly ploughed drive was covered again.

After breakfast I dressed up in artic gear and set about clearing the drive once more. It was much easier, there was about an inch and a half, so I did that in ten minutes.

Productivity in the garage has been steady, but finally two pieces came off the line.

There was a long dresser and two side tables. Originally Kelli wanted to sell them as a set, but at the last minute split them.

I also got close to finishing the cedar chest that I want to deliver tomorrow.

There was another glorious smell of bread baking in the kitchen, this stuff is good.

The trouble is she needs to bake bread every other day, so we need a constant supply of the flour.

13th January 2024

It managed six inches, so much for that boast of eighteen. However it was time to get the snow blower out of hibernation. With two fully charged batteries I set out to clear the driveway.

I knew within two feet that this was going to be hard. The blower was designed for about two inches, tackling six was a lot to ask.

What made it worse was it had frozen overnight giving my machine a massive mountain to climb.

It was easier to take it in small bites, anything greater would make the motor cut out.

I was doing quite well, I manage to clear all the snow from the garage forward, the real hard stuff was at the end where the drive met the road. The snow ploughs had heaped a mound of tightly packed ice like a scale model of the Alps.

I could feel the little blower was having a hard time. I was expecting the blade to shatter into a million pieces, but what let me down was the batteries. I rushed into the garage to get another two, putting the spent ones on charge, but they were hot, and the light on the charger was red instead of green, they had to cool off first.

I loaded the fresh batteries into the blower and continued to chip away at the small mountain range at the end on the drive.

Slowly I made progress, the horrible sound of plastic blade on ice was terrifying but eventually I got through.

Now I just had to clear the snow on the other side of the car. I managed to get one full strip done before the second set of batteries ran out.

At that moment the next door neighbour arrived back. He must have been impressed with my efforts because I heard him start his snow blower up. He had a gas guzzling monster that shook the windows of all the houses nearby. It tore through the snow and ice like it was sand. He did his entire driveway in a quarter of the time it took me to do three quarters of mine.

I just had the satisfaction that he would be poisoned by the fumes and die years before me, although with the effort I had to exert, I might get a heart attack at about the same time.

I finished the drive way eventually, but if there is going to be more snow, I need to clear it as it lands.