Author: peterb51

12th January 2024

The weather forecast today was grim, there was eighteen inches of snow and fifty miles an hour winds expected, but it hadn’t started yet.

We had a dresser to pick up, and just as we set off, the snow and wind started.

It started off quite normal, the GPS was spitting out directions as normal, but then things took an odd twist. The order came through to take a right turn into a cemetery which we okayed. We drove down the track between the graves trying to understand what was happening. This didn’t make any sense, there were no dressers propped against any grave stones.

Then in desperation we drove out and took the closest right turn, the guess was correct, the address that we were looking for was just the other side of the fence.

The dresser was in a downstairs basement, my favourite location, but with shear determination I got it up the stairs. The only consolation was, if I died in the attempt, I was certainly in the most convenient place.

Whilst we were out, our other mission was to look for a Dutch oven. Kelli has decided to have a go at making bread. Driven by the high price of almond flower made loves, and the physical size of the them,(each slice was less than two inches square) she searched for a recipe using an organic old grain flour.

We had bought that and the yeast yesterday, and she set about making the dough.

We had to leave it for three hours to rise up or something. By the time we returned it had taken over the house! Well not quite, but it had risen a lot.

We tried to find a Dutch oven because the recipe called for it, so in good American tradition we went to Goodwill. Unfortunately there was nothing. Then we went to another thrift place, but it was closed due to the weather.

Finally we tried an upmarket resale store, a place with a better class of tat. They didn’t have any either. By now desperation was setting in, “Let’s try downtown” I said knowing that it would probably cost ten times more, but the snow was falling faster and there was spaghetti left overs in the fridge. That shop were closed as well, my wallet gave a sigh of relief.

“Surely your mother must have something we could borrow” I asked. Kelli sent a message and we waited for a reply.

Needless to say we stopped there to pick up a dish with a lid that should do the job.

So Kelli peeled the risen dough from the basin and placed it into the dish, placing the lid on top, putting it into the oven, for twenty five minutes.

It was like watching paint dry waiting for the timer to ring, then it was another five minutes with the top off.

The house was smelling like a bakery, so wonderful.

As the dish was pulled from the oven we could see the beautiful form of the loaf appear, slightly brown on the top, it was placed on a wire rack to cool. However we couldn’t wait, Kelli hacked off a piece covering it with butter that melted immediately. It was heaven, freshly baked bread, it made me glad I married her.

11th January 2024

I forgot to put the rubbish and recycle bin out this morning, so I was forced to put on real clothes. Normally I stay in my teeshirt and shorts and stand in front of the window exposing myself to the squirrels. They don’t stay around for long.

I don’t know why I had to take out the rubbish, as there wasn’t much in it. Just a couple of small bags of dog poo, yes, we put dog poo in bags!

It’s better than nothing, I would feel guilty putting out an empty bin. The recycling on the other hand is always full, Kelli even orders loads of stuff from Amazon so she can break up the boxes to fill up the bin.

The snow that had fallen yesterday had melted but where I had to position the bins, to be collected was a solid wall of hard packed ice, thanks to the snow plough team who mange to block off everyone’s driveway.

I dragged each bin to a flat portion of the ice drift, happy that I was still early enough.

For breakfast Kelli cooked some Black Forest bacon, it was different from what we usually have, and to celebrate, she cooked them black. Well she burnt them, she did a pretty good job of it, good old black Black Forest bacon.

She did cook some more to make up for it, but the lure of the blacken bacon was just too much. During the cooking process we both managed to finished it off, leaving a couple of bits for the dogs, they will eat anything.

10th January 2024

Another disruptive night, another early morning walk around the neighbourhood. I really didn’t want to be there. Sleet was falling and the pavements were slushy. It wasn’t so late as the last time, people were still awake in their homes.

There wasn’t any apparent reasons why Kelli couldn’t stay asleep, although with the tetanus shot and the antibiotics she had for the dog bite it could have affected her liver, which controls the gut and disrupts her sleep.

There was a lot to do today, first another trip to Plato’s to sell more surplus clothing, then on to her doctor for her monthly appointment.

She is now back on more supplements to strengthen her liver, and some tuning to help her sleep.

As I have said before this treatment she is having is still a mystery to me, I try to understand it, but I’ve come to the conclusion that if it aids Kelli, then I’m supportive.

It certainly isn’t a cheap method, I haven’t added up the consultation and supplement costs, but I’m sure it would make my eyes water.

It was also our shopping day, and walking around Aldi Kelli was approached by this little lady asking if I could get something from a high shelf. I made a move to try and lift her up which did result in hysterical laughter. It turned out that she was English and came from Northumberland, how crazy was that?

She had married a US serviceman and moved to America in the time before all this residents application bullshit started.

Life was far more simpler then.

9th January 2024

There was snow on the ground when I woke up. The last lot lasted a day and it was gone, today it was snowing all day.

It was quite fitting that Kelli had put a snow scene from YouTube on the TV, so we had snow everywhere, inside and out. I know which one I wanted to be.

I had to drive up to Kelli’s mum to collect some supplements. Whenever I get into the truck I have to adjust the seat, take a clip off the seat belt so it fits properly, then I have to start the thing. There was thick snow on the windscreen. I should have scraped it off, but I was cold and the snowbrush was buried under a load of crap that Kelli stacks between the seats. I trusted the wipers would do the job. They did, for one wipe then stopped, so I had to drive looking between the gaps. Once I arrived , and collected the things, I searched for the brush. I managed to clear the packed snow allowing the wipers to work again.

Getting back home, the thought of working in the garage was not appealing, I had a number of tops that needed finishing. The best way to get them to dry was to bring them into the house, so now the place looks like a drying room.

8th January 2024

Have you ever thought of what it must be like on South Shore Drive at 2.30am? Let me tell you, it’s bloody quiet.

Kelli was having problems getting to sleep, so, as I was awake at the time, I suggested taking a walk. We dressed up in warm clothes and headed out into the darkness. There was nothing about except a rabbit that looked at us as if we were aliens. We walked on, nothing stirred. I started thinking “what if someone is up and sees use walking up their street, and thinks that we are a threat?”

It didn’t look good, I was wearing the head covering that Kelli got me for Christmas, it’s warm, but it make me looks like I’m wearing a hajib. Not a good look that early in the morning.

We did a circle of the area, noting who had their Christmas lights on even after the 6th.

Getting back home, the warmth felt good, however the bed was cold by now, so a bit of shivering occurred. Kelli likes a cold room to sleep in, the window is open prior to sleeping, I have to close it otherwise the penguins chattering teeth would keep her awake.

We both manage to sleep through to about 9.00am, even the noise of the neighbours vehicles starting up did not disturb us, so a result there.

7th January 2024

There was a thin covering of snow outside, not the dump we were expecting, but white nonetheless.

I made the remark “has there ever been a time when there hasn’t been any snow?” Expecting a thoughtful answer from my wife, she said “Nope” well to me that said it all. I will wake up every morning expecting the worse.

Kelli had bought a dresser on Marketplace and we were due to pick it up from the car park at Family Fare. Car park pickups are quite common, it means the seller doesn’t want you to see their homes. I wish more people would do that, I’ve seen places that have given me nightmares for weeks.

We got to the designated place looking for a white Ford Edge, we circled round until we saw it and parked next to it. Immediately the tailgate on the Ford opened. I thought “show off” I have to manually open mine.

The guy got out and pulled it out to show us the dresser. There are times when you are pleasantly surprised at the quality of the piece, but not this time. It was a little cheaply made, and will have to be a total paint job.

We lifted it out of his vehicle and into ours paid him the money some of which was in quarters, if it was my choice I would have paid him all in quarters, the bag would have been heavier than the dresser itself.

We did a bit of work in the garage, I finished scraping the cedar chest, now just a lot of sanding ready for finishing.

6th January 2024

Well I finally succumbed to America and the Wild West.

I have been reluctant, but many friends have advised me to think about protection and home security. I alway thought that having two dogs in the house would deter any trespassers, but our two are not what you would call dangerous.

Any violators with a pocket of dog treats would be their best friend.

This whole thing has been brought into sharp focus by the problems at the southern border where many thousands of people have been let in and dissipated into large cities throughout the states. Many of these are undocumented, but are almost given residence status, which annoys me because I had to pay a lot of money for mine.

Anyway we went to the Graafshap Hardware Store that has been around since 1860, and some of the people that work there were originals.

It’s a great place that I have been many times for stuff, but part of it is an armoury. They have weapons of all descriptions. Often there are guys hanging out checking out the rifles and shotguns, talking about calibres and kickback and other military speak.

I told the assistant that we were looking for a small handgun, that was it, off he went listing out a whole lot of things I knew nothing about.

Hand size, foot size, inside leg measurements(not sure why), but anyway, we went through, background checks, eligibility checks, we had never been checked this much before. Eventually we settled on a small 9mm handgun that would be ideal for target shooting which we intend to do so that we would know how to use it.

That is the next thing on our list as soon as I buy a cowboy hat and chapps.

5th January 2024

There is always a problem with going back to sleep after an early morning awakening.

Generally Kelli’s sleep pattern had improved there are still nights when awaking at 3 or 3.30 happens. Thankfully after a time we go back to sleep, but then it comes as a shock when it’s 10.00am. Which is just what happened today.

This means by the time we get breakfast, eat it and wash up it’s nearly midday.

I had more scraping to look forward to, but that was going a bit easier, and Kelli was painting the bed frame.

She had already prepared a shepherds pie soup, which may sound strange but it is fabulous on a cold winter’s day.

As we were preparing the dogs for a walk, a large red truck parked opposite, it was there for quite a while . I noticed the driver walking to the end of the road carrying, what looked like a for sale sign, that made us even more curious.

We got the dogs ready and closed the front door, and locking it, just to be sure.

We took our usual walk, dogs sniffing everything in sight, and as we walked back along South Shore Drive we noticed a board placed in front of a Realtor’s sign. On this board was written in big letters was “SUE” with an arrow pointing to the lagoon. We knew there was a house for sale down there, so maybe it was something to do with that.

As we walked back towards our house the red truck was still there, but this time there was a silver van. Still thinking it was something to do with the vacant property, we thought nothing more about it.

But the truck was there all evening, and still there when we went to bed.

This was making Kelli feel uneasy, so she placed a call with the police for them to check it out.

4th January 2024

We had food for a wonderful breakfast, which was just as well because we were starving.

There were a number of things on our list to do plus a dinner out.

First stop was to collect another piece of furniture that Kelli had been trying to finalise for the last three days. Luckily it wasn’t far to drive, and the piece was solid wood in good condition. This may have a stripped and refinished top and a painted carcass.

Back at the ranch Kelli got on with preparing the headboard and foot board for painting whilst I got on with more scraping of the cedar chest.

We were later picked up by Debs and Don a couple from the next road that we got to know last year. She had an amazing garden, and has so far given us pound cake, a Christmas cake and some almond topping biscuits, so I’m glad we know them.

We went to New Holland and straight away they were on the hard stuff, no Nancy boy craft beer or fruity cocktails for them, just vodka martinis.

We had a blast they were good company, Debs and Kelli did most of the talking with Don and I filling in when they stopped for breath.

3rd January 2024

We heard today that Milly had been put to sleep.

The Humane Society has accessed her for ten days and decided that the risk of hurting more people was too high.

There was a moment of sadness for both of us that this was the conclusion, but we had to accept it. Kelli will bare the scar for the rest of her life, and that is a warning of the risks that can happen in taking a rescue animal.

It was a busy supermarket day with a stop at Menards to get some supplies.

By the time that was done there was little time do do much in the garage, although I did manage to finish scraping the finish off the top of the cedar chest. Boy that was difficult. The finish was aged wood effect laid on a thick base coat. the top coat came off but the undercoat was bloody difficult requiring continuous scraping over the same spot until it came off.

With another four side to do, I should be done by Easter.