Another Lifetime to go

12th March 2023

The clocks changed last night, and we forgot all about it. It was only because Kelli noticed the time on her phone that we were any the wiser.

She only noticed when the time was three fifteen, and we were due at a friends for dinner at four thirty, that was lucky, it wouldn’t have looked good if we turned up an hour late.

In our ignorance I was happy that we were making an early start, as we had to collect another dresser, and we had one to finish, picture and post.

There was more snow overnight and flurries during the day, and it is so cold with the garage door open, but Kelli likes the light.

We were expecting someone from Grand Rapids to view a project piece we were selling, but that never happened, there was an excuse about having a car accident,(one that had been used before more than once) so we wrote that off.

We went to dinner with Jill and Chris, they had bought a lot of our furniture over the years.. They invited us a few weeks ago, and we were eager to see their home.

I didn’t realise just how much they had bought from us until we had a tour of the house. In total there were nine pieces, it was surreal, it was like our personal showroom.

11th March 2023

There were plenty of things to do today. The latest snow was disappearing fast, the sky was blue and the sun gave a bit of heat.

I removed the clamps from the drawer that I glued up yesterday. I tried to fit it into the dresser, but it was stiff, and difficult, taking it out again I could see the problem.

The whole drawer had a twist that I failed to notice. The two other drawers that Kelli had repaired had the same issue.

So we had three twisted drawers and no apparent solution to correcting them.

This was a real bummer as we hoped this would be a quick job, and it would keep Kelli busy whilst I worked on the kitchen units.

Instead my work load has suddenly increased.

10th March 2023

There was a good amount of snow during the night. The trees looked fantastic with the thick shroud, the branches bent almost to their breaking point.

What was different about this covering was it was wet, and almost ready to melt, that was promising.

There was plenty of things to get on with.

I started stripping the table, made a repair to the two middle leg assemblies. There was a cross brace missing, I had a piece of doweling rod that I intended to use, but getting the angle and shaping the end so it matched the taper of the legs was a real challenge. I used every bit of creativity I had in me to achieve it. Including clamping my drill in the workmate with an abrasive wheel set at an angle to form the radius. I used a paint tin and a couple of bits of scrap wood to support my bit of dowel.

It really was crude and rather Heath Robinson, and possibly dangerous.

I also had to rebuild a drawer from the dresser that we had collected from Hudsonville.

9th March 2023

We were due to collect a table and four chairs that were listed for free. It was back to the Waukazoo area, we had high hopes that with a clean and polish we could re-list it and make a chunk of money. Although the chairs were sturdy the table had a few issues.

One of the planks that made up the top had separated, so instead of it being a simple flip there is more to do.

The list went on, rebuild the middle leg assembly that had pieces missing, repair one leg block, and a bit of veneer missing that needs patching.

I managed to glue up the loose top section, but I have decided to strip, stain and refinish the top, it will be a better job.

I was hoping to start the kitchen cabinets today, but that has been put off until tomorrow.

We also had to return to Hudsonville to collect two dressers, one free, the other cost us, but it was within our limit.

The first one was a disaster, it was not what we thought it was, it was all melamine faced chipboard, and the drawers were held together with gaffa tape.

The lady gave us a blow by blow account of all her surgery and ailments as she hobbled around with her walking frame. She was due more treatment which went into more detail, and her job, a nurse.

Apparently nurses over here are overweight and unhealthy which is always a good sign as you walk in to a place where the staff are not as fit as the patients.

Feeling bad, we took the dresser anyway, as we headed off to the next collection.

This was a mobile home park, which didn’t bode well. We’ve picked up real crap before, so expectations were not high.

It looked line the place was being cleared, there were possessions all over the place, either that or there was a burglary, anyway the dresser turned out to be quite decent which made Kelli relieved that it wasn’t a completely wasted trip.

We got back home and I started on the repair to the table, this took longer than I thought (no surprise there)

I did manage to finish the second door, but nothing on the kitchen cabinets.

More snow was forecast for tonight, hurray! It’s been a while without snow, I can’t bloody wait.

8th March 2023

There was a piece of furniture that had been buried under piles of crap for a couple of years. It was given to us by someone who didn’t have the time or the inspiration to finish it. I thought it was interesting, but it had a missing drawer. It was oak, and I always wanted to finish it, but other things always took priority.

We finally agreed to drag it out and see if we could pass it on to someone who could do something with it.

I took some pictures and it was posted on Marketplace, for some outrageous price.

This was the excuse we needed to give the garage a bit of a clean up, I managed to get a fire going to burn the offcuts.

I had another mission to accomplish, to make the door frames for the large cabinet.

I used the wood from the old doors, and used pocket hole screws to join it all together, not the solution of a cabinet maker, but I had to build them quick, and by the time I plug the holes, fill and paint, nobody would be none the wiser.

It was also when I didn’t have the faintest idea what day it was.

“Where was Tuesday?” I enquired

Kelli, trying to be tactful, explained where Tuesday is places in the week.

“ I know that, but where did it go, did I sleep through it?

There was no answer to that.

Kelli was busy looking out for more furniture, tomorrow looks like being an interesting collection day.

7th March 2023

Today we did something that we haven’t done for two years, that was buying food from a store. We had got used to buying on line and getting it delivered.

We needed to do this as part of Kelli’s healing journey, and it went well apart from costing too much.

The rest of the day was preparing the two dresser for collection. There are always faults that seem to appear even though a ton of filler has covered nearly every surface.

Late afternoon the customer arrived with a trailer hitched to a powerful SUV. He managed to reverse the trailer and up the driveway with skill, or luck, but we hauled the pieces off the trolleys and on to the bed of the trailer without incident.

We had already started on the next piece, a solid cabinet that I had already stripped the top, now it was the turn of the drawers fronts.

Kelli decided that she wanted the solid doors changed to a wood frame and wire mesh centre, similar to one we did recently.

So more pressure on me, on top of the kitchen units that I’ve started.

6th March 2023

I went to buy the materials for the kitchen units that I have to build. After the meeting last Friday it became clear that the only person who could make them to my satisfaction was me. I know I could make them the cheapest, but more importantly they had to blend in with the existing cabinets.

I loaded the truck with three half sheets of three quarter ply and strips of softwood, and I couldn’t wait to get started.

Meanwhile Kelli was making some final touches to the matching dressers ready for the pictures and posting.

In between the showers we dragged both outside and did the deed.

Within a couple of hours the activity started.

We had four people ready to come and collect, the first in line had to wait until her husband came home, poor guy.

5th March 2023

It was like a spring day, the sun was shining and the birds were going crazy.

There is a woodpecker that knocks away for hours at a time, poor thing, that must hurt.

We were moving closer to finishing the matching dressers. I am working on the tops, Kelli was in charge of final paint and assembly.

I started to look at the large two door cabinet that we picked up a few days ago. Under a terrible paint job is solid oak top, drawers and doors. I managed to remove the top and within an hour it was stripped of paint. I had to remove my coat as I was sweating in the new slightly warmer temperature.

Later we took the hounds for a walk checking the progress of the new house that replaced one that Kelli rented for a short time.

The importance of eight hours is important to many, although getting up early to travel for business has tamed me and made me immune. So waking up at five thirty to use the bathroom is not a big deal for me.Not so for Kelli, every hour is precious for her. Her hearing is turned on to the max all the time, so every grunt I make can be a wake up call for her, not to mention the guy across the street that starts his Jeep at six fifteen and let’s it run before leaving at six thirty.

This can be a recipe for a bad day, if she cannot get back to sleep, it effects her totally.

4th March 2023

I thought it was going to be a quiet day but Kelli had other ideas. She had found another free piece of furniture.

“Where is it?” I asked

“Just outside Holland? Was the answer.

“How far outside Holland “ I inquired

“Hudsonville “

“What again! Is the town giving stuff away week?”

So that is where we went.

The address was a new development, so new the paint was still wet.

The two pieces were in the garage, they had been in the chaps bedroom as a kid, then past to his children, but as they grew up they wanted new stuff, so hence they needed to be disposed of.

As we carried the large dresser out to the truck, I caught sight of some shelving in his garage full of vinyl albums. I have never seen so many outside a record shop.

They were his father’s collection but these were only half of it, his brother had the other.

I alway thought I had a lot, but they dwarfed mine by a mile.

We headed back with our treasure, these pieces had a story behind them which is good to pass on.

A customer turned up to collect the small buffet, we had written her off because she stopped replying to Kelli’s messages, it was good to see the piece disappear on the back of her Jeep.

3rd March 2023

The storm that was forecast today didn’t happen, which was a relief, I expect someone got it east of the state, so commiserations to them.

We had a meeting with Stacy our interior designer to continue our planning for the remodelled kitchen.

She handed me the quotations for the worktop, which was what I expected, but shocked at price for the wooden top. That was over three and a half grand, almost the same as the larger Corian surfaces, I guess we might have to think about that some more.

I might make the two new cabinets and all the drawers and fronts myself. That was driven by the horrendous price of five hundred dollars a door.

This was what I feared would happen, but I might have to bite the bullet and get started.

After the meeting, Kelli had agreed to pick up another free piece of furniture from the north side. This was a heavy beast of a cabinet, very rustic with mock metal straps, this will be an interesting project.