Another Lifetime to go

21st January 2023

There was police activity one street over that we discovered whilst taking the dogs for a walk. The first signs was yellow tape across the road that we were walking towards.

Left to me I would have lifted it and walked under, although it stated “Do not cross”.

Instead we walked around.

We could see several police vehicles at the top of the road, but we had no idea what was going on.

Fortunately, someone from the next road along was also curious, got into his vehicle and came to investigate. We met him down the road as he asked us if we knew what was happening.

Now there was three of us with no idea of what was going on in our neighbourhood.

We could see the a police cruiser was driving towards us, now was the opportunity to get information from the horses mouth.

He didn’t say much except that the person they were looking for was now in custody. That didn’t help much, was there a crime scene? Will it be on TV? Nope! Life will return to normal, so back to walking the dogs.

The chairs went back to their home this morning, it was good to see them go, and the owner was pleased to see them looking like new.

20th January 2023

Nothing ever happens at Starbucks on the north side, except for the occasional slurp or rustle of a paper bag being crunched up, or the frantic typing of a student catching up on the long overdue homework.

Today was different, both myself and Kelli were killing time, minding our own business when there was drama at the front door.

A large couple happened to enter the premises, the man taking the stool nearest the door, his wife, or at least I think it was, suddenly fell to the ground. She was the kind of woman that shouldn’t have been let out without a muzzle because her voice ripped though the place like a jagged piece of shrapnel. Not many people rushed to help her, no one had an engine hoist handy, but the manager rushed to see what was going on.

It was unclear what happened, did she slip, or what? These places have large mats in front of the door, so unless her shoes were slicks, I doubt that. She was describing her fall in a voice that was painful to ease drop, the tone made fingernails on a chalkboard seem tuneful.

She apparently slipped off the rung on the leg of the stool, personally I think her ankles just decided this was the time to give up.

The manager rushed back with a cup of ice, because now it was a full blown emergency. She was asking if Starbucks would pay for an X-ray, the manager, of course had to check with head office.

The lady was then on her phone telling all her friends what had happened in graphic detail, I’m sure they were all giving her the same advice. Her husband was looking embarrassed, he didn’t want to be this close to a real drama Queen, his eyes were in a different place, maybe the local zoo, where her would have to return her later that day.

There was the exchange of phone numbers, a a promise to “get back” to her as soon as head office “got back” to him. He must have been secretly wishing for his shift, or his life to end.

After that episode, we visited a place called “ Not so shabby” a consignment store specifically for repurposed furniture and old tat. There we met John and Patti who do very much the same as us, but they sell their furniture at the store. We hadn’t seen them for a while so we chatted for a while. John has a part-time job working for an undertake collecting the diseased. He asked me if I wanted a job, as the death rate had risen and they needed more staff. I declined the offer as I really don’t think I could do that sort of work.

It takes a special kind of person to do that kind of work, and I’m not one of them.

Later in the afternoon a lady came to collect the two dressers that we sold on Wednesday, a good end to an interesting day.

19th January 2023

The city rubbish collection finally destroyed the wheely bin by separating the body from the lid.

It had been limping along for several months, but just couldn’t survive the crushing action of the monster truck. Gone are the days when cheery guys took the bin and carefully placed it in the correct position, to be hoisted and emptied, then lowered back on earth to be wheeled back to the homeowners front gate.

Now they use six wheeled terminators to distort all in its path, and the best things is next Thursday, they’ll be back

We were both in a better frame of mind to continue spraying the dining chairs, we managed a couple of coats.

The weather continues to be wet and dismal, even though we still took the dogs for a walk, I don’t think they were impressed.

It stay light till way past 6.00 this time of year, and I even spotted my bluebells that I planted in the autumn starting to burst out. I hope that the squirrels didn’t eat any.

18th January 2023

Kelli had a bad night that transpired into a bad day. We had a meeting to pick out taps at a local showroom, I wanted to cancel, but Kelli didn’t. So we went, and it became one of the most embarrassing events I can remember.

First she didn’t want to get out of the truck, so I went on in and made an excuse that she was on the phone. I started to look around the display with our designer Stacy. Eventually Kelli came into the showroom looking like she didn’t want to be there. She didn’t show any interest in any of the products that were selected. The atmosphere was strained, Stacy felt it and I’m sure the sales lady did also.

What followed was slow and painful, it felt the longest hour of my life.

It was Stacy that coaxed the good Kelli out, maybe she recognised the signs and finally got her to show an interest.

However the rest of the day was doomed, although we did manage to sell the two dresser set.

As I have said before, it is hard for men to understand hormone imbalance, we are drawn into an argument that we didn’t see coming. I’m sure many are able to deal with it, but I fail at every time.

The supplements she is on is supposed to help balance her hormones, but there is no roadmap to follow, I don’t know how long it will last.

17th January 2023

The last dining chair is done! Now the finishing will begin, with the amount of sanding I’ve done there will be an extra two inches of space in their house.

I swept up all the dust and paint scrapings, filling up a couple of brush pans, I am so relieved that the dirty work is done.

Kelli had a doctors appointment, and it was good to see her get the rough treatment and as her threshold of pain is lower than mine, there is always more noise.

We stopped off at Menards to pick up some supplies using up the last of the discount vouchers for last year.

The weather is still rather grey and wet, so we carried them both inside to take pictures, the light wasn’t perfect but we did the best we could.

I managed to pick up some solder to tin the end of the wires for the sander, then reassembled and it worked, success!

16th January 2023

I did an early morning walk to the corner shop. We needed orange juice and potatoes, and rather than taking the truck I decided to use my feet.

It was good to feel the cold air entering my lungs, it feels like cleansing the body. I enjoy the walk, the lake looked grey and cold and just the gulls ventured out.

I was the only person in the shop apart from a couple of employees filling the shelves, I grabbed what I needed and made my way to the register purposely avoiding the racks with the chocolate bars displayed. I felt quite pleased with myself, as I usually have one as a treat every time I go there.

The walk back was equally bracing, and although it was 10.00am I felt like the only person alive.

The warmth from the house hit me as soon as I opened he door. We are fortunate to have a warm house, the extra insulation being a berm really pays off on these cold mornings.

I was determined to finish the last chair back today . I had just the areas in between the slats to strip, the worst bits.

It started raining mid morning and continued for most of the day, it was a typical English winter day.

We had a good breakfast, of a fruit smoothie, half a grapefruit and a poached egg on gluten free toast, garnished with tomato and avocado, washed down the a mug of freshly brewed coffee. I don’t notice that the portion is small, even though there isn’t a crumb left on the plate, and if I could get my tongue down inside the smoothie glass I would do it.

The poor dogs hang around the table hoping for any hand outs that drop their way, but there is little chance of that happening.

After the feast, it was back to the garage, and back to the scraping.

15th January 2023

I never ever thought a person could break the glass top on a Noguchi table until today.

My son Ryan informed me that a guest at the cottage did just that. I was mad to say the least, I think I would had hit the person probably with the broken piece.

From what I was told the person must have sat on it to stoke the fire. Now the insurance will have to swing into action, but any replacement will not be going back in there.

Work continued on the last chair back

Kelli was spraying the two dressers which are part of a set, then we took the dogs to the beach.

Entrance to Point West seems to be getting worse, the whole area is covered with “Private” and “No Trespassing” signs. Kelli knows someone who has a beach house, so we use their name to get past security. This time we were challenged by some old busybody who asked us if we were residents. Kelli gave him the name of the person we were “guests” of, but he went off muttering to himself. That put a bitter taste to our trip, but later Kelli put a post on Facebook about it where we learnt his name and where he lived, seems he’s a bit unpopular in that community. Next time we might just say “Hey Randy”.

14th January 2023

The last chair has now been started. Stripping it down and finding that the inserts are bonded to the bolts, Ah, that problem again.

In between the chair I’ve been working on a side table made by cutting down a single desk.

I alway find I’m rushing to catch up. Kelli storms ahead sanding and preparing pieces for painting, and I’m left with the more labour intensive work to do.

I decided that the time was right to get work gloves. There are many jobs where I can’t wear any, like using machines were I need to feel things. They will be ideal when I’m scraping and sanding, so Mr Amazon delivered three pairs.

I took a look at the new house that is being built up the road. At $399,000 it seems a little excessive with such a small back garden.

I was impressed with the speed it took to get the structure built and boarded, and I was amazed that the materials were not stolen as the site is open and unguarded.

I expect that the whole building will be wrapped in plastic in a day or so, then the roof will be tiled.

I’m not sure if it’s a thing generally, but I’m not used to putting all the dirty dishes, cans and any old shit in the sink. Then take everything out to do the washing up. It really niggles me, as I tend to do the last wash up of the day. We have a dishwasher, but rarely use it, and to me it’s therapeutic to do it by hand.

But it doesn’t make sense to have to lift everything out, put the cans a plastic in the recycling then get down to cleaning things.

I have tried to get used to it, as another aspect of American living.

13th January 2023

My heart just wasn’t in to it today.

After breakfast, and while I was waiting for a Skype call (that didn’t happen) I went into the garage, that was particularly cold, to start on the last part of the chair.

There were a couple of areas on the back that had to be revisited, but once that was done I had the seat to scrape.

That is when a cloud of misery descended, and I could get excited about the process.

This chair had been particularly hard to strip because there was no other layers of paint under it, so I was scraping the black directly off the oak which meant it stained the wood.

This required a lot of sanding to get to a clean surface, enough to cause a blister on my thumb, maybe that changed my mood.

Finally I got all the chair parts finished, and needed to reassemble. First I had to remove the inserts from the bolts.

I believe these chairs come into the US in component form from China and are finished and assembled locally. When I removed the bolts, the inserts came out with them because they were gummed up.

Therefore I had to heat them up to release the bolt, once that was done I could screw back the insert and reassemble the chair, job done.

Kelli finished the tall dresser, we took pictures, posted it, it sold and was picked up in the evening, I was feeling better already.

12th January 2023

We paid a visit to Goodwill on the south side, it had been a while, but there was nothing. I did notice there were a lot more CD’s that I had heard of, not the normal of god music.

We walked out with very little, a rare event.

There was a quick visit to Nature’s Market to buy extortionately expensive natural food. I usually have to go inside so that we get an old gits discount, in fact we get that at Goodwill on Tuesdays old gits day. You see I have my uses.

Then it was back to the garage to do more sanding on the chair back. I kept going until my fingers got sore, but at least the back frame is finished.

We ordered a take out, but in line with our desire to loose some weight, we only ordered one portion. This was ample as the servings are very generous. We chose fish and chips because things could be divided.

I managed to scoff that down in record time and spent the rest of the evening starving.

Rather than going on a diet, we plan to eat half as much, the last time I was on that kick I had to go to bed at 8.00pm so as not to hear my stomach rumbling.