Another Lifetime to go

15th May 2022

When Kelli has a sleepless night, I do not alway know who I will wake up next to

The bad days seem to be getting closer together. Today there was no apparent reason why she should wake up at five thirty, no dog noises or neighbours starting their vehicles, it was she just woke up automatically.

She rejects all forms of help and support, and engages “I don’t want to be around anyone” mode.

Some days I can take it, others I can’t, however I had plenty of turf laying to keep me out of the way.

I did finish all the laying, and used up most of it. That was exhausting, the small fill-in pieces take the most time, even with a turf cutting knife. I thought that this tool would cut through the turf “ like butter” but that was not the case, it slices through skin easily however, sawing through the grass takes a little more effort, but it’s done now.

14th May 2022

Another day of turf laying, this, I thought would be done by lunchtime, no chance.

Gradually the pile on the pallet reduced as the grass area increased, but shock, horror, probe, the dogs already crapped on the bit of lawn I did yesterday.

Getting that cleaned up, I started the days toil.

It has been a nice change from furniture, Kelli took the day off and did some weeding and set round paving into the lawn leading from the piazza ( that’s what I call it) to the greenhouse.

I gave her the job as she would make the trip more often, so she positioned the stones in the places that matched her stride. It was strange, because she would start with her left foot, and I would naturally go with my right, so with me it looked like I was dancing along.

Kelli sold the small bookcase she had been working on, and we took pictures of the small cabinet with basket, hoping for good things for that.

13th May 2022

The big day arrived, ninety five rolls of turf arrived on two pallets. It was mid afternoon when this huge truck turned up. The driver had a loud booming voice, he must have got used to shouting over the noise made by his lorry. Even when he was unhitched the tethers I could have stood in the back garden and still hear him.

He unhooked the forklift from the back of the trailer and shuttled the pallets as close he could to the gateway. This was the first time I could see what that quantity of grass looked like.

By now the temperature had risen to about eighty eight, not the ideal heat to carry rolls and lay them, but I had the hose hooked up to wet down the dirt.

I started moving the turf even before the truck had departed, this would be the first time I’d laid grass on an industrial scale.

Kelli suffered another bad night, waking up at five thirty because of a neighbour’s dog barking. Who in their great minds would allow that, I know Americans like to start work early, but that was bloody inconsiderate. Needless to say she was not in a good mood, so turf laying was a good way to tune out the anger.

At the end of a hot sweaty day I had covered about half of the area, the hot shower at the end was a tremendous relief.

12th May 2022

It hit eighty eight to ninety degrees F today, not the sort of temperature to work outside in, but we did it anyway. I had dirt to level, and furniture to repair ready for Kelli to paint.

Thank goodness the humidity wasn’t high, that reduces me to a puddle. It was strange not to see the dirt pile in the driveway, that was a long hard job that I don’t want to repeat.

I started staining the side rails for the bed, it dried very quickly, oh thank you God!

This means I can get sealer on and surge ahead on my bed refinish program.

Kelli was working on spraying four baskets that came with one of the recent purchases.

With the sudden hot weather everything has sprung out of the ground. The grass needs cutting again, and the area out the front that we seeded is starting to show signs of life. Kelli might have sowed a bit to much seed in her enthusiasm, but I guess only the strong will survive, which is how I feel most of the time.

11th May 2022

There were two furniture collections, but unfortunately it was us collecting them. One was a couple of miles down the road, the other in Allendale.

The local one was a small dresser that was quite old, because the back is made up of panelled wood, these slot together and can be easy to repair. The one from Allendale was big and heavy, just the kind to move on a hot and humid day. Anyway that is staying in the truck until I regain my strength to remove it.

The pile of dirt has finally gone from the drive, and is now deposited around the back garden. I can’t say I’m sorry to see it gone, but my planning estimate was fairly accurate, tomorrow is the final spreading and levelling.

This activity takes a toll on my clothes, after a few hours of toil I am dripping, and longing for a shower to wash away the filth.

10th May 2022

It was hot, thank goodness, we’ve gone straight from heating to air conditioning without a break, a sign that something is changing.

I still had dirt to move, as I head towards the really heavy job to come.

There was a visit from Jim, who I had never met before. He stopped round to talk about a rocking chair he wanted stripping. He was friends with my other customer where I stripped six chairs of theirs. I guess the word is spreading that I am cheap, but little do they know it’s part of my cunning plan to draw them in, then WHAM! “Next year Rodney we’ll be millionaires”.

Well not exactly, but I’m learning about the time it takes to do these jobs, and the rate changes with each project.

Kelli had finished the dresser/baby changer so we took pictures and posted them. Two hours later we had it sold. The couple drove forty minutes from Grand Rapids, and she was heavily pregnant, I think she bought it just in time.

9th May 2022

It was a difficult day for Kelli and therefore a challenging one for me. The lack of sleep sent her into a tailspin which made communication impossible. I don’t know if it’s my lack of knowledge about the menopause, or my lack of empathy that makes a bad day into a disastrous one.

Throughout my life I have stepped away from those around me who are in a “ bad mood” because I didn’t want to hamper them, and allow them to vent the bad day out of them.

I guess that is the wrong thing to do as it signals that I don’t care. I’m not confrontational, I don’t want to be drawn into an argument which, in my opinion can make things worse.

I have to continue to experience Kelli’s good and bad days, and try to go against my instincts and fight along side her in the battles.

It was such a shame as it was a glorious day, the sun shone and it was warm enough for me to get my shorts on.

I started stripping the bed frame, a long and tedious job, that will eventually be stained and finished.

I had to collect a dresser from Saugatuck, and a bag of redimix concrete and ten circular paving blocks.

There were lots of slow drivers from out of state obviously here for the tulip festival, and I thought I drove slow.

I continued to move dirt. At the beginning I thought “ have I ordered enough” now it’s “ did I order too much, but with dirt, there is alway somewhere to use it.

8th May 2022

It was Mother’s Day over here and Kelli had volunteered us to tidy up the flower bed in the front lawn of her mother’s home. Like we haven’t been working on the land enough. I’ve seen more dirt than I’ve experienced in a lifetime. The pile on the front drive doesn’t get any smaller even though I’ve covered half the area of the new lawn.

We finished our duty and were rewarded with a slice, or two of chocolate tart.

We have a gardening ritual that we have to follow for a couple of weeks now, that is to water the front part of garden twice a day to keep all the seeds damp, then, with a bit of luck loads of colourful wild flowers should appear.

I also gave the front lawn its first cut of the year, there was a lot of moss on it which didn’t make me very happy, but I’m expecting a delivery of the next treatment for the grass in a week or so, hopefully that will sort it out.

Something has eaten all the heads off our tulips in the stone circle at the front of the house, all of them.

We are not sure if deer have come down for a midnight feast, but that pissed us off.

7th May 2022

The person selling the pond liner finally replied to Kelli’s message where she inquired about dimensions. A pond was a feature of our new landscape, and at forty dollars it was quite a bargain. Eventually the sizes were revealed and we made arrangements to collect whilst we were out getting supplies.

Of course nothing happens without incident, and this time a free desk was available at the side of the road.

We set off in search of the piece, Kelli’s brain was working overtime calculating the shortest route. We got to the street heading east, she suddenly stopped the truck having seen the desk on the other side of the cross road on the west side. She spun the truck around and zeroed in on her pray. How she saw it by glimpsing in the rear view mirror I’ll never know, I barely see what is directly behind me, when I use it.

We loaded it into the truck, it was too large to be able to get the pond in as well, so we headed back home to unload.

As we approached the address with the pond we saw the tell tell signs of crazy stupid, in other words, a Trump flag. My breakfast nearly came back for a second time, but a bargain was a bargain, so with my hand over my mouth I grabbed the pond and Kelli stuffed the money under a toy, as we made our escape.

I stopped off at Menards to buy some supplies. The traffic was crazy because today is the first day of the tulip time. This is when the town is besieged by people looking at the tulip displays. The locals curse under their breaths at the roads are packed with slow moving cars viewing the flowers planted neatly by the side of the roads.

6th May 2022

It was an unusual day, it rained, which was not unusual, but from a sales perspective there was an unexpected turn.

We were expecting someone to come and collect a small nightstand that we’ve had for longer that we wanted. Kelli had lowered the price quite a bit in order to move it.

When the buyers arrived they were happy with the nightstand, but we’re excited with the bright teal dresser that we had just posted. They weren’t put off by the high price on it, and as we had to do a bit of touching up before we would let it go, they asked to be notified when it was ready.

This was all the incentive we needed to tidy it up.

Kelli called later and offered free delivery, and it was sold. We loaded it in the truck and off we went. We returned with money in our hand and a belief that there are people out there who like striking colours.

Later we had a buyer for the white dresser that we had been holding for several days.

So in one day we sold three items, that doesn’t happen that often.

We had an inquiry from an existing customer to repaint a dresser that they had. They wanted it done in the same colour as the piece they bought from us, which was a light blue.

Hopefully they find the price acceptable.