Another Lifetime to go

25th April 2022

The green is gradually appearing on the trees, and in our garden, the apple, cherry and plum trees are really showing signs of life. In the greenhouse almost every day new green bits appear through the dirt, much to the squealing from Kelli.

After yesterday’s warmth it was much cooler, so back to flannel shirts and coats.

We visited Goodwill for the first time in a long while. The site on our side of town is moving to a new location, so it was closed, only to reopen on Thursday.

Instead we went to the one on the other side of town and picked up a Steampunk inspired table and a dark tatty side table. It was grasping at straws, but we needed some small things to work on.

I called the tool rental company to arrange a heavy duty tiller, I called it a rotovator, and of course they had no idea what I was talking about. I’ve alway associated tiller with sailing, so it seems weird to use that work. Anyway, that is booked for tomorrow.

I start the next stage in the transformation of the back garden, getting rid of the terrible weed infested old lawn and starting again will be exciting, but it is going to look terrible before it looks better.

24th April 2022

“ I’m not going into that garage” was Kelli cry when we pulled up to a place on the north side of town to look at some furniture posted this morning. I must have to admit the place did resemble something out of a hoarders paradise, with crap all over the driveway.

The pieces we were planning to view were a couple of dressers, one was very ornate, the other was a simple design of six drawers and a narrow door, presumably a small wardrobe.

The garage itself was a bloody mess, there was crap everywhere. I opened one of the drawers where there was the remanence of seeds, either left by a mouse or squirrel, I didn’t want to inquire which.

The seller guided us towards two large ornate pieces, they were heavy, but the decorative fronts were plastic mouldings over a wood backer, similar to a piece we have in the garage. The dresser was over six foot long and just plain ugly. The simple unit was made from MDF, and I’ve had a gutful of those recently, so we passed on all of it.

I did inquire if he was clearing the house out (maybe the owners had died or something?) but he replied that he was moving and wanted to get rid of stuff. It was a good job I didn’t say anything about clearing out a hoarders house, I would have been killed.

As soon as we got into the truck Kelli desperately looked for the hand sanitizer, if there was more of it we would have bathed in the stuff just to feel clean.

Around mid afternoon the person arrived to collect the other dresser, and as the thunder rumbled and the rain drew in we closed the garage doors on another day.

23rd April 2022

The hottest day of the year so far, but it won’t last. More little green things were sprouting in the greenhouse. It won’t be long before the place will become the hanging bloody gardens of Babylon.

A lady came to view a dresser (a dresser? what a surprise !) we had one finished and ready to go and another in progress. After some deliberation she decided on the one we have yet to finish, but she also wants us to refinish a queen bed frame which will be a good little earner, and give Kelli more spraying experience. With a fifty percent deposit in our hand, it was the end of a good day.

Kelli also sold the smaller dresser to a repeat customer. You never know how thing will go, it’s feast to famine all the time.

22nd April 2022

I had to drive to install the jewellery drawer into a entertainment unit that a lady had commissioned me to build.

I had carefully taken all the relevant dimensions so I was confident that it should go well.

Thank goodness that I had built it with screws holding it together as the entrance was a lot narrower than the inside so it had to be disassembled first. Then I discovered that the unit got narrower as it got to the top. Dimensionally it was correct where it was positioned, with a total clearence of an eighth of an inch. However that was not enough because I needed to tilt the frame to attach the top.

It was easier to take the top back home and skim off a bit more material from the top panel.

That was a drag, but at least I could do it without trying to bodge a solution. Had I had the unit in the garage I would have taken the back panel off and slid the drawer unit in.

Once I returned I was able to complete the build, fit an inside lamp and get paid.

There is one more job she wants me to do which is not very complicated, so I need to give her a quote for that.

21st April 2022

It was a glorious sunny day today, I was able to work in just a short, it felt so liberating.

We had a person come to collect our latest piece, old frostbite. She had driven over an hour to collect it, and didn’t even open the drawers, we just wheeled it over to her truck and lifted it in,and off she went.

We then drove to Saugatuck to collect a couple of cabinets and a bookcase. These were posted by “a guy I dated in high school“ that Kelli mentioned.

There must be many “ guys I dated in high school” still living in Holland, it makes me smile every time she mentions it.

Anyway we drove down a long drive to a large house that had the furniture waiting for us in front of the garage. It was an impressive place for a “guy I dated in high school”

There were chickens running around that caught her attention, so she tried to get close to them.

Then a lady who was married to the “guy I dated in high school” drove up and both started talking about chickens leading to Kelli being able to stroke one up close, that made her day.

Another thing that amazes me is how often Kelli is recognised, either by people who used to shop in her store or the bookshop in Saugatuck where she worked. The phrase, “ I know you from somewhere” is alway followed by either of the two places, of course it could also include Old Navy or Pier 1 imports.

We managed to load both the cabinets into the truck but not the bookcase.

The lady offered to follow us home with the bookcase which was generous.

She later sent a message to Kelli that “the guy I dated in high school” said hi.

20th April 2022

I decided to take a risk and deliver the jewellery drawer to the customer, normally we would phone to check if it’s convenient, but as Kelli had deleted a load of old messages from her phone this was one of them.

I remembered where the house was, but unfortunately the customer was not in. That was a big drag, however I wrote a note explaining what had happened and attached it on the front door with a piece of masking tape.

As I was driving back I wondered how long it would be until it was found and read. A front door is just one entrance into the home, the other is through the garage. It is common to open the garage door remotely as they approach the house, drive in, close the door then enter the house though the second entrance. The front door is just a status symbol, so who knows when the note will be found.

I stained the top I was working on yesterday and because it was warm outside it dried quick.

We finally finished old frostbite complete with new legs and a fresh paint job and top.

The rest of the day I spent repairing the second dresser carcass. Most of the joints were loose and needed gluing, I covered it with clamps, so it should be good in the morning.

No sign of my letter from the USCIS.

19th April 2022

Kelli received a letter from the USCIS informing her that her petition had been successful, as she was my sponsor and been approved that means I should soon receive my green card, that is a great relief.

I spent all day scraping and sanding drawer fronts a top for one of the dresser we collected on Monday. It was a tedious job as the paint did not remove easily, in the end I resorted to sanding with a course grit and even that was laborious.

There’s still no sign of the warm weather that has been promised, Saturday is supposed to be in the seventies, but the temperature is all over the place.

18th April 2022

Snows back! Would you believe there was more snow on the ground when I awoke. It is the middle of the month and it should be much warmer then it is. I keep saying to Kelli that I’m was only here for the warm spring time, and since I’ve been here, there have been none.

But it is due to get warmer soon.

I had another appointment at the dentist to have my right side of my mouth deep root cleaned. This time there wasn’t much pain involved, it would have helped if I opened my mouth, but anyway, I have to go back in three months to have another session.

Then we had to drive to Hudsonville to collect two dressers that Kelli had found. It was snowing all the way there. The dressers were the cedar type that we have had before, but these were painted black. The drawers were in good shape which means little work of me.

On the way back, instead of taking the highway we headed towards Chicago Drive which meant going into Hudsonville itself. We arrived at the main junction, but couldn’t turn left leaving only straight ahead across the railway lines open to us. As we drove across, the lights began to flash and the barriers came down. Rather than waiting for half an hour for the train to pass, Kelli decided to do a three point turn and make the left turn. I was unaware of her plan, all I saw was the train heading towards us. The truck was now in line with the tracks, with a flick of the wrist she managed to make the turn and we headed to safety. The train hooted in anger but we didn’t care we were on the way home.

17th April 2022

It’s Easter Sunday, and it’s still freaking cold. I certainly wouldn’t want to be out in this weather for long.

We had an invitation to Kelli’s mum for dinner. This meant we would have to prepare something that we could eat rather than sharing what the rest of the family were having.

I managed some work in the garage, fitted the legs to the frostbite dresser whilst Kelli fitted the slides and fronts to the drawer boxes.

Once assembled it looked okay, certainly from the piece of crap we collected to now it is a different animal, but the material it is made from is still cheap, so realistically we can’t expect to get much for it.

I had an early morning call from my friend Martin back in Herefordshire. He is now suffering from a heart problem, he really has suffered all his life, and this is just another problem he has to face.

The dinner at “Mom’s” went well, Kelli made a quiche and a Mediterranean salad, and we had to endure a reading from the bible, but a small price to pay I guess.

16th April 2022

The cold breeze cut through me like a knife as I went to the post box to collect yet another package for my darling wife.

We had someone come to collect a bookcase that had been posted ages ago. It was good at a bargain basement price just to get rid of it. I have said many times that there is no way to predict what will sell quickly. We have been fortunate in what we’ve sold quickly and that makes us think we’ve learnt the secret. Then something we think will fly off the shelf stays there. April so far is a quiet month, what doesn’t help as the pieces we have requires lots of attention

I’ve finished the commissioned jewellery drawer, and started on the repaint of the small corner unit. Kelli finished spraying the Frostbite dresser, so tomorrow it will be reassembly time.

We dressed up warm to dig the trench for the asparagus plants. We had driven to the garden centre to get some cow manure that we had to lay in the bottom of the trench, setting the plants on top with the roots spread out before covering them over with soil. There are ten of the beauties spaced at sixteen inch centres, now we wait for signs of life.