Another Lifetime to go

14th February 2022

IT WASN’T SUPPOSED TO SNOW TODAY! But it did all day.

This was just the start of Valentine’s Day, a lot was happening today.

The main event was a visit to the dentist to have a tooth extracted, not my most favourite experience.

I did a little work in the garage, mainly getting the next dresser ready for Kelli to get started on painting.

My appointment was two fifteen, I had time for lunch, and get ready.

I had to brush the thick covering of snow off the truck which I started to warm up the inside.

The snowstorm obviously was not expected as the roads hadn’t been ploughed or salted, meaning I had to be careful out there.

As I got into the truck the low fuel light was on, bloody typical! now on top of the dental visit I had to worry about running out of fuel.

I decided to take the highway as it is a direct route to the surgery rather than going through town with all the traffic lights.

I got there with about five minutes to spare, I was booked in and waited for the ordeal to start.

The assistant took my blood pressure, it was high, well what do you expect? So I had to wait a short time to take it again, and again, eventually it hit the acceptable numbers, and the procedure started.

With the right side of my face numb the dentist started work.

It was bloody horrible, for a tooth that was supposed to be loose, it put up one hell of a fight.

All sorts of tools were placed in my mouth, there were levers and pointed things, all came into play, I expected him to call for a wedge.

All the time I kept thinking “ Don’t die” as my blood pressure must be sky high by now.

After a bit of drilling it came out, and he dropped it on the tray with a clunk.

He then sealed up my San Andreas crater with a couple of stitches and that was that.

I was cast out into the blizzard with my face frozen with the task of finding a petrol station, and be able to speak coherently.

Fortunately there was one just around the corner, all I had to do was find the entrance.

It was Monday, it was snowing, and everyone in Holland was on the road, I found the way in, parked at an available pump, and went inside to pay( pre pay is the norm here)

I managed to say “Forty on pump 6” and it actually understandable even though I had a gauze pad in my mouth I must have sounded like Marlon Brando.

Then it was back on the highway, and home with the snow still falling.

13th February 2022

I have a number of pencils in the garage, but most have entered the other dimension that I cannot find the way into. Therefore the ones I still have are very precious, and they usually reside behind my ear. At the end of the day I will often have one behind each, and they get removed and placed on the coffee table. The next day I forget where they are and start looking for them in the garage. That is often where I’ll find a different one that I had cast aside because the lead had broken. This encourages me to sharpen it and place it behind my ear.

Now this pencil is even more precious, but whilst marking out a cutting line I placed it on a small space on the end of the bench, the place where everything I had just used gets placed.

When I came to use the pencil again it wasn’t there, I moved a few things about but it had disappeared. I was then looking in every other place I could think of, but I couldn’t find that, or any other one. This made me angry because I knew where it should have been, it was only placed there seconds before I put my combination square down. That was my clue, I lifted up the instrument and there, perfectly aligned was my pencil, all bright yellow and sharp. That got me thinking, I should look out for very fat pencils that cannot be obscured by tools.

There was another four inches of snow last night. I think there is a city ordinance that stipulates that snow can only fall in two or four inch batches.

It is about time it goes away so I can start work on the redesigned rear garden, that should be a fun project.

12th February 2022

We carried the wardrobe/ drawer combo into the house to take pictures. It turned out well, Kelli had stained the top with a pickle wash to hide some of the colour variations. These can be difficult to sand out without going through the veneer, so the wash is the best answer.

We took the pictures and it was posted on Marketplace then we stopped for lunch.

Before we finished, it was sold, due for collection tomorrow.

It is amazing when this happens, high fives all round.

I continued work on the new top for the dresser that I had to make a new drawer for. I used the solid oak top from the desk that was stripped off, unfortunately it was not quite long enough.

I added a strip of oak to each end using biscuits to align everything.

The next job was to clean out the dust bag on the extraction, what a shit job, I had enough wood crap to go into chipboard production.

I scooped everything into Aldi paper bags and put it into the rubbish bin, I need to research if I can dig it into the soil.

11th February 2022

There was more snow overnight, but it had turned slushy by the time we had to go to Kelli’s doctors appointment.

A lady that had bought the cabinet with the two doors came to collect it. She was a repeat customer who didn’t know where she was going to put it, but she wanted it anyway. That’s the kind of customer we want, driven by the desire to buy our stuff.

I spent a lot of time searching for screws to fit the knobs Kelli wanted for the wardrobe/ drawer combo. The collection of screws I had did not have the correct thread, I only found four that would work, I only needed four, so success!

I started work on the pot belly table by removing one of the pot belly drawers. This was in a bad way, the plywood had de-laminated. I removed it carefully, but I’m not sure that I can save it.

I will look around to see if I can buy a sheet of thin ply and just make new parts.

10th February 2022

I had my dental appointment this morning, what I thought was a cavity was a cracked tooth that, in the dentist’s option can’t be saved, what a drag.

So next week I’m losing the tooth, then embarking on another dental experience starting in April.

I got back in time to meet the lady who bought the coffee table. We explained how to attach the base, a little different as it was a revolving type. I loaded it into her vehicle and off she went.

I managed to finish the dresser I had been strengthening before Kelli got a call from the lady who bought the coffee table who was confused on how to fit the base. I was handed the phone and tried to talk her through the procedure. It quickly became evident that she didn’t understand. I suggested that I drive to her house and fit it, which is what I did.

She lived nine miles away, so it didn’t take that long. She had it in her basement , the lighting was bloody awful, thank goodness for the torch on my phone. In a short time it was all together, the lady then realised that the top rotated, which was a novel feature.

As a reward she gave me a bag of cherries, which was appreciated, and eaten during the evening.

9th February 2022

It was not a good night for sleep. Both Kelli and I had a restless one, not sure why. This effects Kelli more than me, meaning it was not a good morning for her.

For me, once I’ve had my first cup of coffee makes me invincible and ready to tackle the day.

I was working on the dresser that had a missing drawer. I had the carcass up on the bench to work on. It was made up of a number of common wood pieces that did not contribute to the strength at all. There was a large sag in the centre that had been tackled before with a screw through the base facia board. Using my long sprit level I was able to eliminate the sag and reinforce the vertical post.

The last job to do was to machine two drawer guides that were missing.

Routers are not my favourite tool, the spinning cutter, the ear piercing whine sets my nerves on edge. I clench my buttocks so tight you wouldn’t be able to pull a five pound note out of my cheeks.

So with that in mind, I always have guards and guide in abundance, and I often make jigs to do even simple tasks.

I passed the wood pieces through the cutter and made perfectly shaped guides, so all that preparation was worth while.

We learned that we sold the coffee table, now I have to get some fixings to fix the top to the base.

8th February 2022

There are many people over here that do not care about the state of where they live. We had to drive to Hamilton to collect a dresser and on the way we passed a typical mid century style house, but it was in a terrible condition, it deserved better.

One can only imagine that the inside had been neglected also.

There are many examples of this style of house in and around Holland where the owners have kept them in perfect condition. I would have loved to have found one when we were house hunting.

Other places are set in a beautiful landscape but with rubbish piled up at the front of the house. There is a thing about leaving old cars to rust in the gardens, I know that can be a thing in the UK, where a burnt out Ford Cortina is almost a status symbol.

I have watched YouTube videos of Barn Finders who come across properties with wrecks of classic American nineteen fifties cars everywhere. The owners don’t think anything of it, it’s sad and pathetic at the same time.

We had to deliver a pair of side tables to an address in Saugatuck. That was great result, as we had been sitting on them for a few weeks. We thought they would fly out the garage within minutes of being posted, but that didn’t happen, so there was huge relief when they were sold.

I had the pleasure of carrying them up some really steep stairs, as the buyer could lift anything heavy, but he seemed a fun guy, and he gave up $20 for delivery.

Later in the afternoon the old school friend of Kelli’s came to collect the second piece that he had bought from us, the small dresser. That was the one that was minutes away from a repaint.

We also finished the coffee table that went on to Marketplace even before the wax had dried.

7th February 2022

More snow was forecast for today, not much, but it started mid morning and lasted all day.

Kelli finished repainting the headboard, so we carried it into the house to take pictures, again.

Let’s hope we get better luck. Brighter news on the small dresser that was due for a repaint, we sold it as it was, yippee!

I worked on sanding the coffee table we picked up for free. By the end of the day my fingers were really sore.

Of course this is the season for split thumbs, no matter how much cream I rub into my skin nothing seems to help. I have to resort to applying liquid bandage to the splits. This is the medical equivalent of superglue and is designed to seal the cut allowing it to heal, but it doesn’t half sting when I first apply it.

6th February 2022

It was off to Hudsonville to collect another piece of furniture. It is alway a risk buying more things than we sell, but as I have said to Kelli ( and she to me) sometimes you have to get things when you see them.

We arrived at the house before twelve, the time stipulated by the seller, what what reason? I have no idea. The seller was holding an estate sale which usually means clearing out of house after someone has died, or simply someone selling off furniture prior to moving house.

Luckily for me it was stored in the basement, with a steep set of stairs up. Removing the drawers helped a little, but with some help I managed to get it upstairs and into the truck by walking backwards all the way.

The piece had drawers one side and a small wardrobe the other, a neat arrangement that be have sold easily before.

I have already mentioned that sales are a bit slow this month which always concerns Kelli. If something hasn’t sold, or had any interest within ten minutes of posting, there needs to be drastic action taken. This usually means a repaint. The pieces lined up for attention are the single headboard and the small dresser we re-photographed yesterday.

They are to be repainted white, because that is the “safe” colour, it is always taking a risk stepping outside this zone, sometimes we’re lucky often not.

She did finish a small bookcase and drawer unit, hopefully we won’t have to change that colour.

5th February 2022

Another four inches of snow fell last night, that meant I had to be up early clearing the driveway because we were expecting the owners of the dresser we refinished to come and collect it.

I was cursing that maybe I should have bought the rechargeable snow blower I came across on the internet. Knowing my luck though there would be a rapid thaw in the time it took to deliver, and the driver would be sniggering as he carried it up to the house.

So instead I knuckled down and got on with the job.

Kelli had found a free large round coffee table on Marketplace that we had to collect from the Waukazoo wood area. This will be another mammoth stripping/sanding session that I can’t wait to start.

Finally the dresser owners turned up a few hours late. The lady was not the usual type that almost burst into tears at the sight of the piece, she waddled over and handed over the money to Kelli in a secret handshake manner because she didn’t want her husband to know how much she had spent. I helped him load it into the back of their truck, he was more complementary about the top finish than his wife, but it was done and out of our life, leaving a bit more space in the garage.