Another Lifetime to go

5th January 2022

The forecast read “Stormy” so we battened down the hatches and stayed home, just like we do everyday. The snow started mid morning with a little sleet. By mid afternoon the snow was falling, not thick just a constant flurry. By the evening there was about four inches on the roads.

I had been planning to meet up with Tom Verkaik, the engineering manager at HM and one of the few people left that I know at the company. We agreed to put it off a week, I have to wait seven days to hear all the latest insider news.

We finished the mid century dresser commissioned repaint with just the mirror to paint. If the snow stops, it would be great to deliver it at the weekend.

It just dawned on me that I didn’t get into my usual reflective mood on New Year’s Eve.

That is my reality check, when I’m most aware of my mortality. When I read the news about the famous people who have died I do realise that I am getting near the top of the list, but this time it didn’t affect me at all. I know life is a lottery but I try to eat well and I’m positive, and aware of the dangers around at this time, and taking precautions. Most importantly, I have a wife who needs my support, so I plan to be around for quite a while.

4th January Tuesday.

We delivered the pink dresser to the lady in West Olive. Driving up their drive we realised they were not short of a few Bob. The house was way off the main road with quite a large wooded area surrounding the house, not your average joe’s abode.

I sprayed a final coat on the mid century dresser, I want to get that out by the end of the week.

It was expected to storm today, dropping up to nine inches of snow over us, but up to the evening noting has happened, must be the lake effect.

Kelli had a doctors appointment, and she continues to improve. I can see the difference, it might be slight, but any improvement is better than none.

3rd January 2022

There was drama outside the sunroom when a hawk attacked the sparrows who lived in the holly bush. We call it the Death Star because there must be a hundred little birdies who constantly flying out grabbing seeds from the feeder then returning, tweeting loudly all day.

It’s lovely to see them enjoying the food that we leave for them. Kelli even bought a heated bird bath so they can have water to drink even when everything has frozen. That is also enjoyed by the squirrels.

The hawk dived into the holly bush causing panic, the sparrows escaped wherever they could even banging into the glass doors which alerted Kelli, who rushed out to scare the hawk away. From what we can tell, it didn’t get any, but there was enough distraction to last for several hours.

2nd January 2022

There was about six inches of snow on the ground. I wanted to clear the drive because we were expecting customers to arrive to collect the coffee table and the small buffet that they got at a knock down price. (Don’t get me started)

Since I sold the snow blower all I had was a snow pusher. I started pushing the snow towards the road. I had to apply a lot of push to move the snow that abruptly stopped when I reached the step of the next concrete slab.

I was lucky not to break a rib, but I got half done before the customers arrived.

They turned up in a truck with a trailer that they proceeded to try to reverse into the drive succeeding only to drive up onto the grass.

So not only did they get a steal on the furniture they could have messed up my lawn.

Later we had Greer and husband Dylan arrive to get their Christmas presents. We got him a onesie covered in pine trees, with a back flap, and a bidet attachment for their toilet. He was so excited he immediately put his onesie on and wore it for the rest of the day. I guess that was a success then.

1st January 2022

It wouldn’t be a normal day without a trip out to collect something free, and as there was a “Y” in the day, that’s exactly what we did.

It was back to Hamilton to collect a dresser from a place back there in the woods.

It had to be carried down some beautiful ash stairs with extreme care to make sure my clown shoes didn’t slip and cause damage.

The piece was in reasonable condition if you were into dark and miserable, but I’m sure Kelli will transform it.

As it was the start of the year I thought I would grind oil into my fingers and start my annual sharpening of my chisels. I decided to hone them all back to twenty-five degrees. It wasn’t until I started that I realised how far out they all were. Even the ones I got from Dave were all over the place. With my oil stones at the ready I started. The first few passes showed me how much material I would have to remove.

In a couple of hours I had only worked on three chisels, but they were as perfect as I could get them, which is more than can be said about my fingers. It was like I was auditioning for a part in the black and white minstrels. It will take days to wear off, and I still have lots more blades to sharpen.

We took the Christmas tree down tonight. Kelli had bought a bag to store it in. It was like a large body bag, so once we removed the hundred or so ornaments I did-assembled the tree that came apart in three main sections.

I plan was to reduce the size of the tree to make it easy to store in the room next to the garage. However, placing the tree inside the bag, and zipping it up, the total size was bigger than the tree, which means it will take up more space than if we just stored the tree.

Sometimes the plan doesn’t work out.

Anyone have the need to bury an elephant? we have the perfect bag for it.

31st December 2021

Well it the end of a memorable year, and for a lot of reasons, I am optimistic that 22 will be better.

We started work on the black dresser, stripping off the bad paint job before the lady arrived bringing the paint that she wanted it finished in.

The floor was now covered in stripped paint pieces, fortunately we were able to have the garage door open whilst we did it. Kelli was using the heat gun, I had the scraper, together we had it stripped in record time.

By the time the lady arrived it had been sanded and ready for priming.

The colour she had chosen was a light pink, an interesting choice, but she is the customer therefore is alway right.

As the evening progress the new year messages came from the different parts of the world, we were not going to see the new year in, mainly because Kelli is too tired, and there is no big fireworks display to stay up for.

30th December 2021

The truck was covered in snow after another two inches fell overnight. I went out to warm it up so that we could make our trip to Byron Center to collect the dresser Kelli bought yesterday.

I wiped the snow away from the driver side door with my arm thus avoiding snow falling onto the driver seat, I was thinking ahead.

The door opened and no snow fell inside.

I then had to find the snow brush that was behind the drivers seat, and in doing so the snow that was on my arm then fell onto the drivers seat, typical.

This was the first time I had used the brush as we usually lose it, however this time we had it ready. As I wiped away the snow, I realised that this brush was the cheapest of the cheap.

A piece of inefficient crap. The rich people across the road probably had the finest snow brush ever produced, stored in its own exclusive case. They even have a person to do it for them, trained in the art of clearing snow.

My feeble appliance likened to an eyebrow, just about managed to do the job, I quickly hid it inside the car.

Byron Center was alway an odd sounding town to me, I thought it was a building, because it’s sounds so specific. What if you didn’t live in the centre of Byron Center, would that mean you lived in Byron Left or Right?

The dresser was in the centre of a garage in Byron Center, it was finished in Black and looked like it had been painted with a horses tail that was still attached. We saw through these faults and could see a money making opportunity. This was confirmed when Kelli called the person who failed to buy the dresser we sold yesterday, and managed to sell it to her, that’s my girl!

29th December 2021

We finished the dresser that was a little different than what we usually do. This one had a colour wash on the top and fronts.

We took some pictures, posted it on Marketplace and it was sold and collected this evening.

It was only a few days ago that we commented on the lack of sales activity, but once Christmas was over people have money to spend.

We had several inquiries for the dresser that also led to requests for specific furniture pieces. Kelli was on to it, searching Marketplace and buying items that we hope will already have a buyer, what better motivation is that?

28th December 2021

There is nothing more demoralising than thinking that you’ve finished sanding all the drawers only to find another hidden around the corner.

Another thing, I can last hours not having to pee, but once I’m a foot away from the toilet, it knows and panic sets in.

The remnants of the snow from a day ago was joined by more today. It wasn’t a blizzard, it just fell quietly without me noticing at first, then the coverage was extensive. It looks so pretty at first, and that’s what like, give it a couple of days and I’ve had enough.

Last year Kelli bought me some fleece lined work trousers, and they feel like heaven, ideal for days like these.

27th December 2021

Snow lay on the ground as we awoke, that was a surprise. We had no plans to go out, it was a work in the garage day, just like all the rest.

However the pressure is off, with Decembers numbers high, we can afford to take things easy and build up a stock for January.

We had a wonderful message from the lady we refinished the bookcase for. She gave it to her son as a Christmas present who was delighted with it. We often get good feedback, and it makes what we do worthwhile.

There were a lot of drawers all over the floor making moving about really tricky especially me with large feet. I feel like I’m performing in a ballet prancing about trying to avoid a disaster. I also have a few drawers to fix, that are all over the bench in various stages of repair.