Another Lifetime to go

8th August 2021

It was a real steamer today, it was difficult to do much without pouring with sweat.

I wanted to finish the first of the carver chairs, I found the most shady part of the garden and sat crossed legged scraping the paint one strip at a time.

Two gallons of perspiration later I had removed the bulk of the old paint.

We had finished a small bookcase that we posted on Marketplace, it’s not a masterpiece but we should get a few bucks for it.

Kelli was busy sanding drawer fronts whilst I was preparing a maple veneered top ready for staining.

Mid afternoon meant we needed to cool off, so we jumped into a small kids pool, not the big beast that we had last year. That couldn’t be inflated because the area is still waiting for the paving. Kelli bought it for less than $20, so it’s just right to sit in.

Disaster struck this evening, I broke one of Kelli’s hand painted Italian diner plates. There were a number of strange cosmic disturbances, one, the plate should not have been in the sink, two, my coffee mug has never slipped out of my hand before.

Kelli had interfered with my washing up regime by placing most of the washing up in the dishwasher, but not the Italian one. I went over to the sink to start my hand washing procedure. I had just rinsed my coffee cup when it slipped and hit the plate, I didn’t even have a chance to say “Oh noooooo!” As it shattered into three pieces.

Kelli knew immediately was had happened and what it was, so I couldn’t hide it and glue it back together.

She then spent time scouring eBay looking for the exact same plate.

She found a set for two hundred and fifty bucks, I like them but not that much.

Then she found a single plate and put an offer on it.

Now we wait to hear from the seller.

7th August 2021

The corner unit that we posted a few days ago had attracted no interest at all, this was worrying, the only solution was to delete the current post and re-post it.

This did the trick, within a short time we had two people interested, and collected by midday.

I started the long stripping process on the first carver. I set it out in the sun to warm it up, this softens the paint making it easier to scrape off. It is a tedious job, I’m thankful I only have two to do.

The humidity is in the high eighties for the next few days making it hard to do much physical activity without becoming a pool of perspiration.

Kelli is slowly improving, she is learning a lot about herself, trying to plot a positive route to full recovery. That sounds easy to me, but I understand that self doubt is always a thought away, and that is the enemy. She is learning about how the mind works, which, when I listen to the podcasts blows mine.

I realise I’m just a simple soul, just give me a piece of wood, hammer and nails, eventually I would manage to bang some of the nails straight.

6th August 2021

I got quite a shock when I got to the UPS office, and it wasn’t the torrential rainstorm that I was caught in, it the cost to ship the faulty CD player back to the seller.

“That will be $62.67 to ship” said the man.

“That’s more than it’s worth” I responded.

“Can you re-pack it into a smaller box” he said trying to be helpful.

“ Only it it was run over by a steam roller” I said smiling, only to realise I was wearing a mask so he couldn’t tell.

“ I guess I won’t be sending that” I concluded, picking up the box and walking out.

I had made a special effort to pack it properly, I had used up a lot of the polystyrene that was used in the packaging for the fire pit, good recycling I thought.

I contacted the seller with the shipping information, he suggested a web site for pre-paying shipping packages that he used.

When I tried to download the application of course it wouldn’t load. Kelli tried it, and it worked, but the cost was about $24. I advised the seller, and asked how he would refund me.

That is where the transaction changed. He thought that I would swallow the cost of shipping so that I would get a replacement unit.

I reminded him that I should not have to pay more to get a machine that worked, so he then agreed to refund the cost of the transaction and I could keep the faulty unit.

I immediately went to YouTube to see if there any videos that dealt with the carousel problem. I watched a couple and soon became confident about repairing it myself. I collected a number of different screwdrivers and set about taking it apart. Naturally the model I have was different to the ones on the video, but I thought the principle would be similar.

How wrong I was, the carousel was the only part the same, so I had to poke about until I understood how it worked. Then, there was several hours of me mumbling to myself, arguing at times as things that should have worked, didn’t.

I managed to get the tray to close as it should, but not to open.

Then I saw the reason. I noticed some cracks on the circuit board. On the front of the facia was a knob, that protruded forward.

The machine must have got dropped or hit causing the cracking. That is why the display and the open/close button didn’t work.

Not being defeated, I went on eBay to see if someone was selling spares.

There, hidden amongst broken machines was a front facia panel for the same model.

I quickly made an offer, and after a short wait, it was accepted, now I have a few days to wait until the replacement part arrives.

I also managed to deliver the four dining chairs to Mantesh, and collect two carver chairs, that’s this weekend work sorted.

5th August 2021

It should have been a good day, the four chairs had the final clearcoat finish ready for delivery tomorrow. Kelli was working on a small bookcase that needed more “Bondo” spread around than we first thought. We should have a cement mixer going the amount we use.

I removed the back panel with a bit of difficulty so there has to be a bit of repair on that one.

The best part of the day was the expected delivery of a CD player that I bought on Marketplace. The one we had expired, so music had been limited to what we can get on our phones.

The UPS truck pulled up, and the driver staggered up the driveway with a large box.

I was halfway through a job, so I couldn’t immediately hook it up, I opened up the box to check the condition, and it looked good.

When all my jobs were done I thought I’d get the CD player working.

I pulled out the cabinet that houses our music equipment so I could get to the back and disconnected the old unit. I replaced it with the new one. I plugged in the power and the output cables then moved round to the front for the grand switching on.

I pressed the power button, NOTHING! Bloody nothing. There was a rumbling, but the tray would not open.

I was really pissed off now.

I searched for the name of the seller and fired off a message to him.

Of course there’s not much that can be done, it doesn’t bloody work, so what can he do about that?

He replied asking if I checked all the connections, which I had done. He told me that he had another identical unit that he agreed to send to me, and I agreed to return the faulty one, so I hope that will resolve the issue and I will have music again.

4th August 2021

We needed to finish the corner unit. I had repaired one of the bottom doors that had come apart, and fitted wire netting in place of some tatty louvres. I needed to add some wooden edging to neaten up the back.

Once all the doors had been re fitted the piece was ready for pictures.

But, before that happened Bob, a friend of Larry ambled over. Larry was not at home at the time, so either Bob got bored waiting, or his booze had run out, but he came over and introduced himself.

He was a decorator, not just any decorator THE BEST DECORATOR in these parts.

He preceded to tell me what was wrong with the corner unit.

“The paints wrong, should be satin, the hinges are the wrong colour and all the gaps should be caulked. Do all that and you’ll be able to sell that for eight hundred dollars”

“ it would need to be made from gold to be able to sell at that price” I replied.

What began was a long drawn out conversation about everything. How he was related to Mary Queen of Scots, to his arts degree from Chicago.

He was pissed as a fart all right.

I was hoping that Kelli would come out to save me, but she kept the door closed, locked, and bolted. I was left to be savaged by a drunken decorator.

I was desperate to get back to my chair painting as the paint was already in the pot, awaiting spraying.

In the end I had to explain what I needed to do, so Bob staggered back to his van probably waiting to Larry to return.

I got on with my chair painting. It was bloody hot, even hotter in the tent, I had to watch the perspiration running down my face didn’t drop on to the surface I was painting.

3rd August 2021

Kelli had a doctors appointment this morning.

She had a lot of positive things to tell him, and he was delighted with her progress. He did his usual checks and kept her on her current supplements, these will eventually diminish sooner rather than later.

I had a go at assembling the portable spray tent. The assembly instructions were not the clearest, but after a struggle I got it to look like the picture. I wanted it erected so that I could paint the three dining chairs.

I’m sure it will confuse the neighbours, they had got used to us splashing about in the pool, now they can see us in a tent.

We had to meet up with the lady who had brought the missing drawer for the dresser we collected yesterday.

2nd August 2021

We had our first sale of the month, not much, but a sale is a sale.

The small dressers are popular, and tend to sell within a day or two. We got it from the lady who bought a small dresser from us. It was in the garage looking rather sad. Kelli jumped on it, did a deal, and worked on it as soon as we got it back to the garage.

Earlier we drove to Hudsonville to collect a free dresser, it was a big beast that I had to move it

from a basement, up a grassy slope, across a lawn to the truck. Fortunately they had a dolly which helped a bit, but pulling it up the slope was harrowing, but it was FREE.

Heading back to the house we stopped off at Jonkers, the garden centre near home to look for some aquatic plants. We have been watching “Gardeners world” and Kelli got the ides to create a mini pond. We had a small galvanised tub that was going to be the prototype. It was good that Kelli had the energy to create this pond, it is definitely going to help her recovery.

As we drove into the driveway I was greeted by a large box containing four elderberry trees.

Now I had to get them into the soil straight away, but that meant getting some manure to treat the soil along the border where the trees were going to be planted.

We quickly off-loaded the dresser,putting it on a trolly for easy moving.

I refitted the drawers and discovered that one was missing, I checked all around, looking in the back of the truck just in case it had slipped into the adjacent dimension where all the tea spoons and single sock go, but nothing.

A quick phone call establish that the missing drawer was still in Hudsonville full of children’s clothes.

We should be able to collect it tomorrow as they were coming to Holland in the mid afternoon.

I bought four bags of manure and planted the bushes.

1st August 2021

“ I don’t know how much more we can squeeze into the garage” I wined, learning that Kelli had found two more pieces for free on Marketplace.

We set off to collect the first piece, a small bookcase covered in wall paper. The area on the north side was quite posh, where the grass is not allowed to grow a weed. We pulled up to the property, and outside on the drive was this excuse for a bookcase, if this is an example of what taste in decor they have maybe we should root out the rest of the crap they have on the inside.

Thankfully the other piece Kelli acquired is being picked up tomorrow, that I believe is a monster.

I worked on the last chair, sanding off the bad paint, and getting it ready for priming tomorrow.

I took an early day, and sat in the swing chair with a can of beer, letting the breeze cool me down, and contemplate the rest of the day.

31st July 2021

We just managed a last minute sale for the month. The cabinet that I had been working on for a few weeks, was sold, collected and in someone’s home by mid-day today.

We pottered around on a couple of projects, but it was Saturday, so we bunked off early.

I had an email to confirm shipment of my elderberry bushes due early next week. I will believe it when they are in my hands.

The attack on my plum trees by the Japanese Beetles has reduced considerably, there are new leaves appearing on the smaller, more damaged tree, which is encouraging.

With all Kelli’s issues we haven’t been to the beach at all this year, this has to be one of the new goals for August.

We have at least started taking the dogs for a walk around the block, they were starting to get fat and lazy.

30th July 2021

My latest root filling has settled down, which is a relief, now I can concentrate on other things. I will leave it a month before I have the crown preparation, I should have my courage back by then.

Kelli found another furniture piece in Zeeland, like we need another piece, but it was decent, although there was a bit of veneer missing, so a bit of patching is required.

I only had one vital thing todo today and that was to drill holes in four drawer fronts. Kelli showed me the handles she wanted to use, and I had done some the same earlier in the week. I marked them out, double checking each one. When Kelli came to fit them the attachment screw was too short, so I counterbored the back to allow the screw to sink in and protrude enough to fit the handle.

As I was checking the depth, I held the handle against the front only to find the centres of the holes I had drilled were wrong. I didn’t realise that the handles Kelli gave me were 65 millimetres, I had drilled mine 76mm the same dimension that I had used before. I cursed, and threw things about in frustration.

To solve the disaster we found handles in our handle cupboard that fitted, although not what she really wanted but they work fine.

I have been expecting delivery of some elderberry plants that I ordered months ago.

First they were scheduled for this week, but a month ago I was informed they would be delivered during week of June 20th, they weren’t, so then they were rescheduled every week since then.

Now the latest date is week of the 1st August.