Another Lifetime to go

20th May 2021

I had an appointment with the dentist to discuss what to do with two of my back teeth.

Not long after I got here in November 2019 part of one tooth cracked but was still attached at the gum. I nursed it carefully thinking I’d be back in the UK in February when I had a dental appointment booked.

However that all went to pot, with Kelli’s family issues and then the pandemic, needless to say it didn’t happen.

I had another tooth problem so I went along to a dental clinic and they gave me an assessment on the treatment I would need.

That came to a whopping five grand, since then I have been planning what treatment I would have, and when.

At the time the dentist said I would need a root filling in the damaged tooth and the one next to it, but they didn’t do root fillings at that practice , so he recommended a specialist. It took a while to get an appointment and when I saw him he would only do one filling at a time. He didn’t think it was worth treating the damaged tooth so he worked on the other. His reason was that there was not a lot of tooth left to attach a crown to, and his advice was to have it extracted.

I didn’t want to loose the tooth, so I went back to the dentist guy to discuss my options.

He recommended having a crown that covered both teeth that way it would be well anchored down, and under normal circumstances would last a long time.

That was a relief, so now I have to go back to the specialist and have the filling done to the tooth that was not worth saving.

19th May 2021

I wasn’t going out, so I was a slob all day. I had Albert Steptoe facial growth, and my hair, was like wild desert grass, thin and dry.

I had Funky Frog painted parts spread around the garage on every possible surface. The stained dresser top had several coats of finish and was starting to look good.

I finished painting the dresser and turned my attention to the drawer fronts.

For some reason the two small fronts were trapezoidal rather than square, so I added strips of timber to the ends, and then cut them all square. By the end of the day these had been painted, so a productive day.

We had people coming to view the “blue” dresser that has been languishing in the garage for longer than usual.

At about six they arrived, at first things were promising, then they said the soul destroying words “Oh I thought it was white”.

They debated among themselves for a few minutes then came to the decision to pass on it.

I didn’t blame them, the walls of the room that it was going to be installed into was Olive green. So I agreed with them, even with my naive sense of colour combinations, that a light blue would not go with olive green.

So that dresser will be repainted before the weekend, mark my words.

18th May 2021

Phew! It’s warm today, and about time to.

I may have to get the shorts and tee-shirts out of storage.

It was a morning of getting stuff and making an appointment at the dentist.

It had been a while since I had my root canal and as there was only a temporary filling in the tooth it was about time to get it finished.

The rest of my tasks included saw blades more rocks and paint for the Adirondacks.

“What colour should I paint them?” I asked, although Kelli wasn’t particularly interested as her night was not good and she was still suffering the after effects of the attack by the kinesiologist.

“You chose” was her response.

“Oh dear” I thought this is risky, leaving me to my own devices could be a disaster.

Once I got to Menards I was faces with a million choices from three or four paint manufacturers.

I looked to the sky for inspiration, should I go red?, or yellow. Kelli reminded me that bees and wasps are attracted to that colour, so strike that one.

In the end I went for “Frog in a blender” or by its proper title “Funky Frog”.

“Do you want good, better or best?” Asked the assistant.

“I’ll have the best” I replied confidently.

That took her by surprise, that was when she realised that I wasn’t from around here.

“Dutch Boy or Pittsburg?” Yet another choice.

“ I don’t really care” was my answer, how would I know the difference?

She scurried off to her mixing machine, after vibrating it for several minutes handed me the quart of Funky Frog.

17th May 2021

Kelli’s vertigo is still a problem, she managed to get an appointment with the kinesiologist for a late afternoon appointment, she didn’t want to do anymore home treatment until after she saw the doctor.

I kept myself occupied as I alway do in the garage. There is little I can do to ease Kelli’s discomfort other than making her protein drinks and topping up her water jug.

I had the final delivery of spare parts from the patio seating people. It was too late to cancel the order, so what arrived was another left hand back panel and another end panel. I have nearly enough part to build a third left hand sofa.

They sent me an email saying that they didn’t want them returned, therefore I could donate or trash them.

Alternatively I could become Mr Big in supplying spare parts for BLOODY patio seating.

I need to decide what to do with them as the boxes are filling up the garage.

The visit to the kinesiologist was the same as it usually is with Kelli being beaten up. Normally, ordinary people would be charged with GBH, but not if you’re a doctor.

There was treatment for sinuses as well as the normal adrenal areas.

I still get shocked at the severity of the treatment, if that happened to me I would probably hit out and seriously hurt someone.

16th May 2021

Kelli is still suffering with her vertigo, it’s maddening, but it’s putting her back mentally.

She was just starting to sleep better, and this had to happen, it’s like she’s cursed.

We repeated the Epley manoeuvre on her left side as she wasn’t convinced it worked the last time. Once completed, she is very conscious about it, and just wants to sit motionless for the rest of the day. With nothing else to do she then thinks about every twinge she has, thinking that it could be life threatening. She needs constant re-assurances that it’s not really the case.

If I worried about every ache and pain I had every day I would be out in the garage building a coffin.

There is definitely a difference between British and American’s mental health, it is so inbreed over here.

In America almost everyone I have met has some issue or other. Anxiety is everywhere, once you have it, it breeds and spreads to all young people, and starts them down the never ending wormhole.

The American dream is still thought of as something that is attainable by everyone, but that is not true. For a person to survive on their own they have to take two, or three low paid jobs just to pay their bills. Coupled with that the healthcare worries, its understandable that these pressures mount up, and manifest themselves as mental health problems.

Worries of the parents, pass down to their children, it heredity.

16th May 2021

Kelli had a bad night, she woke up suffering from dizziness which upset her for the rest of the day. She has had BPPV vertigo before and we cured it using the Epley manoeuvre to reposition crystals in her ear. We tried this on her left side, but have to wait till tomorrow to see if it worked, then do the other one.

She contacted the kinesiologist trying to understand what caused it, and determined that it was probably the result of her sitting in the swinging egg seat, what a bummer, that was her idea to get one.

I started taking apart one of the Adirondack chairs for repainting. Kelli had found them on the side of the road a year or so ago. They were a little scruffy then, but the paint was flaking, and just needed some care and restoration.

14th May 2021

It was going to be a sunny day and a high of 57 degrees with a prospect for higher temperatures next week.

I needed more materials, including some white paint to complete the project dresser, and possibly a re-paint of the “blue” dresser.

I planned my shopping expedition to include going Meijers to get my digestive biscuits and Branstan pickle.

First it was Menards to get the paint, and whilst I was there I picked up an off-set patio umbrella, that should complete the furniture for outside.

Then it was off to buy another fifteen gallons of river rocks for the deck.

Kelli spent a bit of time outside sitting in the egg hanging chair watching me putting together the new umbrella.

The umbrella was from a Chinese manufacturer, like everything in America, however it was substantially made and went together easily. It boasted of its 360deg adjustment, but this was a design fault and i didn’t want 300 degrees of it.

Even with the clamping screws fully tightened, the breeze would cause the post to rotate as there was no other way stop it. I will have to get out my file and shape a detent in the flange that the location pins rest on, that should do the trick.

I did my second cut with my new lawnmower, I felt as cocky as a Tesla owner in a fuel crisis.

13th May 2021

The customer for the stripped oak dresser finally came to collect. It had been a month since she put a deposit on it, and I had been using it as a table, stacking it with cushions, and any other thing I needed.

We both went out to collect a piece of furniture this morning. Kelli had seen it on Marketplace and snapped it up. The sun was shining, and she had a decent night and felt that it was something she wanted to try.

The item was a well known manufacturer and in good condition, it might just need a good clean and a dab of scratch cover.

I cleaned out the shed, it was full of crap we might have to give away. Since we have new seating on the deck there is a few things subject to requirements.

A couple turned up to view the light blue dresser that we had posted. It turned out better than I thought, but the girl thought it was white from the picture in the ad. That meant it was a no-sale, and a lesson that we should do everything white.

12th May 2021

There was a person interested in the latest dresser, that pushed me into working on some chipped veneer on the inside of the drawer front. I didn’t have any to match, so I used the closest I had. It took most of the day to cut out the damage and bond in a new piece, but although it is different in colour, at least there are no rough edges to catch any clothing.

In between doing that, I worked on the old project piece getting it ready for sanding and priming.

Kelli had a better night sleeping which made her more lively, managing to do a few things around the house before retiring in the afternoon.

11th May 2021

I was a bit of an errand boy, collecting medication for Kelli, buying more rocks and sand for the deck. I’m finding my way around the town quite easily now, although driving around on my own is not much fun.

I have finally resolved the issue with the patio furniture. After much correspondence with the supplier about the way it went together was explained to me, and I feel a bit dumb that I didn’t work it out myself. The corner seat was not in fact in the corner, it was positioned at the end, after the second left hand sofa was positioned ninety degrees to the first.

So I had all the pieces all along. The only compromise I have to accept is a join to the corner unit that is visible. Oh well I’ll have to put up with that.