Another Lifetime to go

10th May 2021

The start of another week, and a visit to the kinesiologist for yet more supplements I guess.

I was working on the project dresser, planing up timber I salvaged from the pallet that the paving slabs were deliver on.

I laid up several panels letting them dry in the sun whilst I went on with a bit of groundwork.

This for all intents and purposes this is working on the garden, but because I see “Groundwork” and the side of many trucks driving about, so I adopted it, it sounds more impressive than “gardening “ anyway that’s what old folks do

I watered the area that I reseeded, nothing much is happening yet.

There were many shoots of grass growing out of the decorative stones at the front of the property which have to be cleared all the time, so the thought crossed my mind that I could transplant them into the bare patches of the lawn. If it worked for Elton John why wouldn’t it work for my lawn.

I decided to give it a try, I gathered up the shoots and made a hole in the ground with a screwdriver pushing the clump into the hole, pressing the soil around it.

If I dared to mentioned it to Kelli I’m sure she would just roll her eyes, and make a squeaking to indicate that I’m tight, I guess I might be, squeak squeak!

9th May 2021

Well it didn’t take long for the table and chairs to sell. I had just finished touching up some of the areas I had missed when the couple turned up to collect.

We have had those pieces for about a year, cluttering up the place, so it was a huge sense of relief to sell it, and give me more space.

It was Mother’s Day over here which meant visits from Kelli’s children, it was good to see them again, although with my short and brushed hair it was a wonder they recognised me.

I tackled the side part of the front lawn, which wasn’t completed last autumn. I had bought this lethal looking tool for tearing up the ground, an hours worth of that rendered me useless for the rest of the day. I managed to collect up all the debris, and sowed some seed, I’m eager to see if old death fingers can manage to grow any grass.

I have started work on a dresser that we were given as an unfinished project piece. I know why it was a project, as some of the drawers were missing, which means we have to reimagine it as something cool.

It is nothing special, a chipboard carcass painted using a roller, and not very well. The top had blown patches all over and was not salvageable, this meant a new top, which was the only money I was prepared to spend on it.

The rest of the cool stuff will have to be made using material I have in the garage.

8th May 2021

I was sent off to have a proper haircut, this will be the first for over a year, and I’m scared.

I expect the stylist to shriek in horror with what had been done to it, but that’s their job to put it right, hopefully.

I arrived right on time, there were all the Covid procedures to go through, temperature, contact phone numbers, and the usual waivers so that the business doesn’t get sued.

I sat in the chair, I had to keep my mask on, I thought this will be interesting. The lighting was particularly bad, so not only did I look like I was wearing a burka, the lines on my forehead were deeply furrowed and my eyes all dark and sullen, it was as if Keith Richard was looking over my shoulder.

My hair was falling in piles all over the floor, I’m sure she sheared sheep in her spare time, it was a good thing she didn’t trap my head between her knees, I would have nightmares for a month.

I survived, outside the cool breeze blew through the remnants of my hair, “that’s me done for another year”.

I had to search for dried dog food, that stuff goes so fast, I would save a lot of time just pouring it down the poop hole, and not have to collect the dog pellets everyday.

I managed to find some at the Aldi on the north side of town, I grabbed two bags with a frenzy that would make a seasoned hoarder proud, rushing back to the truck in victory.

Next stop was the landscaping place to buy another fifteen gallons of stones for the deck.

7th May 2021

I got to try out my new lawn mower, it was great. There was no panting, wheezing or swearing, just the hum of the electric motor. It was like I was saving the planet, if you don’t mention the plastics and the lithium batteries.

The front lawn looked the best I have ever seen it. There are a couple of thin areas that Mike was going to treat, but has not yet turned up to do it, you just cannot get dependable staff these days.

I tipped all the cuttings into the yard waste bin and resisted giving the whole machine a wash and wax.

Now I have to make space in the shed to store it. There are already two push mowers in there, one I bought last year, and one Kelli bought the year before, but that had a missing roller, Damn Marketplace!

I think I will make a sign to go outside the shed that says “Mower house”.

Well the table and chairs were finally finished, I fixed down the seat pads and reluctantly admitted they looked better than the previous covers, but the fabric was hard to work with, and typically, my left handed sissors turned up today.

The dresser was also finished apart from fixing on the decorative veneered panels, I’m still not convinced that they should be there, that’s Kelli’s call.

6th May 2021

I DON’T BLOODY BELIEVE IT!

The replacement replacement part for my patio set was delivered, and it was wrong again. I knew immediately it was yet again another end panel.

Straight on the phone, this time Kayla answered, I explained the problem again, led her through the history, and generally sounded my frustration.

She saw for herself the problem even before I finished my rant.

She saw that the previous person had sent detailed instructions of the problem, and the part I needed replacing, so it was some dumb shit in the distribution who picked the wrong part.

If the place wasn’t so far away (San Bernardino) I would drive over and pick the part myself, and at the same time shove the two replacement end panels up someone’s arse.

That got me really pissed off, and I concluded that if they are incapable of getting me the piece I wanted I would demand a refund and get the whole lot returned.

On the good side, my new cordless lawnmower arrived at the same time, what could go wrong with that?

5th May 2021

The leaves are bursting out of my new plum trees, the raspberry bushes have defied my death fingers and rooted, displaying new leaves. Even though the temperature has dropped a bit, it warms up in the afternoon, I can’t wait to lose my flannel shirts.

Kelli decided to ditch all the soy based food in the freezer because she was concerned that it was having an adverse effect on her progress. As soy seems to be in most things we eat, the future looks grim.

I have been looking up recipes for making sawdust into appetising food, as that I have in abundance.

There was a time when fish fingers and spaghetti on toast was seen as a good goto snack, boy I look forward to that now.

I went out to get more rocks for the decking, not wearing the correct shoes I didn’t feel like risking lifting the buckets, in case the handles broke, so I had to load the buckets with them in the back of the truck, not easy but it had to be done.

I had some money to deposit into Kelli’s bank account, including the stimulus cheque, this meant negotiating the sucking tubes which confuses me still.

You have to press a button to open the door to get the plastic container, add the money, and place it back in the holder. You press “send” to close the door, then it’s off.

Once the transaction is complete the teller sends back the receipt.

Taking the piece of paper out, I returned it to the holder, but the door remained open, I thought I would lose it by pressing the button, but all that did was send it back empty.

I bet the teller thought”dumb shit”.

4th May 2021

I had to tackle the upholstery for the six dining chairs that have been stored in the shed for the past year.

I had finished painting them, and Kelli had recovered them a long time ago, but the colour was not appropriate. We had been given some black and white fabric, so we decided to use that.

I have not done much upholstery since I made furniture for my first flat. I was working at Arkana on the lower Bristol Road, next to Herman Miller factory one. I saw how much scrap they threw away, each day I would collect all the off-cuts of foam, vinyl and leather. Each evening I would sew pieces together to make giant floor cushions, filling them with foam chunks. That was a lot for my poor old singer sewing machine, but they turned out great, my first foray into furniture design.

The seat pads were simple in comparison, but the fabric was thick and difficult to cut. It was also hard because being left handed I could only use the right handed scissors we had.

I spent the afternoon banging in staples and try to get the corners neat.

I wasn’t in the right frame of mind to do them at the beginning, but the challenge to make them look neat was too much to take up.

I managed to cover the five standard chairs, the carver is for tomorrow.

3rd May 2021

I’m not cut out to be a chief/cook/ preparer of food or anything really remotely to do with cooking. I used to have my standard dishes that I would make for myself, and I managed to survive. With Kelli out of things, I have been trying to keep us both alive.

A lot of the time Kelli has made things in the morning, when she feels strong enough, for dinner, and I have chipped in where I can.

Most of the time I have tried to keep the furniture side going, then making simple things to eat at the end of the day.

The vegan lifestyle does not easily suit my approach to food. Looking in the fridge and just seeing green things does not stir me to think of anything appetising. Although we have added fish into our diet(mainly because the kinesiologist said it would provide us with omega 3 and many other minerals the body can’t make for itself), so there are things I now recognise.

There was a piece of salmon in the fridge that I agreed to cook. It went wrong the moment I decided to use the frying pan instead of wrapping it in tin foil and baking it in the oven.

I looked for a simple recipe to make a sauce, but everyone I looked at did not have any measures, how are you supposed to make the bloody stuff. I was starting to lose patience.

I eventually found something and started the experiment.

I had to melt three tablespoons of butter in a pan(of course we don’t use butter, so I had to use the vegan stuff). I used garlic powder instead of real garlics, half a cup of chicken stock, (I had to use vegetable broth) some lemon juice, ( I had that) and some honey.

I should have used the runny sort, but I must have bought the wrong kind, it was as thick tar. Needless to say I wasn’t impressed with my effort, even after watching all those cooking shows. With that performance I wouldn’t even had got to the car park yet alone the tent.

Kelli wasn’t having a good day, and that got me down, there is no pattern. She is sleeping better, but nothing else is improving. I thought the sleep issue was the key, but it hasn’t made any difference, there is still no pattern, so still frustrating.

2nd May 2021

Kelli had a better night, meaning that myself, and the dogs were not treading on eggshells. Although knowing the dogs they would have eaten them.

It was great that she was able to sit outside in the new hanging egg chair. This was the first time she had ventured outside, so a milestone.

It got up to 75 degrees today, but this is Michigan, it would snow tomorrow.

I did a little work in the garage, putting a finish coat on a dresser top, but I wanted to take advantage to the sun.

We had fun trying to coax the dogs onto the new deck, something they have avoided getting on to. With the help of a dog treat they edged their way onto it, one paw at a time.

Now they associate the deck with food, I’m not sure that is a good thing.

1st May 2021

I was out weeding the front flower bed, the next door neighbour had bought a new truck, it looked immaculate, all black, shiny and polished. He then spent the hour, washing and waxing it, I know we all do it, we like to make sure all the dirt from the previous owner has been removed, so we can start afresh, and cover it with our dirt. The whole event made me want to wash our truck, mmm, maybe tomorrow.

I was eager to tryout the strimmer as I had a load of new spools had been delivered by Amazon, I now have enough to last me the rest of my life.

Kelli didn’t have a very good night, she was plagued with thoughts of an ocular migraine which is a distortion of sight. A sparkly kaleidoscope, it moves though a person’s vision, getting larger, before slowly disappearing. A lot of people can suffer from it due to stress or even caffeine, but Kelli had awoken with one, and she was worried that there would be a repeat episode.

I have had a few, but I am able to rest, and work past it, it can dwell in Kelli’s mind for days.