I made my first solo furniture delivery this morning. After a number of false starts, and some interesting excuses, we finally had someone genuine. Thankfully it wasn’t far, but even that is not a simple task. It is good if the house number is on their mail box, that’s easy to see, but this address had the numbers on the front of the house, and it was brass numbers on faded brown siding, so it didn’t immediately jump out at me. Eventually I found it and reversed up a long driveway to a waiting chap to give me a hand to unload.
We just finished when the rains came, not torrential, that came later, it was just a shower.
I had plenty to do in the garage. I have two pieces on the go plus the chairs.
It was Kelli’s birthday, and after a restless night she didn’t feel much like celebrating.
Usually the family get together to eat cake, it’s the only good thing about birthdays, but she didn’t feel like having anyone round.
This is the second birthday that has been bad, the first was the quarantine.
The only gift she wanted was a good night sleep and some energy.
I worked on painting the black chairs, giving them a second coat. This is harder than it sounds, and just when you think you’ve finished you find a missed spot. I went over everything with a torch just to get through inspection, and I have another five to go.
They say that Spring is just around the corner, it’s about time, although the winter was not harsh, I just want to work with the doors open with a nice through draught whistling around my knee caps, Ah bliss.
It’s amazing how quick the trees are budding.
Everyday there is a new hue to the trees, we’ve got buds on the apple trees and elderberry bush which is great that they survived their first winter.
It’s great to see things growing, I’m looking forward to getting other things that I can plant once they are available to ship.
I needed to do a bit of gardening today. I had bought some lawn feed a couple of weeks ago, and I wanted to start build the front lawn.
Last Autumn Mike reseeded most of it, but there was an area right around the side that he didn’t have time to finish.
I gave the grass the first cut a couple of days ago, that is when you find all the thin patches, and realise it’s not as lush as you thought it was.
I hooked up the hose and gave the grass a good soaking.
I filled the spreader with some grass feed and weed killer, and set off sprinkling the granules around the lawn.
Ten minutes later it pissed with rain.
I did a bit of work in the garage, waiting for it to stop.
I wanted to overseed an area of ground on the other side of the drive, adjacent to the post box. This has always been a bit scruffy, and needed a tidy.
I have generally been unsuccessful overseeding , probably because I was impatient and rushed the job.
Firstly I went over the ground with a fork to “airate” the soil, this took ages. Then I loaded the seed into the spreader, and adjusted the spread rate to suit the mix, then covered the area, finally gave it a light rake, and hopefully, a better result.
It alway seems to work on the tele or YouTube, and grass will always grow where you don’t want it, and I’m forever pulling it up from the boarders.
I had to leave the house early to collect a herbal remedy for Kelli. The air was cool, the smell reminded me of being on holiday. It was also reminiscent of driving to the Design Yard all those years ago.
I managed to get stuck behind a truck with a young kid strapped to the back who’s job it was to pick up the cones in the middle of the road. The city had been out painting the lines down the centre of the road, and I was lucky enough to be behind it. I could not overtake so I left space in case he missed one, then I could nudge it up in the air and knock it back into the truck. I was urging him to miss one but he didn’t so I will never know if I could have scored the goal.
It had not been a good night for both of us. For Kelli it was another sleepless night, but for me it was okay, but the deep, dreamless sleep was not there.
I am frustrated that all the herbal stuff she’s taking doesn’t seem to be making any difference.
“Oh it takes time” is all I hear, “ you will notice some difference in two weeks” is another.
I cannot shake off this feeling that all this is crap.
I feel helpless that I cannot help her sleep, you’d think it would be the easiest thing in the world, like breathing, you don’t have to think about that, it’s automatic. So sometimes I’m not the most supportive person to be around.
We made a deal when we got married, that I would find a place to live, and she would keep me alive.
Now I hear her talk about not wanting to be alive anymore, even in my sickest time bedridden with the flu, I knew I would get better, it took time but I was leaving it all to my body to sort out. With Kelli it is different, she is not in control, we’ve been told it is an adrenal problem, so we’re following this strict pathway of herbal therapy, but her feeling of helplessness does not ease.
I keep myself busy but working on furniture projects and tidying up the garden. All the plans about growing flowers and vegetables may have to be reduced for this year.
The first of our new decking furniture was delivered today. It was a hanging egg chair, of course it was one of China’s finest, like everything that you buy in America. Even the stainless steel screws I used on the decking came from the people’s republic.
The box had everything in it, even the tool for tensioning the fabric shell. I was excited, it was a bit of an impulse buy, because I thought it might tempt Kelli outside.
I set out all the parts just to check everything was in order, there were no little Chinese children hidden in the packing, just bits of metal and fixings.
The main cradle structure was easy to construct, just large bits of tube, the fabric part was a bit more of a challenge. This is where the Chinese supplied instructions fall down. The photos showing how to tension the fabric were terrible, in colour they would have been fine, but photocopied in black and white they lost all definition. After a few tries I worked it out. The tool was a lever to stretch, and move a spar just enough to drop a bolt through holes to keep everything in place.
I fitted the nuts, and using the supplied allan key and spanner began to tighten. Ping! went the allan key, it flew in the air and landed on the deck, the disappeared down the gap, a great start.
Fortunately, I has a set of metric keys for just this emergency, and it was a full set.
It was also the hottest day of the year so far, and me in my flannel shirt began dripping in a very short time.
I fitted the hanging strap and hooked it on to the support structure, adding the loose cushion, and it was done.
I tried to get Kelli to give it the first sit, but she didn’t feel up to it, so it was down to little me to test it out.
Now for just over two hundred bucks it wasn’t bad value, but if it was American made it would have been a thousand, and the quality wouldn’t be much better.
That is the fundamental argument that is made over and over again, the Americans hate the fact the Chinese can make it, ship it and pay the “Trump” duty on it, and it’s still cheaper than anything made in the USA.
I bet there is one factory in China just making these swinging chairs and churning them out by the thousand every day. That is the reason why there are many outlets selling the same product.
I sat in the seat looking out towards the lake, the storm clouds are gathering, “ it’s not supposed to rain today” I thought, I’ve just got this bloody thing built, now I have to take the cushion inside, damn Michigan!
Earlier I went to buy the timber to make a raised bed. I decided to build it with cedar, like the cold frame, so I loaded the truck up with half a tree, wondering if I was making it too large.
My initial plan was to make it eight foot by four foot, and two foot off the ground, but I’ll make it three foot wide to match the width of the gardening fabric I have already, now I have to plan it in to my workload.
I thought we had it sold, that was until the lady saw it had small drawers instead of large ones.
“ I should have read the description better” she said.
“ maybe you should have” I muttered under my breath.
I thought that because they had driven from Grand Haven, a good thirty minute drive, she might have made a concession, but no.
We had carried it into the living space only this morning to take pictures, so it was exciting to have it sold by the afternoon. It goes to show you can only count the money when they hand it over.
The lady was interested in one that I haven’t even started yet, asking for pictures as soon as it was finished. I don’t know if it was genuine, or a smoke screen to get out of buying the other one. Maybe I will move it forward in the production line.
Meanwhile I have started painting some dining chairs that we’ve had for a year. Kelli doesn’t like painting them, as she has no patience, and I don’t like to store them any longer because they are difficult, and take up a load of space.
Hopefully these will go with a table that we were given, that I had finished last year, so another piece we’ve stored.
There is no apparent signs that it is Easter Sunday, I have seen chocolate Easter bunnies, but no Cadbury’s cream eggs in sight.
Kelli was having a bad day, that usually follows a sleepless night. I can’t see any changes to her condition even though she now taking more powerful medication. I’m holding my tongue, I don’t want to freak her out by criticising her method of treatment, as I do almost everyday. It’s hard not to get angry when my wife says that she wants to die.
I have suggested that she gets a blood test, but she won’t. She is frightened by the possibility that she have some serious condition, and she’d rather not know about it.
It was promising start to the day,the sun was shining, and it was supposed to start to warm up. What I wasn’t told was there was a wind, that blew where you didn’t want it to. This was because I choose the wrong coat to wear.
I aways tease Kelli about how many coats she has, and of course she reminds me about the micro style climate that can change from one extreme to another. That is why the coat rack is full. That doesn’t guarantee that I will choose the correct one. So I set out on my errands with the thinnest of coats, racing from car to store door in record time.
My lack of judgement continued as when I got home Kelli inquired where a certain flavour of crispy snack was, I confessed that I had eaten then to stop them going “stale”, this meant that I had to walk to the corner store to get a replacement. This time I wore a thicker coat, which felt great, but after a hundred yards it started to get uncomfortably warm. I gritted my teeth and carried on. By the time I got to the store I was toasty, and as I put my mask on I could feel perspiration on my top lip, and my glasses immediately misted up as soon as I put them on. I pushed them to the bottom of my nose and proceeded around the store peering though the lens like a short sighted professor. I walked to the isle that displayed the crispy snacks, but there were none of the flavour that Kelli had a craving for. I checked every shelf, even pulling the packets out to check that there wasn’t one hidden behind. Panic started to take hold, I had eaten all of Kelli’s favourite snack and now I couldn’t find any to take to her. I walked up and down the row just in case they put them in a different place, but no, I had failed, no, the store had failed. They had not done what every other store does, that is re-order their stock.
Now I had to walk back to my ailing wife without the snack that she had been craving.
Out of desperation I picked another flavour that was similar. I know if I had gone back empty handed she would have said “ well you could have got me so and so” and I would have definitely failed the initiative test had I not made the effort.
I was planning my excuse on my walk back which was now uncomfortably hot inside.
I would throw myself at her mercy, and offer to drive to another store closer to town. In the end she wasn’t that bothered, and all my guilt was for nothing, but I did buy myself some beer, as you do in times of stress.
The return of the cold continued, although a few degrees warmer than yesterday, not that you can feel the difference.
I worked in the garage applying a coat of sealer to the top I stained yesterday.
Kelli needed a box making to send off a large wooded D that she sold.
I found some cardboard and cut out something resembling a box and packed it up for her.
She was not having a good day, and managed to get an appointment with her kinesiologist for early afternoon. I’m still having trouble understanding how this “treatment” works. I really am trying to remain positive although to me it’s just a money making scheme dishing out supplements that might or might not work, but you have to pay for it all, and some of them are not cheap.
I went along with her but I suggested I sit in the waiting room for fear of opening my mouth and causing a scene.
Earlier I went into the shed to retrieve the lawn spreader that we have for a while, and I was convinced didn’t work very well.
I oiled some of the moving parts, and that is when I had a eureka moment. I noticed an adjustment that regulated the flow of the granules. As I rotated it, numbers appeared in a small window indicating the spread rate, now it all makes sense, Duh!
Lyn, the lady who decided not to buy the large bookcase changed her mind. She arrived not long after we returned from Kelli’s appointment.
I lifted the unit into a low trolly just a few minutes before she arrived.
We had to lower all the back seats, but there was a child seat fitted to one of them, and it was a difficult job, especially with my cracked thumbs. Eventually I managed to squeeze the retaining clips to be able to remove it. Getting it into the back of the vehicle was simple, so now I need to treat my aching fingers.
I forgot that today was Good Friday, I miss have the Easter break holiday, because every day is like a holiday so I don’t have any reference point anymore.
All I know is that April is an expensive month for birthdays.
Like most men he checked every drawer, walking round it “kicking the tyres” before phoning his wife to process the payment.
Later Lyn, a return customer, came to view the bookcase. She was excited when she saw it, but needed to see if it would fit in her home. She messaged later to say that it was too big unfortunately.
It was bloody cold today, a couple of degrees above freezing. I had to put the heater on in the garage to thaw out my fingers.
I managed to stain a new dresser top and prime it, so I’m ahead on that one.
I also managed to finish stripping the paint off the four remaining dresser handles.
Another Lifetime to go 