Another Lifetime to go

1st March 2021

I have never understood what anxiety is, and how people are affected by it. I’ve felt dread and fear but my life has not been subject to this illness.

Kelli has been only firing on three cylinders since mid January, and did consult with a councillor who diagnosed that she had burnt herself out mentally because of all the tension caused by the presidential elections.

This really knocked the wind out of her, disrupting her sleep and leaving her without any energy. I have never seen her like this even when she was struggling to bring up her two children on her own. She survived the economic depression, when she lost her home and business, but through all that she kept her head above water using her talent for making money out of nothing.

She had made an appointment today to see a kinesiologist. She didn’t want to see a regular doctor mainly because she didn’t want to be treated with drugs.

Kinesiology addresses physiological, biomechanical, and psychological disciplines, and follows her principles of allowing the body to heal itself.

She was convinced that her anxiety had been caused by all the intensity of all the social media activity that was being pumped out.

She was heavy into Facebook and TicTok, spending many hours constantly updating herself of the latest news.

Then suddenly, she realised the futility of it all, and stopped. Even though the election went the way she wanted, and Biden was inaugurated as the new President, there was nothing else to fill the void, and gradually she faded into a grey space, not feeling energised to do anything at all.

Going to the Kinesiologist was a way of breaking out of the dark mist she was in.

I was interested in seeing how the treatment worked , and satisfied my scepticism.

I was allowed to be a spectator, and sat in the corner watching what unfolded.

In the middle of the room was a bench resembling an instrument of torture. There were levers, and padded sections that the doctor adjusted to suit Kelli.

Poor girl, she was subjected to brutal manipulation for over an hour, as the doctor focused on her adrenal system.

The bench creaked and groaned nearly as much as Kelli did, but the re-alignment of the intestines was the worst. I never thought in my wildest dreams would I witness such a operation, I was too shocked even to faint.

The rest of the treatment was tame compared to the gut turning episode, and consisted on the doctor touching various parts of the body with a tuning fork, apparently it’s all to do with good vibrations.

The next area of interest was re-aligning the hips, legs and arms went in all directions, some were Kelli’s.

Every different activity had a cost, so the doctor kept writing done each operation, to be totalled up at the end if you were able to limp out and pay.

I am still sceptical, but I accept that if is helping her to get back to her old self, I will support her decision, and keep my mouth shut.

28th February 2021

Well we still came third in our trans Atlantic quiz, but with a more respectable score this time due to some pre-quiz preparation. I had based the questions on music and films from the year each of us had left school. That is what I was prepared for, but of course the boys didn’t listen and chose more general knowledge subjects.

That is typical, but we soldiered on, and Kelli was the star in my team, although a couple of wild guesses helped.

I was pissed that all the work I had done was redundant, although some of the film research was used.

We were able to photograph and post a buffet that we had just finished, which was our last ditch effort to sell something before we closed February’s sales. Although that failed, Kelli had some small items to post, so not all was lost.

27th February 2021

I collected my antibiotics from the pharmacy and immediately started on the course, three times a day for a week, yippee.

The snow is going, but very slowly, I can’t wait to start the raised beds.

Kelli put the finishing touches to the buffet ready for me to fit the top and back.

My friend Rob had video called me whilst I was still in bed, so I wasn’t looking my best, but it was Saturday. He was at my cottage checking how the garden had survived the winter. I was saddened to hear that one of the Acer trees had died, they weren’t cheap. The Apple trees were still alive, so not all was bad news

There needs to be a lot of weeding done to tidy it up.

I am frustrated that I cannot get back to re-clad the shed, that was the last part of the refurbishment to the property, that will have to wait.

Kelli still hasn’t received her second stimulus cheque, this is such a badly handled process.

Some people have had payment directly into their bank account, others had cheques in the post. Her only option left is to claim on her taxes, hoping that will work.

I don’t know what criteria the government uses to identify people that are eligible. Is it their tax returns, or the social security number. We don’t think it’s the tax return as we know those who haven’t filed returns getting a payment.

I can see all the cracks in America now.

26th February 2021

I have a return of the gum infection that I had back in January. I am awaiting my appointment for a root filling that was moved from the 19th February to the 25th March. Then I am able to have a crown on a damaged tooth. This is all a big drag, because the filling is with one specialist and the crown is another, I have been tempted just to have the tooth removed, but i don’t want to have to suck my food through a straw. It has been uncomfortable all day, but by the time I mentioned it to Kelli the dental place had closed, so we will try tomorrow to get more antibiotics.

Coincidentally I had to change the dental appointment that I have running in the UK, which I would have preferred to attend.

Covid has a lot to answer for.

25th February 2021

The snow is disappearing and we were able to work with the garage door open. Still dressed in a thick coat it was just about bearable, until later in the afternoon when the sun sank low.

Kelli was working on a buffet, cleaning it and applying a primer coat.

Because I have been here for such a long time, there was the question of what I was going to do with the Shogun that was being used by my son Ryan. We agreed that I would transfer ownership over to him, saving me the cost of road tax and insurance. It made a lot of sense, but also made me sad. This would be the first time in forty years that I would not have a car.

All the worry about repairs and all the other costs associated with cars will just be concentrated on the Toyota we have here.

24th February 2021

The thaw continues, gradually areas of the garden is being exposed including dog poop.

Kelli was out scraping it up and depositing it in the dog bog.

A man came to collect the dresser, of course there was the usual last minute panic because there are always a few areas missed. All that done, we waved as it was loaded into his truck and driven off to its new home.

I finished all the structural changes to the long dresser ready for filling, sanding and painting.

The amount of work in this project was substantial, almost building it from scratch, something I really want to do, anyway it was fun to do, even though the financial side of it won’t be great.

23rd February 2021

The thaw begins, the white snow is turning brown with the mud that splashes from dirty roads, and slush is everywhere. This is the worst time of the winter, but the hope that spring is just around the corner.

We finished another dresser that we probably paid too much for, but I added a shelf where there was a drawer missing, as I had this material left over from another job, it didn’t cost us anything other than the time to make it.

We dragged it into the house to take the pictures and Kelli posted it.

It was sold by the evening and being picked up tomorrow.

I carried on with strengthening the carcass of the large dresser that had a sag in the middle.

I removed the lower rail, which had the biggest deflection, and made a new version. The rate I’m going I will double the weight of it by the time I’m finished.

22nd February 2021

Work in the Bristol Cottage workshop trundled on. I had a finish to add to a maple stained top, and some structural modifications to the large dresser that I’m trying to save. Kelli was busy painting another dresser ready for me to add a shelf.

Everything is still covered with snow, the warmer weather is still expected this week, but it’s going to take a while for it to disappear.

I became aware how much time the both of us have spent in the house together, it had been a prison, but with benefits. There is talk of some more relaxing of restrictions in March.

The new Biden administration is working hard to get the vaccines and financial help to the Americans, but so many people on social media are saying such evil things about him.

After four years of an imbecile president there is someone who had empathy and wants to build back a better country.

21st February 2021

I was determined to take today off, we had friends round in the afternoon so we needed to prepare for that. That was the plan, but I just needed to thickness a piece of timber and attach it to a shelf, that was all.

I took a quick walk to the corner shop to get a carton of almond milk and vegan butter. The pavement was still thick with snow, but I love the walk anyway.

I helped prepare some snacks and uncorked a nice bottle of wine.

I grabbed some money that we had from the lady who collected the table. To our surprise there was far more there than we expected.

We were then in a dilemma, was it a mistake?

or a generous gesture, we had to find out.

Mike and Lesley arrived promptly at two and began telling us about their second Covid vaccination and the after effects. It’s not the same for everyone, and they suffered a bit.

A day for them was wiped out, with feelings of nausea and light headedness, plus a large rash on their arms, but they feel better for having it.

We had a good laugh playing dominoes drinking wine and eating cheese and biscuits.

I was excited to read that Menards have their 11% discount offer going again. I was waiting for that to start up again so that I can order the decking material once the snow has melted.

20th February 2021

We waited in most of the afternoon for the owner of the table to come and collect it.

We had messaged her to tell her the cost, making sure that we explained what we did.

This is a good example where the labour hours outstrip the realistic value of the piece,but we felt that it was necessary for her to know.

She did “give” us a dresser which we repainted and sold pretty quickly, so we acknowledged that, and gave her credit for it.

Anyway she arrived with her husband and a very large dog that I thought with take my hand off, but turned out to be a big softy.

They were happy with the finished product, although they were very reserved compared with others that gush with typical over the top compliments that I have learned to expect over here.

We had been waiting to take our own dogs out for a walk, but that is a whole logistical problem in itself.

First the dogs have to be fitted into their matching wooden coats, then it is our turn.

This starts with thick boots, Kelli has a pair that look like Yeti’s feet.

Next comes the thick down-filled coats, that start to restrict physical movement.

Then it is the hats and scarves tightly wrapped around face.

The final items are the gloves, ideally fur lined, but wooden ones are necessary to hold the dog leads.

We then step out of our warm home through an air lock into the frozen wasteland where the windchill hits you making the eyes freeze and the nose run.

The snow had thawed a little due to the sun raising the temperature slightly making the pavement slushy, which will freeze tonight for sure.

Our walking route takes us through a park, we stick to the well trodden path, noting that some brave individuals had reached the swings who must have been high on something. I wouldn’t have had the dexterity to tackle the swings as just walking was a challenge in itself.

We returned to our safe house, quickly removing all the items we had carefully applied as quickly as we could.