Another Lifetime to go

2nd October 2020

Kelli got her Biden sign to place at the front of the house, now the neighbourhood knows our political bias, and I’m not sure what I feel about it.

Holland seems to be equal in its choice of candidates, but that is only judged by the number of signs in people’s front gardens.

America being the dividend country that it is has many crazy people who might take things into their own hands if things get out of control.

I joke about the sign being like garlic to keep vampires away, although in this case, Republicans. So no visits from her mother and brother until after the election.

The change in the temperature means it’s harder for the polyurethane to dry, and with a deadline looming I need several more coats before the long dresser can be finished, which by the way, is being picked up on Sunday.

I managed to finish stripping the former red dresser, and even finished the drawerless dresser that has been in progress for over a year.

1st October 2020

What everyone needs when they are on a deadline is an excursion.

Kelli had to take her mother for a doctor’s appointment in Grand Rapids, she didn’t want to do it, so to try to make the trip more enjoyable, I volunteered to come along.

It was a shitty day to make the trip as the rain was quite heavy when we left Holland.

We had learned from a bit of Googling that there was a coffee shop nearby, so I was set.

We made good time, and arrived early, and as Kelli and her mum made their way into the surgery I had a short walk to the coffee shop.

The Bitter End was a homey place with dark panelled walls covered with old black and white photographs, you immediately felt at home there, as did the students who had taken up residence on most of the available tables. Their faces illuminated by laptop screens.

Every other table has a large X taped on the tabletop to denote the exclusion zone, making the value of an available table even more desirable. I spied the table that would be ideal, checking it every few seconds to make sure that no one had snook in and placed a coat or laptop on the table to secure it.

They say it is a stressful experience, I believe it. The alternative is to drink my coffee outside in the bus shelter, nope that isn’t going to happen, if push comes to shove I’ll throw someone’s laptop into the street, and as they run to retrieve it I’ll take their table.

I ordered my large latte with almond milk, and grabbed one of the few muffins left.

There were two types, normal and vegan, I had the opportunity to grab the normal, but because I didn’t put my glasses on I grabbed the vegan one instead.

It was a decent size, but a bit gluey, as vegan cakes usually are, but I chocked it down.

The students have perfected the art of making the smallest cup of coffee last the longest time, I go through pangs of guilt as I sip my beverage, and I try not to stay after my drink has gone cold.

The students have that covered, theirs is cold from the start.

I often wonder, when I am writing my blog in a public place, what the other customers think I am doing. I peck away furiously then gaze into space looking for the next word, or some inspiration. I try to avoid the gaze of others in case they think I am writing about them, which may be true at the time, but I don’t want to be confronted as some kind of literary peeping tom.

I breath into the reminder of my coffee to keep it warm for a few more minutes until I start my walk back towards the doctor’s surgery.

I think I’ll allow myself ten minutes to make the walk, when in reality I could do it in three, even if I do it in slow motion.

I began to think of what I need to do when we get back. Hopefully another coat of finish on the top and legs, maybe start stripping the paint from the red dresser, oh not forgetting to coat the drawer handles. All this distractive thinking has cause me to miss my start back time.

I throw back the last Luke warm chunk of coffee, find the waste bin and leave in a dignified manner.

We got back and started work in the garage trying to catch up on our jobs.

Kelli suggested we go out to eat and asked me if we could, I thought for a moment before agreeing.

“ That’s good because I’ve booked the table for 8.15” she replied smugly.

30th September 2020

We were expecting the buyer to collect the dresser Kelli posted yesterday and was snapped up.

In the meantime we ploughed on with two other pieces that we wanted to complete by the end of the week.

I was staining the top and stripping twelve drawer knobs, which were a real pain.

Through a strange coincidence Kelli managed to sell the long dresser we were working on for collection on Sunday.

The buyers had made contacted over a piece that had been posted on Craig’s List, an alternative selling website. This had been sold some time before on Marketplace and Kelli had not listed it as sold.

Anyway, she mentioned to them about the dresser we had and wanted to finish by the end of the week, she sent them pictures with the dimensions, and they wanted to buy it!! Now I have to finish it on time.

29th September 2020

We had to deliver the two dressers that we sold at the weekend to an address on the east side of the city.

Part of the deal was that we would take away two other dressers that the person didn’t want.

This was a unique situation getting these pieces for free was amazing. They were good solid pieces covered in a bad paint job, it will be interesting to see what is under it.

We rushed back to photograph the latest piece, our last chance for a September sale, and amazingly we had it sold in under an hour.

Tonight was the first presidential debate which we thought would be interesting.

Kim, Kelli’s ex sister in law came over to watch it with us. Kelli did promise not to shout too loud, and to keep the language respectable.

This didn’t last long.

The debate was a train crash from the start with Trump talking over the moderator at every opportunity, it was a disgusting example of the bullying tactics he employs every time he opens his mouth.

We endured one and a half hours of this shit show leaving all of us utterly exhausted, can’t wait for the next one.

28th September 2020

We were working like crazy today, there was energy like I haven’t felt in a long time.

I had lots of drawer fronts to stain, and we even went out to buy material including wood for the top of a large dresser that we found by the roadside.

It seems that every furniture piece we work on is a dresser, they are the mainstay of our business, and luckily there are many potential customers out there.

Not that there is a shortage of them on Marketplace, quite the contrary, there are hundreds. Kelli understands the price threshold that the majority of people are prepared to pay, and we target them.

They do get a good piece for the money.

We were putting the finishing touches to another dresser that we are trying to post before the end of the month.

Mike came round to continue work on the front lawn, they say that it has to get worse before it gets better, we’ll there is plenty of opportunity to get far worse.

26th September 2020

Kelli had been up twice in the night to feed the little dude.

When we returned after breakfast Kelli held it in her hand and watched as it died in front of her.

It was a horrible moment, there was nothing anyone could do, and she was really disappointed.

I was hoping that it would survive the first twenty-four hours, for Kelli’s sake. She cares for all creatures with the same compassion as she does with anyone she meets.

To add to this time of grief, Larry came over to announce that we had the wrong alternator. He showed me the difference between the original and the new, and clearly it was not the same.

Kelli rang round again to find the correct version, just as Mike arrived to work on the front lawn.

He was at our party, and I took the opportunity to ask if he could do something with it.

He turned up with his big truck and trailer filled with the instruments of death and destruction to lawns. He then proceeded to punctuate the ground with holes leaving slugs of dirt on the surface looking like we had been plagued with giant rabbit droppings.

We needed to go collect a new alternator from a different store and return the incorrect one.

As we couldn’t use the truck we had to cycle up to Kelli’s mom to borrow her vehicle. I had the alternator in a carrier bag on the handle bars. This did make the journey a little difficult with it continuously banging my leg, fortunately it was not far, and soon we were driving about collecting and dropping off car parts.

By then Mike had finished perforating our front garden, went off to source some top soil for the next stage of the makeover.

We had to return Mom’s car and collect our bikes.

Whilst we were there I had been coursed into trimming some bushes, a task I am not qualified to do, unless total destruction is expected, and then I’m an expert.

Having no idea of what I was doing I was dancing about clipping a branch here and a twig there like some demon barber.

I did manage to reshape them a bit, and it will always grow back and hide all my mistakes.

It had been a busy day full of twists and turns, and we even sold a piece of furniture.

25th September 2020

A day of mixed fortunes. There is truth in the saying “ Giving with one hand and taking away with the other.

I received my Menards cheque for fifty-seven dollars, my eleven percent discount for purchased I made over two months ago. I was beginning to think the whole thing was as a scam, now I could sit and wonder what to spend it on.

That was until Kelli got into the truck and try to start it. There was no juice in the battery at all, as we hadn’t needed to use it for a couple of days maybe we left a door open. We needed to find the cause, there is nothing like a duff battery going into the cold weather.

I went to see Larry to ask if he could give us a jump start which he kindly did. That is when we discovered that the alternator wasn’t charging, and needed replacing, bloody great!

Kelli called around the auto parts store to see if they had any in stock.

A local store had one, another said it could get one in store by four in the afternoon, as that was the cheapest we plumped for that one.

Whilst we were working on our furniture, Kelli noticed a tiny mouse walking towards her, it was really young as it hadn’t opened its eyes yet. She gathered it up and placed it in a box with some cushion filling to keep it warm.

Then she turned around and there was another one, where were they coming from?

That one joined its brother/sister in the box whilst I started to look for a nest.

I moved just about everything in the garage with no sign of anything.

Kelli was then trying to find someone who could possibly take the little critters, making phone calls to rescue centres and animal humane societies, but no one could help.

She put them in a cardboard box with a heating pad underneath, then we had to leave to pick up the new alternator for the truck.

When we returned found that one of the babies had died, but the other was moving around.

Kelli used a syringe with a thick hypodermic needle that I use for injecting glue into thin gaps to feed the tiny critter some kitten milk.

There was the worry about what we were going to do with it, but that was not a decision for today.

24th September 2020

Larry’s yard sale moved into top gear, with a steady flow of vehicles cluttering up the road in front of our house.

He would hide away in his garage and emerge like a black widow spider to engulf his victims/ customers.

We, on the other hand went into overdrive with Kelli re-painting the dresser she has concerns about. It had gone from green to white, with the top drawer now stripped ready for staining.

I wrestled with the top of another dresser trying to remove the screws holding it down.

Most came out easy, but the three at the back did not budge. I cursed the person who had assembled the carcass because they had driven in the screws before the back went on meaning they were angled, and difficult the remove from the front. I collected every straight slotted screwdriver I had, all of which failed to remove the screws. Perseverance helped me with two of them, but I was forced to take the back off to get at the others.

So a job that should have taken minutes must have taken an hour, still it was done and ready for the painting skills of my wife to transform it into a thing of beauty.

We also upgraded the piece that hadn’t sold by adding doors to the centre section.

I carefully fitted new hinges making sure that everything aligned perfectly. It was when I finished Kelli announced that they were the wrong colour hinges.

Fair enough, they were purchased when different handles were going to be fitted, but a day is a long time in the furniture business.

More modern chrome handed were preferred, and the doors were left off and gathered dust while we tried to sell it doorless.

It was decided that our only option was to paint the hinges.

We dragged the unit out to take new pictures in its new reiteration.

Now it was down to Kelli to post the piece on Marketplace.

23rd September 2020

It was time to knuckle down and get some furniture finished.

I had successfully stained and finished a dining table that we had for months, and the only reason it got finished was because we used it for our party, and there wasn’t any point of carrying back into the garage to be used as another work bench.

Kelli was concerned about a couple of pieces that she had posted that hadn’t had any interest shown. I know what she means, most stuff she posts gets bought within a couple of days but sales have dropped off this month.

I think there is more tightening of belts now that the unemployment payment has been cut.

Trump has been basking in the news that new job totals “are the best they’ve been” the reality is these aren’t new they are re-employment, and some jobs just won’t come back. There was supposed to be a new stimulus payments agreed, but that seems to have stalled, so this might be why there is not so much money about.

Larry has been preparing for his annual yard sale. From the depths of his basement he brought up boxes of crap to lay out on an assortment of tables that have probably come from the same place. The new additions this year was a rack of women’s clothes, now where did those come from? I can’t believe he has given up his cross-dressing wardrobe in order to raise a few bucks.

That will kick off tomorrow, when a procession of suspect cars will turn up and it’s inhabitants will rummage though the piles of worthless tat and leave with nothing.

I finally fixed the rain barrel in position. There was a shortening of the downpipe, and a little fancy landscaping, now we can watch all the water full up these beauties, once it starts to rain again.

22nd September 2020

It was our actual second wedding anniversary, so it was a great day to start with, we had agreed to have dinner with Mike and Lesley at our new found Indian Restaurant.

We exchanged cards, of course Kelli’s was much better than mine because she has a good way with words. Last year we were three thousand miles apart, it was a miserable time, for both of us.

The weather was good, in fact this week is the last period of pleasant temperatures for the year, so we made every opportunity to enjoy it.

I was determined to build some stock to allow me to make a start on the patio.

We completed a small dresser and dragged it inside to take pictures. Kelli was quick to post it as the last piece did not attract much interest at all. This is the first time we’ve had a slow month, considering it started out okay.

We were picked up at five, they like to have an early dinner which catches us out because we were oblivious to what the time was, and Kelli needs a sufficient time to get ready.

We navigated the roadworks, as there nearly always is on the highway, and we cursed at the motorists that flaunt the reducing lanes rule by trying to force their way in at the last minute, causing emergency braking and more often than not, minor prangs.

We passed a couple of stoves in boots and punctured radiators, and irate drivers trying to deal with it.

We got to the restaurant in good time, it is an easy place to find, and the staff always remember Lesley as she makes a big fuss over them.

We ordered our starter and main course and toasted each other with our glasses of Cabernet, now the fun begins.