Another Lifetime to go

1st September 2020

There was plenty to get on with today. I started priming two stools that have to be painted black. These examples are China’s finest, they required sanding to remove the high build coating, followed by an etching primer.

Kelli was busy painting a dresser.

We had a customer call round with a broken part of a bed that they wanted repairing.

I took one look at it, being made from MDF there was no way it could be fixed.

The only alternative was a replacement. I gave them a quote that will use a good quality softwood, and try to repair another part that had metal inserts ripped out. The hardest part would be matching the colour, but we’ll do the best we can.

We added more soil to our potato bags as the shoots were growing well, and soon I’ll be enjoying a plate of home grown chips, or fries as they call them here.

We are noticing how quickly the days are getting shorter, we never got round to playing tennis at all, and the number of times we’ve been to the beach could be counted on one hand. It could be that we’ve fallen into a routine that we didn’t expect. Maybe we’ve focused too much on the business and not on our pleasure pursuits, although the pool has played an important part in helping with that.

31st August 2020

I finally got the dresser out of the back of the truck to truly evaluate its condition, and it definitely did not look that good.

The veneer had lifted at the bottom of the side panels, and the top had delaminated.

The drawers were okay although the centre guides were missing.

This will need a bit of thought to get it saleable.

I started by cutting off the damaged wood, I plan to make a different base for it. we will see how that goes.

The early morning walkabout in the garden found that the potatoes plants have grown sufficiently for more soil to be poured on the top. The fruit trees look happy in their new home.

Kelli had a run to Goodwill and picked up a pair of white matching side tables, quite unusual and a bit more modern than most side tables.

30th August 2020

We delivered the cool dresser to an address in Waukazoo woods close to Marigold Lodge.

That is a wonderful place, many good memories of staying there.

Then we drove to Zeeland to pick up a free dresser, I certainly wouldn’t have paid for it.

That will need extensive surgery to get that back to life, but that’s the challenge.

Then it was off to Grandville, to Plato’s Closet so that Kelli could meet up with Greer to go shopping, whilst I while I away the time drinking coffee and watching people.

I was waiting in line patiently, as others were ordering these wild concoctions that were taking a long time. There was everything going into these drinks, it was like they were trying to find a cure for Coronavirus. No sooner were they served, the next customer ordered an even more complicated mixture. By the time it was my turn I needed my drink to stay alive.

29th August 2020

We finished another dresser, that we hope will sell quickly. It has changed a bit from the tatty piece we picked up a week ago. There was veneer badly chipped and some horrible thin metal handles.

I used this piece to get more experience of patching the damage. Although not perfect, it is a vast improvement from what it was.

Because the drawer fronts were curved getting handles to fit is always a challenge, but Kelli had the brilliant idea of using leather handles similar to those used on suitcases.

She found them on Amazon, and a couple of days later they arrived.

Apart from screw length they fitted perfectly and look very cool.

We took pictures and Kelli posted it on Marketplace, then we took a bike ride to the beach to watch the sunset over the lake. This was the first time this year that we got round to doing it, a sad fact and typical when you live so close you rarely take advantage of it.

We did see a young deer roaming about the houses at Point West, it must have decided to see how the other half live. I’m sure he wasn’t impressed moving around houses that aren’t lived in for most of the time. I hope he managed to find his way home.

We seem to have an abundance of sparrows living in the holly bush next to the sunroom. Throughout the day they fly between the bush and the fence, it is often like a battle scene from Star Wars, with hundreds of little objects hurtling from one place to another, it is a sight to see.

Of course Kelli now puts bird seed in different places to attract them, now whenever I want to sit in the garden I have to check there is no bloody seed or bird shit on the chairs.

A new visitor was discovered swimming about in a small bucket by the front door. A small toad must have found its way into it, but couldn’t get out again. Luckily he was rescued and rehoused in a different part of the garden.

Now I have to be careful not to run over Todd toad when I cut the grass.

Note! By the time I finished writing this blog the dresser has now been sold, delivery tomorrow.

28th August 2020

Another humid day when I decided to clean out the garage, a very good decision.

Even working slow my clothes were soaking within thirty minutes, not that I should be proud of that.

A quick change and I continued preparing the ground for the trees that are due today.

I had made a compass out of some scrap wood to scribe a two foot diameter circle.

When Kelli saw what I was doing she rolled her eyes, and reminded me how I set out the chairs in a perfect arc at our wedding using a rope and a stake.

Well if you’re going to do a job, you do it right.

No sooner had I finished digging the last hole, FedEx delivered all my fruit trees and bushes.

Within twenty minutes everything was planted and looking happy.

That called for a dip in the pool, the water was perfect, it was not a day for working.

27th August 2020

You wouldn’t think that a tiny insect like a cricket could cause such a fuss.

Kelli was trying to sleep, but the chirping of the cricket was disturbing her.

The sound was coming from just outside our window, although double glazed she was still able to hear it.

She got up and got the broom from the laundry room and walked outside and proceeded to hit the stones covering the berm. All I could hear was the twack! twack! as she continuously swung the broom, then there was silence, no chirping. Then it would start up again followed by more thwacking.

Although I couldn’t see the drama unfolding I sniggered to myself imagining the scene.

I awoke to see one of our bamboo tubs had blown over. This was the one with the tallest shoots in it. I staggered outside to stand it up again, and to collect all the soil that had spilt.

Getting this sorted was my first job of the day.

We added more soil and a load of small pebbles to weigh the tubs down, now if it dare tip over, I’ll be nail them to the driveway.

The humidity was high again, making physical work hard. I was expect my delivery of fruit bushes and apple trees to arrive, I wanted to prepare the ground and remove the turf ready for the raspberry bushes to be planted.

Thank god the ground is sandy, it makes that job much easier although I was still dripping in sweat at the end of it.

I then discovered that the delivery was delayed until tomorrow, typical!

That just left a soak in the pool.

We had people round to collect the split dresser Kelli listed yesterday, another happy customer.

26th August 2020

We had to be up early because we had a customer coming to collect two small side tables. Getting up at eight in the morning is something I don’t wish to repeat too often.

The timing was based around the lady dropping off her children at school.

It is that time again when the roads will be congested at both the morning and afternoon slots, but this doesn’t effect us as we are late risers.

We only awaken when the sound of the mail van passes the house. Kelli’s ears are well tuned to this sound,

We finished the split dresser and carried it into the house to take pictures, it looks good, so I hope we get some interest in it.

It is remarkably humid today, I feel drained just doing simple things, thank god it’s stein night so I can get refuelled.

25th August 2020

“Have you seen the state of your eyebrows?”

No” I responded, as I looked up from applying yet another coat of polyurethane.

“ you see them more than I do” I responded playfully.

“Well they look ready to escape your face”

This led to a walk to the trimming factory (bathroom) for a bit of a tidying up.

Personally I didn’t think it was that urgent anyway, as I was buried deep in the garage, and out of sight of any human who might have been passing.

I have never noticed my eyebrows, they are always in the same place, and never appear to change. Like a well tended hedge they mark the boundary between my face and hair, but now there are changes, my brows are out of control.

The trimmer was hacking it way through, I could hear it was struggling, I might have to change the batteries. “Is it going to jam up?”

The thought of my brows being torn out is my absolute nightmare, I sat gripping the seat, knuckles white with fear, waiting for the inevitable death by a hundred yanks!

Soon my terror was over, no blood spilt, no gaps, just orderly and neat.

Freshly shawn, and feeling lighter on the hedge, I continued with my jobs.

There were thunderstorms in the afternoon which put paid to our pool time but I was okay with that.

Kelli was working on the split dresser and I could see she was getting frustrated trying to paint a neat line between the two sections.

I volunteered to have a go, but it was difficult to achieve a straight line.

I decided to split the unit and remove the offending trim which could then be painted separately, this gave a much better result.

I guess having some hair removed from my brow made me think smarter.

24th August 2020

I don’t think I managed to even get the word “Party” out of my mouth before Kelli was fully engaged in planning mode. Even before my tea had stewed, she had already ordered bio-degradable plates, cups and forks, plus a load of things I don’t yet know of. We are planning to use our back garden to give people more space to move around and be more responsible during this sensitive time.

Progress in the garage has been slow, a large piece that we posted last week has not shown much interest, which sometimes happens, but Kelli worked to finish a pair of side tables that she listed, and sold within a short time.

I did a bit of staining and sealing to tops and drawer fronts trying to keep progress going on a couple of dressers, Kelli is going to have her work cut out to catch up.

It was a nice hot and humid day, just what we needed to hit the pool. I really don’t know what we would have done without one, maybe work more in the garage and drown in a pool of sweat.

We did our morning rounds of the garden to check how the plants we moved were doing. Most looked okay, a couple required a bit of water to revive them, but the hostas were at home in their new shady spot.

23rd August 2020

“Ah Sunday, a day of rest”, well it would be, but Kelli had other ideas.

A drive to Hamilton to collect a dresser she had found was on the agenda.

After a good breakfast and a coffee I was ready for anything, even a trip to Hamilton.

We passed field after field of corn and Trump sign after Trump sign in peoples front yards.

Haven’t they learnt anything after three and a half years of his administration? Some of the signs are planted at the front of businesses which would deter anyone that doesn’t share the same ideology.

Fortunately the seller was not a visible Trump supported or we might have been sick on their driveway.

The dresser was quite decent, and should require the minimum of my attention. That is just as well as I have more than enough on my plate at the moment.

On the way back we stopped off at Goodwill to see if any gems were on offer, we needn’t have bothered, the pickings were slim.

Once we were back home Kelli decided to work on the garden. She had the idea to move the Hostas to a shady area under the pines, and was just about to start when the lure of the pool took control.

After an hour of cooling down we started on the re-planting.

It was great fun digging in a root infested area, which was probably the reason why nothing was there in the first place.

Still we persevered and eventually finished the job, tired and sweaty again, I looked forward to a hot shower afterwards.