Another Lifetime to go

17th January 2021

I was using the day to finish off some jobs that will ultimately lead to the completion of pieces that will get February off to a good start.

We loaded up the reloved rustic dresser into the truck ready for delivery tomorrow.

We were back to selling things quickly, it still amazes me that there is such a demand for this type of furniture, not that I’m complaining.

Just as we finished loading, a kitten came into the drive making plenty of noise. It was obviously lost, but we had no idea who it belonged to. It had a pink collar with a bell but no other identification, so we were at a loss as what to do.

I have said before that I don’t see many cats roaming about, Kelli says that there are a few around but they don’t get let out to roam.

That seems to be wrong to have an animal that likes to check out it’s territory and keep it locked inside.

The first thing was to see if it was hungry, all we had was dog food, which was devoured quickly. Kelli posted a picture on a couple of neighbourhood sites, whilst I tried to keep it amused. That was fun, it’s been a long time since I’ve been clawed in the gentleman’s region, but gradually it seem to calm down and kept jumping up on my lap.

We had to find somewhere for it to go as Kelli is allergic to cat fur, so stay tuned for a few days of frantic sneezing.

Eventually Kelli took it to her sister in law, who is the default animal sanctuary. Hopefully we will find the owner soon.

16th January 2021

Another sprinkling of snow greeted me as I prepared the dogs breakfast.

The roads were white and unblemished that was until a Prius wafted past disturbing its purity.

The dogs didn’t care, they just wanted food, no finesse, just “straight down the neck” as fast as they can. Dhama took her bowl for its usual scrape around the house, as I drank my orange juice staring out of the window onto the winter scene before me.

I had no fixed plans for a Saturday, Covid took care of that, so it was more about what I needed to finish in the garage so that Kelli could post.

We dragged the rustic piece into the living space to take pictures. It had changed a lot from the grim piece we collected, but that’s what we do.

I dismantled a small drawer that was part of the table with the enamel top. Each part had bowed, so part of the day was thinking of ways to straighten the pieces.

After soaking them in the sink for half an hour and then clamping into a reverse position, I left them to dry over night.

15th January 2021

Finally stripped the enamel top of all the crappy paint, ready for the repairs.

To take a slight break I stripped the paint off the table base, and the small drawer.

Kelli has been patiently waiting for her stimulates cheque from the government. Everyday I trot to the mailbox to see if it’s been delivered, and slope back when it hasn’t. Most of the family have already received theirs which rubs it in a bit.

Of course when Joe Biden becomes president next week there will be another one, so the tension will continue.

The networks are still reporting on the fallout from the troubles in Congress a week ago.

Every day there is a new angle that gets thrashed to death, with concerns of more demonstrations in all state capitals on the 21st January to coincide with the inauguration.

Just when the snow had almost gone then there was a fresh fall in the afternoon. It was a gentle flurry that coated the grass and quickly disappeared on the roads, so my purchase of a snow blower was a little wasted.

14th January 2021

I have never worked on an enamel worktop before, but today we had one delivered to restore for a customer.

She picked it up at a junk shop, the original enamel had been painted over, but she wants every thing repainted.

I spent a couple of hours removing the old paint. I managed to strip all around the perimeter and uncovered the reason it was repainted. There was quite a bit of damage where the front edge had some impact that deformed part of the front edge.

The plan is to repair the missing enamel with car body filler and repaint the whole top with appliance epoxy paint, that should give a new smooth surface that should look good, well that is the plan, we shall see if it works out.

13th January 2021

I agreed to go with Kelli to check out an upscale resale outlet called Ditto to look for more small items to sell.

Whilst she was wading though the stuff that interested her, I looked through the DVD’s and CD’s.

I must have gone through them four or five times just to see if I recognised any of the artists. The US must produce millions of discs just to put into these thrift stores for sad people like me to sort through.

Kelli had accumulated a good selection of curtains, bed linens and pottery that will soon be listed on Marketplace.

There was the usual trip to Menards, and a chance to check out the choice of packing materials for the stacks of boxed Kelli has to post out.

I did manage to do a bit of work in the garage. I had to make guides for two drawers that were missing them, not simple, as I didn’t have the proper machines, and was not able to buy them from Amazon.

I found various bits of scrap timber that I bonded together to fabricate something that would do the job.

Missing or broken guides are the main things that need repair or replacement in all the dressers that we get. Some plastic components can be bought from the large DIY stores, and can make the difference between something as rough as a badger’s arse or smooth like a greasy pole.

The main purpose of the guide is to stop the drawer box crabbing, or jamming

Often the sides of the drawer box wear down from constant use, this is a bit more complicated, but after doing it for so long, I’m quite an expert.

That is often the first question the customer asks “Do the drawers work?” So we take time to make sure they do.

12th January 2021

The couple who bought the mid century dresser collection arrived this evening to collect it.

They arrived with an open truck and a small car. It took a long time to get everything loaded and strapped down, made more difficult because the chap didn’t know how the strap worked. We gave them all our packaging materials to help protect all our hard work.

We had spent most of the day going over the pieces with a fine tooth-comb touching up and getting them ready.

In between, there was sanding and preparing the next dresser on the production line.

Kelli has been doing well on the small stuff she picks up from Goodwill. Today she sold a Japanese influenced tea and sake set.

I started working on the entertainment centre we picked up for free yesterday. I was able to look in more detail at the construction which was puzzling me. There were a number of timber parts that weren’t part of the original cabinet, and once I removed the shelves I discovered that the top part was not attached to the bottom part. The two sections were held together by a cluster of brad-nails, god I hate those. They are used to hold the whole bloody world together, and they are difficult to remove. After a lot of levering and prizing I managed to remove all the extra pieces and get it back to its original state, now the rebuilding starts.

11th January 2021

No time for a lie-in today, a customer was coming to collect the dresser this morning.

I hurriedly got dressed and went into the garage to get the piece ready. A quick clean, beeswax polish on the top and it was ready.

The guy inspected every part of the dresser, pulling each drawer out inspecting the back and bottom. I didn’t have any worries, the drawers themselves worked really smoothly, some of the best we’ve had.

He handed me the cash and I helped him load it onto the back of his truck.

Then we had a free furniture piece to collect, a old entertainment centre. We don’t often get these as they can be difficult to sell.

These pieces are not as popular as they used to be now that were in the age of flat screen and wall hanging, but it will be repurposed into something desirable I expect.

The next trip was to collect a long dresser from the north side of town.

The address was an apartment up a flight of stairs. The seller was moving to Tennessee and didn’t want to take the dresser with her. I could see why.

There was a narrow corridor leading from the bedroom into the living room that was barely wide enough to get through, plus a couple of tight corners made the removal difficult. With a bit of manipulation and a lot of good fortune we got it into the living room. We were unable to remove the drawers which would have made it lighter, so we had to face getting it down the stairs with its full weight.

One step at a time was the prescribed method, at one point I nearly launched myself over the top as we settled it on-end near the main door, I did feel my feet lift off the ground.

I don’t like to think where I would have ended up.

Fortunately someone was entering through the door we wanted to use, so he held it open as we struggled out.

A quick change of position, and we headed down the path of even more steps, but also hampered by hedges both sides.

Finally we got it into the truck and headed back, stopping at Goodwill, we can’t resist the temptation.

There was no furniture, but Kelli found a few things to sell on including a cool retro style kettle. After a bit of research we found it was worth a bit of money. It needed a clean and a repair to the handle but it was potentially a nice little earner.

It was just before midnight that the mid century pieces were sold and paid for.

What a great day.

10th January 2021

After a lazy morning that I think we deserved, I finished the mid century furniture ready for pictures and posting.

I attached the top to the long dresser, and the few remaining handles to the drawers on the tall dresser. The style is not to my taste, but I’m sure there will be someone out there who will love it.

I reassemble the dining table top to the frame that I painted yesterday, it will need a bit more attention on the top before I’m happy with it.

Kelli was successful selling two quilts that she found at Goodwill keeping the coffers filling up.

We had someone interested in the dresser we posted a few days ago, Kelli was concerned that there was an apparent slow down in Marketplace traffic, but this re-affirmed our faith in the system.

10th January 2021

Another day out, this time a drive to Allegan to pick up a half finished project piece. The term “project piece” usually refers to a piece of crap that a person had started and never got round to finishing it.

It was waiting on the porch when we arrived, and it was a little smaller than I imagined, and yes it was a pile of crap.

We joked that I could probably carry it down the steps on my own, which is exactly what I did. One reason it was so light was one of the drawer bases was missing.

Could we turn it into a desirable piece of furniture? Heaven knows, we have had worse.

On the way back we stopped off at both Goodwills hoping to find other things we could work on, but the shelves were bare.

I started painting the under structure for the dining table, hanging the legs from the garage door track to make it easier.

It was another sunny day, but a lot colder, my nose was running like a tap.

9th January 2021

It was a sunny day, and perfect for a walk on the beach with the dogs. It was not as cold as one would expect even though I dressed for the Antarctic. There was no breeze, just the sun reflecting on the calm water. Most of the cottages are empty now and boarded up for the duration but there were a few people walking their dogs along the sand.

Laying in the water was a branch that had shards of ice hanging on the branches like a giant chandelier it glistened in the sunlight and gently washed by the waves.

It was a wonderful event, and good to get away from the garage. I had applied finish to a dresser top and a small dining table so there was nothing else on my list to do.

We had taken pictures of the latest piece in the morning, this was one we got in part exchange for a dresser sale last week. We had high hopes it would get sold really quick.