Another Lifetime to go

Pete and Kelli’s social distance day 39

23rd April 2020

We had a busy day ahead of us. We had a customer pick-up for two pieces and a delivery of another, plus collection of a bookcase that Kelli found last night.

We set aside Cameron’s dresser outside, and drove off to West Olive to deliver the cabinet.

There are many places that I now know from traveling to them often, but every now and then we take a road that is new. The address we were heading for was down a dirt road.

One minute the surface is normal for a road, the next you hit dirt, suddenly you are in a third world country, the only difference are the large factory farms lining the track.

Some of the houses look decent, but many are littered with dead vehicles and general rubbish. “No trespassing” signs are posted everywhere, but who in their right minds would want to go there, even the Coronavirus might have second thoughts about trying to infect anyone around there.

We dropped off the cabinet at a house that was in the early stages of becoming a rubbish dump, the lady didn’t show much excitement as we off-loaded the piece, but because she had paid for it, and she didn’t turn up her nose at it, must mean something.

Next stop was a drive to Dorr Township, it should be renamed Dull then it would match its appearance. Again we drove down a dirt road to collect a bookcase. We saw it outside the house as we approached, not the best example of any craftsmanship, I could tell by the quality of the nails holding it together.

Now we had to be creative to turn this turd into a desirable turd.

We got back home after stopping off to pick up some stain for the dining table, and an Impossible burger from Burger King, we were hungry, and it was better than eating the stuff under the car seats, just.

The lady arrived to collect the renovated entertainment centre. She was over the moon, excited by how it looked. We had advised her that she might need help to load it into her vehicle. So she brought her son along. I knew there would be a problem because he was so young and thin, when he turned, he disappeared, it was a case of “ now you see me, now you don’t”.

Obviously I lent my muscles to the loading, and suggested that we use her son as packing material to cushion it, and stop it falling over, not that he would add much padding, but I thought it was funny.

The garage is looking a bit empty, apart from another smaller entertainment centre that Kelli is just finishing, and the dining table that I am working on. I dragged out some project pieces that I might get a chance to finish, I blew the sawdust off, excited at the prospect of doing something interesting.

Pete and Kelli’s social distance day 38

22nd April 2020

There were a number of jobs coming together which is satisfying, one was the completion on the unit we got free a couple of days ago.

We dragged it into the living space to take pictures. Kelli posted it straight away, and straight away there were people on it like piranhas around meat, we could have sold it a few times over.

One of the people asked if we had another dresser available.

We did, it was earmarked for Cameron, but as there was little chance that he wanted it right now, we sold it.

It was another of these freebies that just needed a simple repair.

So in about an hour she sold two furniture pieces, now we need some more stuff.

Pete and Kelli’s social distance day 37

21st April 2020

There was frantic activity in the Bristol Cottage workshop today, in other words I was working my ass off, and Kelli did some painting.

We had a bookshelf collected after a short time on Marketplace, it was one we had for a while, but we wanted a final spurt to April, so that had a quick paint, and out.

The was a lot of work I had to do to the side panels of the entertainment unit. This was mainly my fault by being a bit heavy handed removing two thick shelf supports. I should have cut them off first, but I heated them up to soften the glue, and hit them with a hammer.

They came off, and brought some of the side panel with it.

I was able to make good with a ton of Bondo, but it should be ready to paint tomorrow.

Other jobs included, repairing the leg on the free unit we picked up yesterday, stripping the top on the second table, and staining the entertainment unit top.

Kelli was busy with the paint brush, painting everything in sight, whilst I was flitting from sanding the dining table to gluing legs to filling holes, I felt it was a productive day.

The wine we chose for tonight’s game smelt and tasted like the liquid that flows from the elephant house at the zoo. It was an awful drink, only made bearable by adding sliced oranges and lemon juice.

We phoned though a take out order from New Holland, and enjoyed the fact that there was no cooking or washing up, great for a Tuesday.

Pete and Kelli’s social distance day 36

20th April 2020

We finished the entertainment unit that we picked up free a couple of weeks ago.

It was a quick paint job, and refinished top.

It is a heavy beast, and rather than struggling to bring it in the house to take pictures, we struggled to set it outside.

Kelli posted it straight away, and as we were out hunting for another free piece, the entertainment centre was sold on route. There were two or three on it as soon as it went live.

A few days ago we had an inquiry to build an arbor. We were sent the sizes and I set out a design on paper. I no longer have CAD so had to use the wooden sticks old fashion method.

I had to be aware that there are many kits available, so the price had to be competitive with those. To help explain the design I built a scale model, in between doing all the other jobs.

We picked up a cabinet that was at the side of the road, not very good quality, but this could be a quick turnaround.

It had a broken back leg, so I guess that will be my job to fix.

Pete and Kelli’s social distance day 36

19th April 2020

I needed a particular stain colour that Lowes didn’t carry, so against my better judgment I drove to Menards who I knew had it.

I put on my mask, and ventured into the store. Everything I needed was in one area so I went straight there. I collected a few things including the stain and headed to the checkout.

I was told by the cashier that he wasn’t allowed to sell it to me due to the quarantine regulations, I stood in amazement, not that anyone could tell with my mask on.

Apparently stores of a certain square footage are not allowed to sell certain things.

I have no understanding of why the restrictions (includes paint and seeds) exist, but it sure pissed me off.

Pete and Kelli’s social distance day 35

18th April 2020

Today was delivery day for the dining table.

I applied a coat of beeswax polish with a Scotchbright pad leaving the surface like a sheet of glass.

The customer was over the moon with the result. The next table was waiting for us in the driveway.

I was a little disappointed to find it was not the maple I was led to believe, but a stained soft wood. Now I have the problem of matching the colour so that it is the same as the legs.

Our evening game had to be tamed down a notch otherwise the wine rack that we just got would be empty, and that is not cool. We have to limit ourselves to half a bottle, otherwise we will be spending the rest of quarantine in the Betty Ford clinic.

Pete and Kelli’s social distance day 34

17th April 2020

I put the final coat of polyurethane on the dining table, this was coat number five and the surface is like glass.

It is due to be delivered tomorrow when I will pick up the second one.

It will get the final waxing in the morning then the drive to Hamilton.

It was a gritty day starting with freezing rain, made only enjoyable by the arrival of Kelli’s long awaited birthday present and the boxes from Imperfect Foods.

This is like receiving a gift from God, via FedEx.

The driver always looks the same whether he’s carrying on box or three, I guess we are helping to keep people in work.

We can now enjoy meals made from vegetables shaped like Gollum.

There have been a lot of protest in Lansing about the strict Coronavirus measures enforced on the people of Michigan. They were mainly Trump and NRC members, who basically don’t give a shit about anyone but themselves. I was pleased to see someone had listed all the company trucks that took part in the “Gridlock”.

I guess many of those won’t be getting much work in the future.

The majority of people understand, and are prepared to stay at home, it’s just a few who spout the constitution, as if it is some document of immunity.

Funny though, as no other vehicles were involved in the Gridlock, all they actually did was create a traffic jam by themselves, dumb idiots.

Pete and Kelli’s social distance day 33

16th April 2020-

It was going to be a productive day, I was ready to apply more coats of polyurethane to the dining table. The was interrupted by Kelli returning from the mail box with an envelope containing my residency paperwork.

Apparently since the forms were sent in there had be a change to the document, so I had to reprint the new forms and copy them out again. There were a couple extra pages dealing in more detail with immigrants from Latin countries. This was time consuming just copying everything on to the new form. We then checked the other forms and discovered that the one Kelli had to file was also revised, but that hadn’t been noted, but we rewrote that one as well.

We had to deliver the tall Doctor Who unit, now looking so much different to a house in the well to do area close to Marigold lodge.

We posted the letter back to Chicago, hoping that it would now be processed.

It was a bloody cold day, no snow but it felt like it would at any time.

We have revised the rules to our penalty game to reduce the amount of wine we might consume in one evening. Now we have to draw the words from a hat at the beginning of each show, meaning one of us might pick a hand of continuous sipping and the other a drought.

Pete and Kelli’s social distance day 32

15th April 2020

We made a rare trip to the shops. Normally we order things on line to be delivered, but although our order on Aldi is due tomorrow, there was doubt that some of the flowers and scrubs that are sometimes in store, would not be in our box.

So equipped with our masks we set off.

“What if someone recognised me” asked Kelli, always wanting to look good whenever we are out.

“With that mask on no one will have a clue who you are” I responded.

There were a few cars in the car park, and the staff were only letting few people in at a time, so we waited in a short line for our turn.

A man with a very small fluffy dog walked towards us, and of course Kelli had to say something to the man about the animal. The man hesitated for a second, “Is that Kelli?”

How could he have known that? She wasn’t even sure who the man was, but he obviously knew her.

Of course Kelli was then concerned that she was wearing her old clothes, I just laughed at the whole situation.

We drove to Zeeland to deliver the chairs we had sold earlier in the week.

We have been pleasantly surprised that we have been able to sell stuff, although with everyone getting at least $1200 from the government, there is money out there. However Kelli has not got hers yet.

I made a start on applying the finish on the table, and Kelli finished painting the Doctor Who cabinet, ready to take pictures, and post on Marketplace.

We received our long awaited box of wine this morning. The FedEx man was at the door even before I had got out of bed, so there was a mad scrabble to get dressed and answer the door, I never look my best first thing, but he didn’t seem to notice, he must have seen worse.

Just before we settled down for the evening with our glass of newly delivered wine, she had someone buy the Doctor Who cabinet. Kelli remembered a person who failed to get the last one we sold, so with cunning, she contacted the person, and bingo! Another one in the bag.

Pete and Kelli’s social distance day 31

14th April Wednesday

Another cold day, I ventured out into the back garden to collect up some garden rubbish to pile up by the road to get picked up by the city.

I went to empty out the water from the wheelbarrow and there was a layer of ice on it, boy I didn’t think it got that cold.

I did the staining and sealing of the table, plus finished off some shelves for the unit Kelli is painting.

Early afternoon and she announced that we were to collect another cabinet that she had bought.

I know this is a good time to buy, as some people are desperate for money, but we have a garage full of stuff, and not much room for anything new.

We got down to our last toilet roll, with still no chance of getting more. Kelli told the story to a friend who immediately sent us an eight pack in the post. It arrived today, and with current usage should last us until the next pandemic.

The bidet has been very successful. Once I got used to gritting my teeth and clamping my legs to the bowl. My voice has improved a lot and those high notes are much easier to reach now, so it’s been a blessing in disguise.