Another Lifetime to go

Pete and Kelli’s social distance day 30

13th April 2020

We took a drive deep into Trump country to collect a table that needed refinishing.

We had been approached to quote for two tables that needed work. Learning from my last experience of staining a table, we sent back a more realistic price for both that was duly accepted.

The table was a mahogany drop-leaf with a wonky leg. The top was badly marked, but I looked forward to working on this one.

Once we got home I set to work scraping the old finish off. Within three hours, I had stripped the top and repaired the leg, the floor was covers in fine brown dust, but I was ahead, and I can do the staining tomorrow.

Due to the lack of wine, we had to use ice cream for our penalty game, not too successful because it melted before we got into our stride.

Pete and Kelli’s social distance day 29

12th April 2020

When we moved into the house just under a year ago we inherited a shack of old paint pots. We kept them, not sure why, but today Kelli decided, deep in a pandemic, to get rid of them.

I opened each one, stirring them well to get the correct colour, and marking them on the lid.

There were a pile of stuff we couldn’t sell, or lost patience with, so that was piled up at the side of the road.

Kelli took some pictures and posted them on Facebook, within seconds of it going live her phone went crazy. It was pinging almost constantly, and her fingers were busy answering queries. Soon a car would arrive and things would start to disappear, within a short time, items were set aside with peoples names attached.

One guy drove from Grand Rapids for a tin of white paint, this was the draw of free stuff.

We also were attracted by the offer of free perennials in Saugatuck. Armed with our face masks we drove down to meet the lady who gave us a box of mixed plants, these will help to bring some colour to our freshly dug mud.

Pete and Kelli’s social distance day 28

11th April 2020

I felt exhausted, it had been a busy day, and all I wanted was a hot cup of tea and a sit down.

The day started with a mad scrabble to get the items that were due for collection ready and moved out into the driveway.

I had to fit the top to the large dresser, Kelli was rushing around with a paint brush touching up areas she had missed. It’s not until the garage doors are open when you see the places where you find these.

Halfway though, she found a post for a free entertainment unit in West Olive, that we had to drop everything to collect.

It was a heavy bastard with textured glass doors, one of which was cracked. With great effort we loaded it into the truck and drove home with the glass rattling like a milk float.

As we pulled into the drive, the person with our Aldi order had just pulled up, we could eat again.

The furniture was collected and the money was in the bank.

Kelli managed to sell the Trump chairs to a repeat customer, to be delivered on Friday.

I did some dismantling to the Doctor Who cabinet, I’m sure a simple job will turn into a monster.

Kelli suggested that we replace the old mail box with a new one that we bought months ago.

I had bought a bag of ready mix concrete, not a small one, a bloody eighty pound bag that came with its own hernia cream.

Getting the old one out was a lesson in persistence. I dug down as far as I could, then tried to wiggled it, but it was stuck solid. A bit more digging, and there was slight movement. I put my shoulder under the old mailbox an pushed upwards, to my surprise it started to lift. A bit more effort and it lifted out completely. It had been buried nearly as deep as it was tall, and it was only because the soil was so sandy that I was able to pull it out.

The new one had an aluminium post, which I planned to concrete in.

The mix was ready, Kelli poured, I damped it down, and soon the new post was in position.

Kelli decided to stencil the house number on the side in white spray paint. She only had two sizes, so she chose the largest, now the number can be read by people over the other side of the lake, and also from space.

The sad note of the day was that our box of wine did not arrive, this meant that we had nothing for our penalty game except the remaining cheesecake, not very impressed.

Pete and Kelli’s social distance day 27

10th April 2020

We were rushing to finish the dresser and deliver it to the next street over. We lived so close that we could throw a stone and hit their roof. With a customer living that close we were desperate to make a good impression for the second time.

I needed to pick up more stuff at lowes, including a large sheet of plywood.

We waited by the outside collection point for the staff member to wheel it out.

With a little effort I squeezed it into the truck and bungeed the back door shut.

There was a bit of work left to do on the dresser and side tables that were to be collected tomorrow. It feels like I’ve working on them for ages, and it turned out that I had.

I fitted new belts to an old cassette tape machine that I had bought on eBay. I bought it cheap as a non runner, but I knew what it needed to get it working again. It was pure nostalgia buying it, as I had an identical one in the nineteen eighties.

I may be sub-consciously trying to re-create the same equipment at that time, I will also be looking for wine coloured corded flares to go with them.

As we had no wine left, and our deliver was not due until tomorrow, we had to substitute a slice of cheesecake to play our penalty game.

It was not the same.

Pete and Kelli’s social distance day 26

9th April 2020

It is Kelli’s birthday, and to celebrate we drove to Hudsonville to collect four chairs.

“More chairs?” I exclaimed, “ We don’t need more chairs, we have six already in the garage”

“Yes” she said, “ but these are cool, and we can sell them on quickly, …….as soon as you repair them”

It was her birthday, so I couldn’t be mad at her, however, when we got to the address the chairs were sitting on the drive just behind a Dodge Ram truck with a Trump sticker in the back window.

We both felt nauseous, if she hadn’t already paid, we would have left them.

We headed to the Olive Garden to collect the meal Kelli ordered.

They were well organised with girls at the entrance to the car park checking us in. They had all the protective gear, gloves and masks, and as soon as the window was down, one of the girls looked in.

“ I love what you’re wearing” she said, looking at Kelli.

This happens all the time, they are able to make an assessment in the blink of an eye, I don’t get it.

We drove back home with the Trump chairs rattling in the back, looking forward to our food.

Pete and Kelli’s social distance day 25

8th April 2020

We worked furiously on the two main projects that have money on them, determined to have them completed and delivered by the weekend.

Trying to get the level of finish on the work tops is always the hard part, should it be three coats or four? each top is different.

Once these are gone I want to have a good clean up.

I have still one chair to repair out of the six, then they need a little refinish before Kelli starts on the upholstery.

We have started playing a game in the evening whilst we watch a TV show called “Fixer Upper” featuring a couple that help others find a house then renovate it.

They are quite well know for “inventing” the Farmhouse look.

There are very few rules to the game but you have have a full glass of wine.

Throughout the show they use the same words over and over again.

For example;

Farmhouse, shiplap, cute, awesome, hardwood floors, French doors and island.

Every time they mention one of the chosen words, we pick up our glass, toast each other and take a sip. As we watch several episodes every night, they get funnier as the night progresses.

Pete and Kelli’s social distance day 24

7th April 2020

The thermometer hit 57 today, off came the cardigan and on came the perspiration. For once the garage was warm as I picked through the work I needed to complete.

The dresser with the new drawers was the first in line.

Some vicious sanding ensued, mainly to get rid of some stripes in the in the wood.

I tried every grade of sandpaper I had trying to rub it out. I tried power, block and hand sanding, but it defied me. I felt like I had wore the front thickness by half judging by the dust I had accumulated. I added a wood stain to see if the strips were gone, and they were.

I could hear “tick tick” from outside, I was curious to find out the source of the sound.

I found Kelli sitting cross legged in a pile of dirt, picking out stones and throwing them onto the berm. As she was sifting through the soil she was uncovering more stones.

Now I was distracted, I found myself digging up the weeds, and enjoying the tedium.

Between us we managed to clear the ground of weeds and stones, now it is ready to plant stuff.

There was a thunderstorm this evening, the sheets of lightning lit the sky. The hale was the first to hit us followed by the torrential rain hopefully washing all the dirty stones we had dug up.

Pete and Kelli’s social distance day 23

6th April 2020

There are a lot of jobs to do around the house, and we have to take advantage of the weather when we can. April is quite variable month with the temperature changing dramatically.

I was looking for stones to build up the berms at the back of the house. The cost for a small bag was about $15, however Kelli found some on Marketplace for $4 for a 5 gallon bucket, this was an offer too good to miss. Unfortunately the address was in Grand Rapids. Between the seller and Kelli they worked out how we could collect without any contact. That all agreed, we loaded a couple of buckets and some boxes in the truck and headed off.

The area of stones was quite clear, so we started loading the buckets. These became surprisingly heavy when I came to move them.

We paid $25 and got over five buckets full which pretty much cleared the area.

The truck certainly knew it had a heavy load as we headed back.

By the time we got back to Holland Kelli was starving, so out of desperation we stopped off at Burger King for an impossible burger. This is a vegan version that had great reviews. It was okay, if that was the only thing available opposed to eating a dog, I guess it wins on that front, but on a culinary delight, it is way down.

Once we were home we off-loaded the cargo. Considering the quantity, once we finished, it made a bit of difference, but maybe not as much as we thought.

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Pete and Kelli’s social distance day 22

5th April 2020

Gardening day, or more correctly getting rid of the last of the bloody rose bushes day.

With sheer determination and protective gloves we sneaked up to them and dug deep into the roots. They fought back, lashing out with the savage thorns, but they were no match for the two of us.

There were a total of nine bushes that Kelli posted, and got someone to collect. They must have been so quick, because I didn’t hear them come and go.

We raked the stones, and put down new anti weed material, I successfully fell over with the wheelbarrow full of stones spilling them over the grass, I blamed the shifting load, but I probably fell over my big feet again.

Next job was planting some raspberry and blueberry bushes. We’re not going to be caught out with out our fruit again, if this happens again in the next three years we’ll be prepared.

The pair of us have been personally lockdown for the last twenty two days but have continued with our lives and business. We have strict rules that we follow both for collect stuff and delivery. We have used the take outs and home delivery services, and although the spontaneous nature of shopping has changed, this new way of life has become the norm.

Pete and Kelli’s social distance day 21

4th April 2020

It was going to be a yard day for both of us, unfortunately it was a bit wet from overnight rain, so we decided to work on other things.

I started on the new drawer fronts, my sleep had been dominated by how I was going to make them, so it would ease my sleeping to get started.

I had some timber that Kelli had acquired as part of shop fittings that were going to get thrown away. First I had to knock it apart to get the material I needed.

I was well into the machining when Kelli burst in and said she had found a free cabinet in Allendale, and she wanted to get it straight away.

I put my work coat aside and volunteered my muscles.

Just as well as the piece was a glass display cabinet, nearly seven feet tall and painted silver, it looked like a prop from Doctor Who.

We struggled to get it into the truck, pushing the seats so far forward my chin was resting on the dashboard. We also combined the trip with picking up four chairs that Kelli wanted. They were a Shaker-style, which I liked, so there was no resistance from me.

The two sellers were from two different spheres of society, one a trailer park (mobile homes) and the other a well-to-do area, we don’t care, we’ll take from anyone.

I had two orders at Lowes to collect which on the same route, I would then have materials to work on even more gardening projects.

Kelli had a spat with one of her friends on Facebook. It started off in an innocent way talking about kindness to store workers and then veered off in many directions, totally unrelated and leaving her confused and annoyed. It ended with a blocking both on Facebook and her phone.

This is my main criticism of social networks, many simple things get out of control, because there is no opportunity for mediation. I could not run my life without a face to face interaction, I would rather call someone a prat with a smile on my face than to write it, and start an argument.