Another Lifetime to go

Pete and Kelli’s social distance day 20

3rd April 2020

I can’t believe it is the end of another week, even in this parallel universe time has been speeding by.

I looked at the dresser issues that had me awake at night.

I looked at each drawer and concluded that all the fronts were twisted. The was not enough material to run them through the planer so my only option was to make new ones.

We went out to pick up some supplies from Lowes, and I noticed a number of people with masks. It seems that the advice given to people is that masks should be worn.

I’m not sure what I feel about that.

Kelli finished the Pantry and posted it on Marketplace and within twelve minutes it was sold.

We loaded it into the truck and drove it to an address close to the town centre.

We stopped off at New Holland to pick up our take-out order of pizza and beer, yummy.

I continued the staining of the three furniture pieces that have already been sold. The worse part of the job is the scraping of the woodwork, then sanding to get to a smooth surface.

The weather was wonderful, the sun was shining and the sky was blue. The birds were chirping, it was like they were welcoming the warmer weather, they are unaware of the problems facing the globe.

I bought some raspberry and blueberry plants to join the elderberry stick in our fruit area of the garden. As both of us do not know much about gardening this will be a bit challenging.

Pete and Kelli’s social distance day 19

2nd April 2020

I finally finished adding new drawer rails to the dresser, I wanted to try them out with the drawers.

This is when the realisation became to me that the other drawers were crap. Each one had a variable twist so did not sit correctly.

It was also a day when things I started went wrong. First I couldn’t cut straight, then something would snap, or didn’t fit right.

I had to take a step back, slow down and work on non critical items.

Kelli was working on the new the new “Pantry” piece, it was a sound, solid wood construction but cheaply made. It was planned to be a simple paint job, and straight out the door.

Pete and Kelli’s social distance day 18

1st April 2020

The DHL man had a bad day. He pulled up outside and off-loaded a large box outside the house.

Kelli inspected it, and saw that it was an office chair. She was sure I didn’t order it, but then noticed the address was not ours. The street was correct but the number was further up the road. Now being a good neighbour, she loaded the box into the truck and drove off to deliver it.

When she arrived she saw the lady who lived there looking at a large cardboard box in her driveway.

Kelli explained what must have happened and unloaded the office chair. The box the lady was looking at, was addressed to me.

So they had a good laugh as the exchanged boxes.

I had ordered a elderberry bush and it was finally here.

We open the box and pulled out a stick with a few dangly bits hanging off it, this was my bush.

A place was selected, and I dug a hole following the instructions. We planted the stick, and now look forward to the thing growing, our record is not good at keeping new trees alive.

We had to drive to Hudsonville to pick up a new furniture piece, it was advertised as a small larder, heaven knows what we’ll make of it.

Pete and Kelli’s social distance day 17

31st March 2020

I needed some stuff from the DIY store so I ordered them on line and waited for the pick-up time.

We had agreed to deliver the desk to the customer in Grand Rapids. This was a bit outside our free delivery area but we wanted to close out the month, so off we drove.

We stopped off on route to get more paint, but when we pulled up it was closed, we had missed our window of opportunity.

It was pleasant to get out from our isolation for a couple of hours, and it was noticeable quiet on the roads.

We found the customer’s house and unloaded it into her garage. She came outside to look at it, and was so happy with what we had done.

We then drove back heading straight to Lowes to pick up my supplies.

It felt quite strange going in after a couple of weeks. There were now plastic anti- sneeze screens to protect the staff, and standing zones marked on the floor.

Kelli had come in with me because we needed the paint. She had not been in a store for over three weeks, and was uneasy about it.

We spent the shortest possible time in the store rushing out breathing in the air trying to purge our lungs of the stale store atmosphere.

We had survived.

I continued working on sanding a small dresser and staining even more tops.

I prepared some timber for tomorrow’s jobs, and carefully did-assembled a drawer ready for some repair work.

Pete and Kelli’s social distance day 16

30th March 2020

I finally finished the desk top, so we were able to re-assemble it.

We wanted it out, and the money in our hands before the end of the month.

A quick phone call and it was agreed that we would deliver it to Grand Rapids tomorrow.

We also had a buyer on another dresser that had been posted a few days earlier. This was a sale, but the buyer was also after another piece, that Kelli was quick to offer the one we had yet to start on.

At the end we sold that as well.

It is in a bit of a state, and requires a lot of work. The drawers sides are worn down, and there is no rails in the cabinet.

The top and fronts need to be sanded and stained the same as the other one, because they will be in the same room.

The downer is Kelli offered it at the same price as the other piece which was much simpler to do, so I will be working for pre-slavery pay.

Pete and Kelli’s social distance day 15

29th March 2020

When our day is done and we chill, it is the only time we watch tv. Kelli recently cancelled her cable subscription because there is nothing good to watch. Apart from having something flickering in the bedroom helping her to get to sleep, it was a waste of money. So that went, the only good use for the cable now is to hang out the washing.

As we flick though the internet TV channels we came across a programme called Good Bones. It stars a mother and daughter who buy up old properties in Indianapolis and renovate them. They are the most annoying women I’ve ever experienced. The mother has the worst cackling laugh that could turn me violent. Her daughter a voice that could turn milk, Kelli calls it vocal fry where the end of every sentence defends into a sound of eggs in a pan.

I suffer through this every evening, mainly for any ideas that they show, and of course to criticise them as often as I can.

It is obviously made for tv at the most basic level, and I do feel I am in the same barrel scraping the bottom.

The format is always the same, find a cheap property (and I mean really cheap), look around the shit hole, plan what they want to do with it, send in a bunch of animals to tear the place apart, then ponce around pretending to rebuild it. What is not seen is the army of people doing the real work.

All through the two series the common theme is Shaker style doors for the kitchen, subway tiles for the splashback, and sliding barn doors, every bloody time.

It is so obvious that both Kelli and myself have predicted what they will do before they do it.

Now the objectives for these annoying women is to make a profit on the property, so important in America, but what it doesn’t care about is the story behind the property.

Often they enter the house that is still filled with someone’s personal possessions, even finding freezers filled with rotten food. They then dance around laughing and joking, even mockingly with objects they find.

Their self interest is all about the money, and that is the thing I hate, deep inside I am hoping that this Coronavirus had stopped their business for a while, not that they would stop, and re-access their values, they are “stars” but if there is karma, I hope it finds them.

Pete and Kelli’s social distance day 14

28th March 2020

It doesn’t feel like the weekend, there is no reference point, we haven’t eaten out for what seems like ages.

Kelli has been waiting for the delivery from Imperfect foods for two days, and it’s driving her crazy.

As we had time on the garden yesterday, we did a bit of work on the desk and chair repaint job, as it was wet outside.

We had some interest on the latest small dresser that Kelli lowered the price of, but that fizzled out, maybe not the day for selling.

She had the idea to advertise the rose bushes that we dug out yesterday, and they were snapped up quickly. Kelli can’t bare to throw anything away that may be of use to someone, so our throw-aways will soon be growing in someone else’s garden.

The bloody things had their final act of revenge by scratching Kelli in the face as she loaded them into the wheelbarrow

Our delivery turned up, and it was like Christmas, now we had vegetables.

In each box there is a gel pack that’s frozen to keep the contents cold. Over the weeks we accumulated quite a few of these packs, that could be safely emptied down a drain if we had one.

Kelli posted them for free on Marketplace, and blow me they were snapped up.

In the evening she made a fabulous vegetable curry, Ah, that runny nose brought back memories.

Pete and Kelli’s social distance day 13

27th March 2020

It was nice to work outside, it was about 57F just right for some garden work.

I decided to tackle the removal of a rose bush that I had cut right back last year.

The area around the side of the house is covered with small pebbles which I raked away from the bush.

The digging up of the bush was not difficult because the soil is very sandy, but the weed control fabric around the root was badly damage and needs replacing.

To do this properly I need to remove all the pebbles and any soil that is on the fabric.

So painstakingly I was picking them up and placing them in a wheelbarrow. I made a makeshift sieve so that I could separate the soil from the stones.

When Kelli came to inspect progress I pretended to be counting them as I put them in the barrow.

“Why are you counting them?” She inquired.

“ So that I put the correct number back” I said with a smirk.

That is when I got hit with a gardening glove.

The job was strangely satisfying, knowing I will have touched every pebble would ground me in the place, or confirm that I’m a complete plank, I’m not sure, maybe I’ll sort the pebbles into different colours tomorrow.

Pete and Kelli’s social distance day 12

26th March 2020

We finally managed to photograph Kelli’s latest dresser, although the top needs more finish to make it smoother.

We started painting the desk and matching chair.

We were expecting the buyer for another dresser to arrive to collect and look at the other matching pieces we had found.

They turned up in their mini van, we had laid out all the furniture out in the driveway, a safe distance for them to look over.

The discussions were shouted back and forth, which was just as well as they were moving to Holland from New York.

Brilliant! They had driven from ground zero to our driveway, it couldn’t have been more unfortunate, but they bought the dresser and the other items which we had to paint to match.

They wheeled the dresser to their vehicle on our small trolley, and then brought it back, leaving it outside the garage.

After they left neither Kelli or I wanted to touch it, so we have left it outside.

Does anyone know how long the virus could live on a trolly?

Pete and Kelli’s social distance day 11

25th March 2020

We set off for Jenison to collect the two side tables, stopping off in the downtown area to deliver the small red dresser.

It feels strange leaving it on the back porch and collecting the money from under a flower pot, but it works.

The small table went earlier, we left it outside the house, and the money was left under a pot.

Just as we were loading the red dresser Kelli mentioned that the bottom drawer didn’t close properly, and would I look at it.

After cursing under my breath, I noted what the problem was. There was a wood strip that was higher than the drawer sliding strips.

The only answer was to remove it and reposition it lower, easier said than done. I removed nails from the bottom of the back panel thinking that would release it, but no, nothing was that easy.

I then attacked it with a hammer thinking that a sharp tap would free it, but that didn’t work either. The next attempt was a heavy clout which resulted in the strip of wood shattering.

Kelli walked away at this point, scared of what other things I could possibly do to ruin a piece that we were due to deliver.

I scoured the scrap bin and found a length of wood that would work.

I cut it to length and held it in place with screws, then tested the drawer.

Fortunately it worked, I hid the relief, I was waiting for the adulation from my wife that never came, she just wanted to load it and go, but not without wiping the dusty fingerprints of the drawer fronts.

It has become my trademark, Kelli can track my movements by the piles of dust I leave.

I remind her that it is the sign of someone working hard.

When we returned, there were jobs we wanted to finish. Kelli in particular wanted to take pictures of a small dresser she had been working on.

Our attention was drawn to Larry’s house just across the road. One of his buddies had come over to visit, and they were sitting outside, his voice was so loud we almost wanted to join in. He was bitching about the restrictions, that he hadn’t conformed to, but he went on and on.

This was the time when social distancing and social silencing would be a real benefit.