Another Lifetime to go

Pete and Kelli’s social distance day 10

24th March 2020

The interest for the dresser turned into a positive sale, due for pickup on Thursday.

The person also asked if we had a long style dresser as well.

Kelli got on Marketplace, flicking through the pages found one, and what was more amazing it was the exact same design as the one we already had, what are the chances of that.

What followed was some negotiations to get it down to a price we were prepared to pay.

We had to confirm that the buyer we had was willing to pay the price, fortunately they were happy to do that.

We made the arrangement, and set off for Jenison.

The seller was in the process of moving, so the garage was full of things for sale.

We loaded the dresser into the truck, and before we left we saw two side tables of the same design which we snapped them up, but unfortunately there was not room to take them.

Now we have to plan another trip to collect those.

It was great to work with the garage door open, a sign that decent weather was on the way.

There was also some positive response to the two pieces Kelli posted on Marketplace, so we will be getting them out tomorrow.

I am curious how the shutdown will work and what effect it will have on us.

The US government have agreed a package that will guarantee workers their wages, small businesses have to apply for loans to help them through.

Trump has said it will be over by Easter and he wants America to re-open for business. However, that is not what the scientists say, I prefer to follow their advice. It was also pointed out, that it was the decisions of the state governors to shut things down, and they will decide when it is safe to open it up again, I can’t wait for that shit to hit the fan.

23rd March 2020

Pete and Kelli’s social distance day 9

It was full speed ahead on a couple of small pieces that we can sell cheaply to test if people are still interesting in buying.

I re-assembled the small table, but was not happy with the strength if the fixing, that needed improving.

When we moved into the house there was lots of bits of timber left in the garage that I have gradually used up on various projects. In particular some rectangular strips of oak beading that would be perfect for what I needed. After searching all the bins and my wood store in the shed, I found just enough to finish the job, a few months ago I was tripping over the stuff.

The total shut down comes into force at midnight, so we shall see what happens.

I continued with the chair repair. I started on the one with arms only to find a piece of the lower back rail missing, so I set in a piece of ash to repair it.

It had snowed overnight, so it was strange to wake up to that, thankfully it melted pretty quick as the temperature rose.

I started stripping the desk top, hopefully this will be a simple finishing job.

I have braced myself, because it is never a simple job.

Kelli had someone interested in the large dresser we completed a couple of weeks ago, that has sat in the garage covered in a shroud.

We will wait and see if the interest turns into a sale.

22nd March 2020

Pete and Kelli’s social distance day 8

I started the day picking out the raisins from my bran flakes, not that I don’t like raisins, just not in my cereal.

Another morning of checking the conditions of the world, trying to make sense of all the relief that has been promised to Americans.

Kelli remarks at all the posts on Facebook that derides all the advice given by the experts. She keeps a tally of the cases in Michigan, and the one in Holland that she knew personally. There is also another suspected case just in the next street, and she knows her as well!

Seclusion can get to you, all the freedom you have taken for granted is suddenly questioned.

A busy day for collections. The lady came to collect the large entertainment centre. First we unloaded a desk that she wanted repainting and the top stripped and re-stained.

Then we loaded the big piece. This was certainly easier to load than it was to take out, so with a delighted customer we turned our attention to the freebie we got last night.

We gave it a good clean, touched up a few marks and Kelli posted it on Marketplace as a project piece, and had someone on it straight away.

We pushed it outside, and awaited the buyers as we worked in the garage.

We knew when they arrived, we heard the sound of a heavy piece of furniture straining someone’s greens, and probably ruining them for the rest of the day, but we made money from it.

I had started work on the dining chairs we picked up a couple of weeks ago. They were in a worse state than I thought, most of the joints were loose which meant tapping them apart and rebuilding.

21st March 2020

Pete and Kelli’s social distance day 7

Our weekend is now indistinguishable from the rest of the week, meaning we are fully occupied with our projects.

However we needed to get out for our own sanity, so we loaded up the dogs and drove down to the beach.

It was cold, with a biting wind that watered your eyes, and a lot of other places as well.

The place was deserted, apart from a few fishermen frozen to the spot on the pier.

I’m not sure that the dogs appreciated being taken out from their warm places and forced to walk in these artic conditions.

As soon as we got back and Kelli started dinner.

As we tucked in, she had a message from someone telling her of something of interest at the side of the road. She was up out of her seat getting dresser to go and pick it up.

I finished my mouthful and reluctantly put my shoes back on.

Kelli was on fire, and so was the truck, for occasions like this we should have a siren and flashing light to warn other drivers that we were on a mission.

Fortunately we didn’t have to travel very far, and as we turned a corner we saw it.

It looked in good condition, it had fifteen drawers that all worked as they should.

Out of curiosity, we said hi to the guy working in the garage, and started to lift the dresser into the truck. It was too heavy for Kelli to lift on her own, so I stepped in to help, but even with my strength we struggled. The guy saw that we were having difficulty, so he came over to help.

With the beast safely in the back of the truck, we drove home to finish our dinner.

20th March 2020

Pete and Kelli’s social distance day 6

The most effective laxative over here is listening to Trump bumble his way through the televised Coronavirus virus morning briefing.

The man has no knowledgeable things to say, it is an embarrassment to all the experts who share the stage. I can see that it takes all the self control they have not to speak out and tell him that he is talking rubbish.

There are the stream of sycophants who stroke his ego, I don’t know how they can justify it to themselves and their families.

Both Kelli and I worked together to finish a couple of pieces to add to our collection.

Even with the restrictions we need to try to sell what we can. We are continually looking for smaller pieces that require minimal work that we can sell on cheaply. This is at odds with my philosophy to improve it from its original condition, but maybe this is not the time for ideals.

The big entertainment centre should be ready for collection on Sunday.

She found a couple more pieces in Allegan, so off we went to collect.

This is a drive into Trump country, lots of farmers who have lost markets to the trade tariffs, starved of cash and now going into a pandemic, sucks to be you.

Along the way we spotted a number of Trump signs in the gardens, it wasn’t easy stopping Kelli from driving over them.

19th March 2020

Pete and Kelli’s social distance day 5

The word on the street is that all the supermarket shelves are still bare, and no signs of that changing for a while.

We didn’t get our food box from Imperfect Foods today sending Kelli into a tail spin.

We had to go collect some items from a couple of stores. I had ordered a pair of roller slides for a dresser I’ve been working on, and a large tub of car body filler. Kelli had some food items and bird seed to pick up, which if push comes to shove we can boil up into a bird seed stew.

Due to most stores and restaurants closing, they have started offering take-out services, which is a great idea, and prevents utter boredom setting in.

As we drove past the town I only saw two people walking on the pavements, an almost unbelievable situation.

We have made good progress on the paint job to the entertainment centre, whilst I completed the small table repair and a new drawer front for another small dresser.

I heard from my son Ryan that the Shogun didn’t do too well on the MOT. The only things that didn’t fail were the wheels and the air in the tyres. We agreed to go halves, as he uses it most of the time now. I still want to keep it a bit longer as I still have work to do on the cottage whenever that may be.

Kelli cooked the most amazing vegan Irish stew this evening, it was thick and warming,( not a description of the Irish by the way)

I could see out this whole Coronavirus pandemic just eating that.

18th March 2020

Pete and Kelli’s social distance day 4

I heard the shriek from the sunroom when Kelli tried out the bidet in the bathroom for the first time. It was quite alarming, although I was expecting it, but it made the dogs jump.

It had been delivered earlier, and the attachment took no more than twenty minutes, and most of that was reading and re-reading the instructions.

Because of the design of US bogs, it was really straight forward, possibly easier to do than on an English one.

Once the device was fitted I did a test. There are two directional nozzles, rear and front. I chose the front one. Wow! a jet of water shot over my right shoulder with enough force to strip wallpaper, yep! That works.

I carried on with a couple of other repairs to furniture pieces in process, but I was intrigued with the bidet and couldn’t wait to give it a try.

Now the idea of buying it was to reduce the quantity of toilet paper we use, so I wanted to put that to the test.

The control would allow different pressure dependant on your pain threshold, but I was pleasantly surprised at its efficiency. Having a jet of cold water directed at my delicate areas was not so shocking as I thought it would be. My only criticism would be the mopping up afterwards. This would take a pad of six sheets of toilet paper to do this job, so the saving would not be that great. Now if only Dyson got his act together and developed the “bum blaster” it would be perfect.

The daily routine of checking the confirmed cases of the virus is the first thing we do during breakfast, followed by what’s happening in old Blighty.

Then it’s putting on my work shoes and going into the garage usually tripping up on something.

I’m not sure if it’s because of the size of my clown shoes or that I’m getting more clumsy in my old age, but making a simple trip from one side of the garage to the other will include stepping on, tripping on, or knocking something off every time.

We finished another large dresser that Kelli could post on Marketplace, not knowing if people are still in the mood for buying furniture.

Kelli’s amazing job of the day was getting the electric heater in the sunroom working again.

It had got to the stage where it would throw out heat for a short time and then switch off.

Whilst I was working on another dresser, Kelli was on her hands and knees with a screwdriver and vacuum. There was a clunking and sucking, and finally she threw her hands in the air announcing that she was brilliant, and smiled triumphantly,

17th March 2020

Pete and Kelli’s social distance day 3

I had started to prime the large entertainment centre that we have been commissioned to paint. It’s not difficult, just a little boring with lots of flat panels.

Kelli continued her quarantine routine by going to collect her last cheque from Our Collected Home which was not risky as the place was deserted. She collected a small table for Cameron to put in his apartment, again no contact with anyone.

People at last are taking things seriously, with the schools, and a lot of stores closed, life is going to be very different from now on.

16th March 2029

Pete and Kelli’s social distance day 2

I had plenty to get on with, it was business as normal, but Kelli is far more concerned about the virus than I am.

We had a weekly delivery of food due for Thursday, and we were using the Aldi home delivery for other stuff. There will be shortages, but she is pretty resourceful, and can create almost anything edible out of the fridge.

We had decided on a number of measures to help us through this difficult time.

First we had ordered a bidet attachment for the toilet to reduce the need for toilet paper. This will be interesting, as most times things should only come out of the arse not going into it. I can’t wait to hear the first shriek from Kelli on this one.

Next she wanted an elderberry immune support syrup kit, which was due on Wednesday, however this was not quick enough, so she found someone in Zeeland who also supplied them, and drove off to buy one.

When she got back, all excited, she waited no time in getting things going. The kitchen resembled Frankenstein’s laboratory with jars and pans bubbling on the cooker.

It made me think, where do you get elderberries in Holland? I don’t think I’ve seen any, unlike in the UK where every hedgerow has trees growing wild.

Ironically the kit I ordered, had been delivered early, and was waiting in the post box for her return, so our immunity will be so strong we will glow in the dark.

15th March 2020

Pete and Kelli’s social distance day 1

We made the conscience decision to cut off any interactions with others, however we had people coming over to purchase some furniture, but we were prepared with materials to carry out a forensic cleaning exercise afterwards.

The first person to arrive was after the dresser that didn’t have a top drawer that I had lined with a plywood box. He was a big guy, the type who wore shorts all the year round, and would beat the crap out of any Coronavirus he came across.

Later in the afternoon we had a mother and daughter round to look at the pair of matching side tables that I had been struggling to finish.

The wax was still drying when they turned up, but they loved them and thrust the money into Kelli’s hand, loaded them up and drove off.

I went back into the garage to do more staining.

Kelli burst in and informed me that we were going to Fennville to collect a free dresser, so much for our quarantine.

That was it for the day, our total contact was with four people, so the risk was low, I hope.

We learned that Holland had a confirmed case in the hospital. The person did not have a history of travel, so the numbers will grow.