Another Lifetime to go

14th January 2020

I had an invitation from the family’s pastor for a coffee at a local cafe in the Main Street in Holland. I had met him during the time when both Kelli’s parents were in bad health.

He had turned up at our front door and introduced himself to me. As it was close to my birthday he gave me a book he had written as a present.

Normally I run away from men of the cloth fearing they will try to drag me into their church and brainwash me with their extreme doctoring.

He seemed interested in getting to know me better, he understood what my beliefs were, and wasn’t put off by them, I guess he saw me as a challenge.

Promptly at Eleven, Mark walked into the cafe, I had arrived a few minutes earlier and already had my beverage. I joined him at the counter where he ordered his drink of choice.

Mark is a well groomed, sixty-one year old man who looks good for his age. He has travelled to the UK on numerous occasions, probably to help educate the locals. We spent a lot of time talking about England and it’s history. The conversation darted about between my story, his story, laughing at the parts that matched. He asked me specifically about my transition from work into retirement.

He was surprised when I told him how easy it was for me. He was struggling with his own decision, not certain if he will carry on with the responsibility of the church. I never consider that to be a choice, you either like talking about God to people and getting paid for doing it, or you don’t, the choice should be easy.

Maybe he was thinking about career potential, and does it lead anywhere, there’s no way he could be Pope, he’s much too young, and not Roman Catholic, so that is out.

Could he be a bishop? Does the Baptist have a Bishop? these will have to be questions for our next meeting.

We had a good time, he was fluent in God speak at times, but mainly putting what I had just said into his language.

The time went quickly, I had arranged with Kelli for her to walk in after an hour and a half as a “get out” opportunity, but the timing was spot-on.

We agreed to meet again, and went on our separate ways.

The other thing on our list for the day was to take the truck to the garage to get the fuel filler pipe replaced.

This has been progressively getting worse to the point, when I discovered what was happening, needed to get it fixed.

First stop was Larry, our usual mechanic who lives across the road. He lay his cigarette down, and went underneath to locate the leak.

His verdict was the filler tube had rusted badly. He declined to do the job saying it needed to be on a hoist to get proper access.

Although we suspected it would mean he would have to go without a ciggi for several hours, and that would be difficult.

We were a little relieved as we didn’t want to see bits of our truck scattered over a wide area.

We settled on taking it to Angel at A&J motors. He smiles a lot and flirts with Kelli at every opportunity, but he does a good job, and doesn’t smoke.

13th January 2020

A flurry of excitement as the two project pieces were collected today. Although they didn’t provide much cash, it gave us more room in the garage to work on furniture that we can sell.

We made a start on the dresser that we got from Zeeland last week.

The drawers were made from cedar and the carcass was poplar. It had been painted in a light green that didn’t respond easily to the heat gun. With perseverance we got them sanded and ready for staining tomorrow.

I had fun trying to help the lady who came to collect the large mirror get it into her car. Although the dimensions were clearly stated in the description, it was clear that it wouldn’t fit in her vehicle. I was afraid that if I managed to shoe horn it into the back seat, toehold would never get it out again. It was finally shoved in the boot with just under half sticking out. We gave them a small bungee to tie the boot lid down, and they went off happy.

We have a number of projects that we want to get complete this week, now we have the space to move around.

12th January 2020

The cold weather closed in a bit last night. Snow was on the ground as the dogs rushed out to do their business.

Today was not a work day, but Kelli still managed to find a dresser to pick up. This was the first time I’ve had to carry anything down three flights of stairs and not die.

We needed to look at our stock and decide what we wanted to work on, and what we needed to shift.

Often that decision is forced upon us by either the quality of the piece, or whether it is appropriate for the market we are selling.

The main contender was the dresser/hutch we picked up a couple of weeks ago for free.

The material was not as good as we thought, and because of its size would have taken a lot of time and paint. This went on Marketplace as a “project” piece, and was soon snapped up with a collection tomorrow.

I also dug up a large double mirror that had been in the garage since we moved. We had no appetite to do anything with it, so on Marketplace it went at a bargain price. That also soon had a buyer, so a bit of spending money and space in the garage, not a bad days work.

11th January 2020

The buyer for the Dresser/wardrobe arrived late morning to collect. They had driven forty minutes to get to us. When they saw the piece, they were so excited, really excited. Now I don’t get real excitement, I get happy, or pleased, but never squeal at the prospect, but I was happy that they were happy, it’s what makes what we do so rewarding.

Before they arrived Kelli announced “Should someone move the truck to make it easier for them to load the piece into their vehicle?”

I looked at the dogs, they looked at me, “Someone? There is no one else here.

I guessed it would be me, as the dog don’t drive.

I have assumed the title of “someone” when Kelli doesn’t want to do something.

Another lady came to collect a mirror that we had for a while, we offered it at a really low price just to get rid of it, she was excited as well, and thrust the money into my hand even before she saw it.

freshly flush with money Kelli had found a dresser in Zeeland that she wanted, so off we went in the icy rain to collect it.

Kelli knocked on the back door, no answer, I went to the front and rang the door bell, still no answer. I could hear the sound of children so I knew someone was home. Eventually a guy came to the door. From what I could see inside the house there were wall to wall kids, with children’s crap everywhere. The guy told us he had six, he must have been mad, or ran out of condoms.

The dresser was good and solid, so we loaded it into the truck and headed back.

10th January 2020

We lifted the dresser/wardrobe combo into the living space to photograph. Kelli posted the pictures on Marketplace, and within minutes her phone exploded with requests, it was amazing.

I had to do some repair work to a leg on the heavy oak dresser that Kelli had acquired a couple of days ago. One leg was loose, and the mounting piece had split.

We carried it into house so that Kelli could finish the top.

The piece was as heavy as guilt, even taking the drawers out required a hoist.

There was a matching side table, made to the same weighty standard, just about managed by a single person, as long as that person is Hercules.

At different times of the day buyers would arrive to collect some of the small things Kelli was selling. I’m amazed that people will travel miles for a piece for five dollars, then get back into their V8 and trundle back home.

We finally had a bite on the POS unit that I lovingly brought back to life.

The buyer was in Byron Center, which alway sounds to me like a health club, but it is a place. We were all excited, and loaded it into the truck, but first we had to hit the Goodwill stores, just in case something interesting turned up. Out of luck there, we were just about to start the thirty minute drive when Kelli received a message to say the lady had changed her mind. Bloody typical, it was fortunate that we were not further into our journey, but I cursed her loudly, and then went to New Holland for dinner.

It was Friday night, and of course there were no parking spaces. When I first came to Holland there were alway parking spaces, there were not so many cars back then. If you needed a place to park, you just kicked the horse, it would run off, then you could take its place. Those were the good ol’ days.

There is always a cross section of people there, I noticed a couple that were doing a stress test to the furniture. They were on the large size, with enough skin between them to re-cover a Zeppelin. Well the chairs stood up to the loading, and as they walked past, they cut out the light making it difficult to read the menu.

9th January 2020

Another day in the garage staining the top, drawer fronts and door. Sometimes I long to work on one of my project pieces just for the challenges they give me.

The forecast of bad weather over the weekend prompted Kelli to go off and do the weekly shop, so I carried on working on the dresser/wardrobe combination.

I only have a left handed rubber glove that I use for staining, and that suits me fine being left handed, but when Kelli has to use it she is right handed which makes it look like she has a hoof, I can’t look at her when she has it on, I crack on every time.

By the end of the evening it was complete, we had moved it into the sunroom as it was warm, so that I could mount the door.

The one drawback of our house is the lighting. We chose to have mood lighting rather than spots, which normally is the way we like it, but when you are trying to fit dark screws into a dark cabinet, it is challenging. I have to rely on feel, and sometimes I can be scratching around for five minutes before I find the hole.

That is the time when you wish you had back lit eyes to illuminate what’s in front.

Eventually I managed to fit the door, and the piece looked fabulous.

8th January 2020

Kelli turned up with other Goodwill finds. There was a solid oak dresser and a night stand. She had done another shady deal to secure them, that means they had to be sneaked out the front door, rather than the back where the manager would be. Unfortunately I was not with her, so she had find another poor sap to help her. I bet that poor sod had a terrible evening. She did point out that she knew the person, so as not to appear to take anyone off the street to help. Anyway the piece was as heavy as a tank, even the side table almost gave me a hernia.

I had been busy sanding the dresser/wardrobe unit ready for painting.

There a few areas of damage that needed fixing, but nothing that a pot of glue and some clamps can’t solve.

7th January 2020

The top of the dresser turned out okay, I went over it with a scotchguard pad and some beeswax and it was nice and smooth.

It sold in less than ten minutes, so we had to deliver it to Zeeland.

I helped carry it into their basement, it was bloody heavy, even with most of the drawers out. It didn’t help that the route was like an obstacle course, of tight bends and slopes, by the time we got it into the room my arms were four inches longer.

We also finished another dresser, stripping off thick layers of paint revealed a cute cedar piece.

It started to attract attention on Marketplace within minutes of Kelli posting it, so we were hopeful of another sale.

We went out to dinner with John and Patty, who do similar work to us. It is our opportunity to gauge how the market is doing. They sell in three stores, and confirmed how slow things are at this time of year.

6th January 2020

Oh bugger! I managed to crack off the top of the POS unit we were bringing into the store.

The piece had zip interest on Marketplace, so we decided on the other option.

I was being all macho and trying to carry it in all by my self, but I did not take into account the self closing jog the door.

“Snap” it went and fell on to the floor, I was gutted, all that work, now I would have to do it again.

The day started badly, because a top I had sprayed the night before had little pot marks in the lacquer. This meant I had to sand it back and start again. This took longer than the initial stripping, it was painstaking work, but it only effected the middle strip of veneer.

This was the case of one step forward, two hundred steps back wards.

By the evening I had regained the courage to try again.

This time it seem to go better, and no fish eyes, so I could have a more peaceful evening.

Although we did sell the chopping board/island unit, which was a slight glimmer of joy.

We had an inquiry to paint five tables which could be an interesting and quick job to do. Kelli quickly sent off the quote, so now we wait to see if we have the job.

5th January 2020

This was supposed to be a quiet day, a rest from the hectic week, but it didn’t last long.

A couple came to collect the TV cabinet, and another came for a dresser.

Our finished stock was rapidly dwindling, but Kelli always has her eye open for bargains.

With the things we had collected yesterday, and a trip to Grandville the garage was full with interesting projects.

Kelli had been in a conversation with a seller of a dresser/ wardrobe unit. She had been trying to get the price down a bit because there were some damage to the door and various other blemishes. The seller was adamant that the duck tape holding the door panel together did not effect the working of the door. Which was true, but it still had duck tape on it, and looked crap. Finally the price was agreed, so off we went to Grandville to collect it.

I finally got my nerve to spray coat the top of the large dresser. I had sanded and cleaned the veneer so was confident that the surface was ready for the finish.

I shook the can until my arm ached, and started the coating. I was quite please with the result, there was even coverage and I built up a couple of good layers.

I looked back an hour later and noticed some fish eye blemishes. That was depressing, I couldn’t understand what had contaminated the surface. I decided that I could not do anything until it had dried out.