Another Lifetime to go

24th August 2025

It was almost a repeat of yesterday, yesterday we picked up another dresser, this time from Zeeland, yet again we are decked out with products. Hopefully this one can be flipped, but I’ve run out of trolleys, so everyday they have to be manhandled outside.

I managed to finish the repair of the last drawer on the refinish project, now we want to get rid of it all, the same goes for the blue unit that needs to be collected.

I desperately need to get on with the kitchen island, the top will be done and waiting for the structure to be built. Making it from an old door was not such a good idea, from my point of view.

It would have been a lot easier to build it from scratch. All the paint removal took over three weeks, and bored me to death at times. Before I can prime I have to remove all traces of the stripper, I bloody hate the prospect of doing that.

A major change from our Sunday routine was that we went for dinner. Matt prepared a chicken in sun dried tomatoes and a garlic sauce, served with rice, delicious. I took a bottle of wine, a long time since I had a glass, which helped the meal go down.

Earlier I had a nearly two hour conversation with Martin, my friend from Whitney on Wye. He had a few issues with the “ Teams” app, the one the replaced Skype, there was no sound and no pictures. I sent him some settings that he needed for his iMac, then everything went okay. He is going down hill, losing a lot of weight, and in pain most of the time. His doctor has stopped him taking the massive quantities of painkillers, and wants him to change to a fentanyl type drug, which he refused, she then told him that she didn’t want to treat him and asked him to leave. Now that doesn’t seem to be the action of someone who follows the Do no Harm policy. We got quite emotional, I’m so far away, and frustrated that I cannot help him, he wants to go now, he’s lived with pain and suffered all the time I’ve known him, and no, it’s not because of me, he is ready to leave.

He continues to send me his favourite music that I add to a playlist, I play it all the time, I feel close to him listening to that.

He is not frightened, his faith in the spirit world is strong, and he will become a non physical being, free from suffering, and imprinted in our memories.

23rd August Saturday 

We were on the road again hunting down a dresser on the side of the road. Never knowing what it’s likely to be is alway a risk, but this time it looked okay. It was an established brand, so a quality piece, it just needed a good clean. It had a laminated top that had been added, so this was quickly removed revealing a coated oak veneer that was in good condition, a fifteen minute scrap removed all that.

All this distracted me from working on the refinish commission. I had work to do on all the drawers where the bottom panel was short from the front, leaving a half inch gap. There were nails driven into the back panel of the drawer box, some sticking out the back, a real class job.

I thickness’d strips of wood and bonded them to the back, once the adhesive had dried, reassembled it back into the drawer box, making sure the front of the floor panel engaged into the groove of the drawer front. New nails held the panel securely.

It was the perfect temperature for working outside, the humidity was good for drying the finish on the headboard.

We took the dogs for a walk this evening, Dharma is certainly acting her age, trailing behind, panting and with an expression of “ I’m not long for this world” on her face, I sometimes feel the same.

22nd August 2025

I was feeling very enthusiastic today, I had a trip to Menards to get some materials. I found some cheap paint, I alway look on the shelf where the returns are placed. I had to get bird food, a special kind that the squirrels don’t like, I think it has paprika in it, and it works.

When I returned, I wanted to finish the refinish commission project, I just had to complete the large headboard. That was a monster job, a lot of area, scraping and sanding. I even managed to sand down a finger nail that hurts a lot.

We did take a bike ride to the post office to take packages containing Kelli’s old clothes that she has sold. She found a new site that he has been doing really well, packages have been leaving our mail box in vast numbers, keeping the post man on his toes. 

Demand has been so high that she received messages as to when the next selections will be posted. If only that could continue, it could take some of the strain off the furniture.

21st August 2025

The highlight of the day was meeting up with Lloyd for our beer and chat session.

He lost one of his friends last Friday, which did put today’s event in doubt, but with just a change of time we made it work.

He invited the son of his deceased friend Nathan, to joins us, he was in town dealing with the legal stuff. 

This created a slight out of balance situation.

Our normal routine would be we bought one round each, that was just enough, anything more and I would fall off the stool.

Well we made that work, although Lloyd was going to buy him a drink, and then conveniently forgot, what is this about old people forgetting things?

It was an interesting time, Nathan is a lawyer, and once worked for the pharmaceutical industry, he was very open about their immoral practices.

I held my tongue about Lawyers being money grabbing vultures, under the circumstances I felt it wasn’t a good time.

We finished a lot earlier than usual, meaning that I could do a bit of work when I got back home.

20th August 2025

It was my turn to undergo pain and discomfort courtesy of Kelli’s doctor.

This time I did have an issue that has been troubling me for about a month now. I did see another doctor from the practice a couple of weeks ago, and that regained some strength in my right arm, but I still had pain in my wrist.

So this time I was seeing the head honcho.

He started at the place where the pain was prominent, but then worked his way up to my neck. At each point there was pain, even the smallest point delivered a sharp stab. There were a few tugs and twists, and a lot of cracking.

I do not like my joints to make a noise, I could not bare the sound of knuckles cracking, and never could do it myself, so I just let him get on with it. With each crack there was celebration, that was what he wanted to hear, and I had the privilege of paying for it, but I admit it did feel better afterwards. 

Now will it last, he did say that my wrist was out of line, and my neck needed adjustment, so I’m hoping that will do the trick.

Next it was Kelli’s turn, just a few minor adjustments and a continuation of her supplements. She is so sensitive to any wrong ingredients, especially wheat and oats, which seem to give her headaches which she had had most mornings.

 Food can trigger all types of responses at her stage of change, and the list keeps growing, soon she will be on a hot bowl of steam every day.

19th August 2025

I called John the wood just to make sure he was up for today at his barn, but his wife answered.

She told me John was already there at there had been a problem with his dust extraction. She suggested that I called him to check if he was able to do any work today.

Well I got through to him, and we arranged that I would drive straight to the barn, that was good as it saved me thirty minutes on the journey.

As I had finished his chair, I loaded it into the truck and set off.

When I arrived John was looking more bewildered than usual, there were piles of wood chips and sawdust everywhere.

Apparently, and this is typical John, he has a trailer outside that stores all the extraction material, but because he has machined three tree fulls of timber, the stuff backed up into the large bags he has in the barn, and as he was trying to force more into them, they burst.

There was crap everywhere. He had fill every available barrel that he had, but there was plenty still piled high.

Normally he gives all this spoil to a local farmer who uses it as bedding for his cattle, but John had forgotten to tell him about the latest load.

He got on the phone and arranged for the trailer and barrels to be collected, but I decided to help clean the place up. I found a couple of large bins that I could use, filling them quickly. I pounded the chips down hard to get as much room in the bins as I could, that was a good day workout. I was sweating heavily just doing cleaning, what was wrong with me?. 

Finally all the stuff was collected, all that was left was a good sweep round with the brush. Kelli has given me a packed lunch, I took some time to enjoy that, remembering to drink plenty of water to replace what I had lost. 

Eating over, it was down to what I was there for, the worktop.

This was the final sanding and to machine a radius on all the edges, so technically it is now finished. I put off bring it back, one, I had John’s chair in the back, and two, I haven’t made space back home yet.

He was really happy with his chair, I took a picture of him sitting in it, he looked pleased anyway.

18th August 2025

We are all curious people, some of us more than others. Since Covid I have opened my mind to many things that I took for granted.

I used to believe you could trust your doctor, that  politicians acted for the goodness of your country, and truth was alway spoken.

I have reached an age when I can complain when I want to, and I don’t feel bad about doing it. I still crave knowledge, but I no longer believe what is told to me. 

History is being rewritten every day, right in front of our eyes, and we’re too blind to notice, or happy to turn the other way.

There are so many clues given to us that we ignore, because we have been conditioned from birth not to question, but to obey.

I have been watching a series called My lunch break which looks at architecture from the old age, and it is fascinating to watch. I was shocked to hear that the Empire State Building only took just over one year to build, that has to be impossible. America was going through the Great Depression, and there wasn’t the money about to fund such a project. First they had to demolish the old Waldorf Astoria hotel, clear the site, get all the drawings done, get the permits, order the materials, and build something that has never been done before, and we are told it took such a short time. People in California will have to wait that length of time just to get their permits. 

That is just one of the stories of huge buildings that were built in impossible timescales.

There are so many other things I am discovering, some so controversial no one would believe them. 

I urge my reader to stop, and maybe choose one subject that has been misunderstood, misrepresented and do some digging, forget the preconceived ideas and come at it from a different direction, it will amaze you.

17th August 2025

I really didn’t want to do anything today, but there was the chance that the dresser which was seen and bought by the customer of the blue bed, was coming to collect today.

There was a drawer that wouldn’t close easily, that needed to be attended to.

Reluctantly I went out into the searing heat to analyse what the problem was. It turned out that the rail in the carcass was not fitted square causing to drawer to jam at a certain point. This happens often, and a slight reposition of the guide will normally put it right.

So as I was out there I stripped the mirror frame that went with the dresser and bed frame project. That has a bit of damage that will have to be repaired by setting a new piece of wood.

I also reassembled John the Woods chair. That was a bit of a job because the slots in the screws were a bit chewed up. Overcoming that problem I discovered there was a slight rocking on the base, that might be solved by placing a couple of washers under the offending caster.

I brought it into the house to do the final coat of finish ready to return it to John on Tuesday, he should be pleased with it.

16th August 2025

Adding more finish to John the woods chair, although the humidity was high, making it difficult to cure properly.

We did a bike ride to the cemetery to check on Dave’s grave. The flowers looked a bit tired, but at least they survived. On the way back we passed a young girl who had set up a stall outside her house. She was selling home baked biscuits, or cookies as they call them over here, and scones and jam. Yes she labelled it as jam, and not jelly. We had to stop and buy some. I complimented her on the correct use for the preserve, adding that clotted cream and a cup of tea would be perfect. That was a fun thing, and I could wait to get back home to eat it, and it was very good, I had a cup of tea to go with it.

Larry had the first responders around again today, it it’s difficult for us to breath properly, it must be hell for him.

I changed the blade on my big saw at last, I should have done it a while ago, but normally I’m only cutting small stuff. Now the cuts are like butter, and I have a few projects I can test it out on.

15th August 2025

We made a trip to the range after a long break, and it showed. Our consistency was off, but any invaders would have had bits shot off, which, I suppose is the point.

It did get incredibly hot out in the open, which did limit our stay, the pool was beckoning when we got home, so in the water we went.

I think it’s just the thought of the water feels good, we tend to lay or sit on floats, with just some bits actually in the water.