Another Lifetime to go

6th February 2019

The lady who had bought Old Shaky came to collect it. She was delighted with it, which is always a relief, but I am glad it is going to a new home.

We drove to Hudsonville, the first time in over a week, but Kelli wanted to take the new piece.

The booth is now pretty full with some cool furniture, we just need cool people to go and buy them.

We stopped off at Goodwill as usual to see if there was any thing of interest. I did my normal trawl not seeing anything that excited me. I saw one piece that was a bit strange, so I left it. A few minutes later Kelli saw the same piece, and of course she went crazy over it.

It was an odd piece because it was open, with a drawer accessible from both sides. I have no idea what we can do with it, but I’m sure she will had some cunning plan.

I have continued to work on the dresser in the garage, trying my hand at repairing the veneered top. I follow a furniture restorer on YouTube that is really good, so I have learnt a lot of things from him. So far I have made some good repairs, and some okay ones, but I’ll keep at it.

5th February 2019

We were frantically trying to build on our backlog after we had an offer on Old Shaky.

These are the best sales for us as there is no commission taken out.

The unit we had next in line was the three drawer unit with a door. This originally had textured glass in it but that went almost immediately. For us, this was a simple paint job with one small modification to the door.

I thought I had a bit of time, so I was also working on a dresser out in the garage. The quick sale speeded up the need for this to be finished. I had to work out how to fix chicken wire where the glass went. I had used it before, but I was never happy with it.

Trying a different approach of stretching the wire over a sub frame was far better.

Once the subframe was fitted into the door the job was completed.

4th February 2019

Old Shaky was finally finished. It was moved into the garage to await its next move. Kelli wasted no time in putting it on Marketplace and within a short time had her first bite.

We have two more pieces, plus the chairs, that are work in progress. The one in the garage needs a bit of repair, so I started on that one.

With the higher temperature it is quite pleasant to work out there, but I must give the place a good clear out.

There was quite a bit of rain that got rid of most of the snow, but it might be back by next week.

3rd February 2019

The rapid thaw continued. A lot of the snow had disappeared, and the temperature was a pleasant 43 degrees. We worked on Old Shaky in the Kitchen trying to get it finished, although we didn’t get any news of any significant sales we at least have a back log of one. I had the pleasant job of sanding wooden knobs back to raw ready to stain black.

Kelli did a great job of the paintwork, as always, so it looks like another one off the production line.

It is the day of the Super Bowl, a day when all Americans watch a game most have no idea is happening. I have only watched a game once when I was in New York with Bob Wood and Stephen Perkins. They both fell asleep half way through, bloody lightweights.

We were invited by our British friends Mike and Lesley to their friends for a dominoes evening. What I knew about dominos could be written on a postage stamp, and Kelli knew even less. So we were the ideal couple to play that game.

The evening started well, with Pete (another one) and Laura, Mike and Lesley explaining the rules. The last time I played with dominos I was using them to build little houses. So once we started playing we soon got the hang of it. Kelli took to it pretty well, and I pretended to be cool and strategic, making a few smart moves and a lot of dumb ones. Eventually Kelli came second, and I supported the lot of them by coming last.

2nd February 2019

The warm weather hit Holland like a smack on the cheek. At 40 degrees it was almost springtime, the snow turning to watery slush.

I decided I would have to buy a half sheet of plywood to make bottom panels for Old Shaky.

Whilst I was waiting for Kelli to get herself ready for the outside world to see her, a person turned up to pick up some pieces that had be placed on Marketplace. This was part of our “we’ll sell it and make money from it if it kills us” strategy which has been working to a degree. This guy turned up to collect some china storage jars and a small wine bottle stand. He checked over the storage jars several times, lifting the lids and peering inside, I was not sure what he expected to find. He then turned his attention to the wine rack. “It looks a lot smaller than the picture” he uttered in his broken Mexican accent.

“ Well it holds just three bottles “ I responded.

“ I thought it would be a lot longer, like the picture ” he said.

“ If it was any longer the bottle would fall through” I smiled. He then muttered something about his wife, and then handed me the money and carried the box to his truck.

A little later a lady arrived to collect the chicken drawer knobs that had originally come from Old Shaky.

Then it was off to Menards, and the inevitable visit to Goodwill in the hope that someone had risked their lives to donate some furniture. The answer was an emphatic no.

1st February 2019

It was a little warmer today, this meant that it would take twenty minutes to freeze to death.

I had no intention to do that, so I agreed to go shopping with Kelli, but that was after we delivered the double drawer blanket box. The meeting place was a car park in Port Sheldon.

Which in itself was strange because it is not a port, and is not near the water.

This was the first sale for February, a good start because Michigan is still under a lot of snow, and sales are alway slow this time of the year.

We stopped off at Habitat for Humanity, a store that sells off surplus building materials and furniture. I was looking for plywood off-cuts to use as drawer bottoms for old Shaky.

No luck there so it looks like I will have buy new.

Next stop was Aldi.

We had to do shopping for the in-laws so I was in control of their trolley. Kelli had the lists which meant I had to catch the items threw at me. The store had suffered from delayed deliveries so the place resembled a Russian supermarket on a normal day.

Once we got home, Kelli started dinner. “ Did you get a cabbage?” I looked blank, “ Ah no” I feebly replied. It was like I swore at the Pope. “That was what I wanted to make for dinner”

“What cabbage, what kind of a meal would that be?”

There followed an exchange that went into great detail of what the meal would be and how I had ruined it.

I decided the best course of action was to offer to go to the corner shop to get some, I tried to look pathetic (some say I had a head start) but no, Kelli quickly re-planned and came up with an amazing alternative. I did say cheekily, that it would have been better with some cabbage. The response I got I could not repeat even in print, so I will just have to listen more next time.

31st January 2019

Kelli left early to go to the hospital to take some of her mum’s personal things.

It was still too cold to work in the garage, so I dragged a dresser carcass into the living room to prime coat.

I was kept up to date on progress at the hospital which was slow, but positive.

My only connection with the outside was letting the dogs out, and this was enough. Digging for the tethers in the snow was a task, and thankfully they are always near the door, it is never fun if they are buried and at the bottom of the steps.

Just after six, Kelli burst through the door, her errand of mercy completed.

Now we have to endure the next phone call, or the next, or the next. This is the role children have to take on, being the guardian. Georgia is a tough old bird, she has her faith, and sheer bloody-mindedness, so the world had better look out.

30th January 2019

It’s a little cold today, correction, it is unbelievably cold. It was so bad that I daren’t go out and clear the snow that had fallen. I didn’t even venture into the garage, I just worked on things in the house.

Kelli’s mother had to be taken back to the hospital because of some odd side effects from some medication she was given. Kelli had to follow the ambulance and was away a large part of the day. I finished sanding the chair seats and a couple of other small jobs.

Outside everything was white, there was a wind blowing the snow about, as well as new snow falling.

When Kelli returned she was not in a mood for cooking, so I chose the easy option, eat out. However there were not many places open downtown except for an Irish pub, so that’s where we landed. Later we both went to the hospital to see how Georgia was.

The place seemed strangely quiet, a few orderlies drifting about, and the occasional nurse coming into the room to check, and no doubt adding to the growing invoice.

29th January 2019

Well I wanted a bit of snow, and boy did we get some last night. All the hard work I put in yesterday was wasted, as I had to do it all again. On top of that there was wind, so with each scoop I scooped, I got half of it back.

I worked in the house as much as I could sanding and staining trying to keep ahead. Kelli had to take her mother to the doctors, not the best day to do that, but she drove slow and careful.

“Put these gloves on they’ll keep your fingers warm as toast” Kelli said. All I can say is they didn’t. After half an hour each finger was like a stick of ice. A large dew drop hung from my nose I wasn’t sure what to do with it, should I wipe it on my sleeve, or my gloves? I decided to see if it froze on my face, but it didn’t, so that theory went straight out the window. I also wanted to find out when the dogs went for a piss, would that freeze, and stick them to the ground? I tried that, and nope! No luck there.

We were expecting people to come and collect items that Kelli had listed on Marketplace, and that was the main reason why I was up early clearing the snow. I asked Kelli to cook me an amazing breakfast to make the sacrifice of working in the Artic conditions bearable. I was shovelling away for about an hour with the thought of hot food driving me on.

I had expecting a call from within to summon me to the table, where a plate of hash browns would take me to breakfast heaven, but no, I had to wait till I was exhausted, and barely able to stand, with the remains of my dew drop still on my cheek, before this treat was available to me.

Oh, and all the people failed to turn up.

28th January 2019

Today was my first opportunity to clear the snow from the driveway. There had been a severe weather warning for West Michigan, meaning a shed load of the white stuff was due to fall. This has been blamed on Canada, the only thing the poor Canadians can be blamed for. So we went off to sleep thinking that everywhere would be buried completely by morning. As it was only six inches that fell, this was my opportunity to show my snow clearing skills.

First I had to dress appropriately with big boots, big coat, woolly hat and gloves so thick I couldn’t bend my fingers. All this attire meant I had to walk sideways out of the doors

Armed with a snow scoop I ventured into the bleak mid-winter, ready to attack the drifts.

It was not the freshly fallen snow that was the problem, it was the rock hard ice that had been compacted from the last storm. This compounded by the bloody ploughs who build a wall of snow at the end of the drive. I started on my task whistling a merry tune, but that soon stopped as my strength was sapped, not from the scooping, but from the weight of the clothing. The ice was no match for the scoop, I had to bring in the big guns, the shovel.

The perspiration was running down my forehead, I was getting hotter as I was chipping chunks from the iceberg. I looked over to the other houses close by who had snow blowers. These are the people who wait for the first flake to fall and then break out the machine. They don’t have the manly pleasure of working until it feels like your heart is about to explode inside your padded coat.

I had expected to stay in the warm and get on with some woodwork, but no, Kelli had scanned Facebook Marketplace and found a piece that was not far away. Off we drove into the unknown. The piece was down in a basement, so we had to carry it up the stairs. I gallantly took the heavy end, and we progressed up step by step. It felt like I was balancing the whole thing, and it was only the thought of falling back and squashing the person’s cat, that was following me, that kept me going.

Once loaded on the truck we head back to the warmth of home.

It looked like the plastic film we stretched over the windows was having an effect on the room temperature, so yippee to that.

The bad news was that Painted Farmgirl was closed due to the anticipated weather, so no sales today.

I managed to clear half the driveway before my strength gave out, (not really, but I needed an excuse to stop) and I came inside for a well earned cup of coffee.

Kelli pulled off another triumph by putting on Marketplace some drawer knobs with a chicken image on them. This is recycling at it’s best. We took them off a dresser we are renovating, and straight away had two people wanting them. This is why my wife is my hero, now the challenge is to sell a pile of wood shavings, if she can do that she will be god!

We also finished the low dresser, or blanket drawer, as we later found out.