Another Lifetime to go

3rd June 2019

Move out, clean up day 10

Kelli had to start her part time job at the book store in Saugatuck. This had been delayed a month so that we could decorate the new house. This was a welcomed change to our routine, and a chance to read some books and visit my favourite coffee shop.

As soon as we got back, with this being the last day of our tenancy of the old place there was the last minute check that everything was gone, and the place was clean.

Walking through with the landlord, we realised how small the old house looked, it had room for everything we needed, but it was as if the space was sucked out with the furniture.

I cannot wait to get started on new furniture projects, but first I have to sort out the garage. There are things that have to be got rid of, but that’s Kelli’s expertises. I have to find homes for all the tools and the boxes of screws.

2nd June 2019

Move out, clean up day 9

I fitted the ceiling light that Kelli had found on Marketplace last night. It meant an early run to Menards car park to rendezvous with the seller. That was really the last job that needed to be done, apart from some small holes that needed filling.

Outside, there was a constant flow of cars stopping to look at the free stuff still at the side of the road. These people will travel miles for something for nothing, much of it worth less than the fuel they used to get here.

The last of my project pieces went during the late afternoon whilst I was cutting the grass. This was the leg frame for a mid-century cabinet I had been planning. I had hoped that it would have been left, giving me the incentive to finish it, but hey-ho it’s gone now.

1st June 2019

Move out, clean up day 8

We had purchased enough toxic chemicals to make Chernobyl look safe as part of the final big clean.

Kelli placed more things by the side of the road that attracted attention, including a project piece that I started two or three years ago. I thought that would never go, and was expecting to cut it up for firewood. I was really surprised when someone loaded it up, and took it away.

I swept up the basement for the last time, moving out the last of the rubbish.

Kelli has coated the cooker in some lethal liquid whilst I tackled the bathroom. It was clean, clean and scrub, gradually we made progress and the place was looking presentable. The garage was as empty as I have ever seen it, mainly because we’ve moved it all over to our new place, on the understanding that it gets sorted out and not stored indefinitely.

We worked our way to the front door cleaning as we went, finally closing the door for the day.

Tomorrow there is just a final touch, and a ceiling light to add in Greer’s old room, then that will be it, 1326 South Shore Drive will be history and 593 Central Bay the new home.

It will be interesting to watch the owners redecorate, and new tenants moving in.

31st May 2019

Move out, clean up day 7

I never, ever, want to repeat this day ever again. We eventually got the piano out of the basement, it was not easy, and took most of our combined strength to do it. I was still determined to separate the wooden frame from the cast iron chassis, but in the end I had to admit defeat, and after an attempt to lift it step by step failed despair set in. I had to lighten the structure, and do it with the tools I had available. At one point I snapped at Kelli for allowing the piano in the first place, but I immediately regretted it, and apologised. This was not helping, but I was frustrated. Kelli went to see if there were people in the neighbourhood who could help, but they must have hid themselves away, so no help came over the hill.

My frustration turned to anger as I attacked it with a crowbar at the corner were I had removed screws, it lifted, I then kicked at the timber until the joint gave way. This was that glimmer of hope, the light at the end of the tunnel that wasn’t a train approaching. Attacking the other side yielded the same result. I now have three sides wood free, now we were getting somewhere. The plan was now set, we would slide the frame up the stairs on the last piece of wood that was attached. Kelli was at the front, with a rope tied around her waist, she would pull as I pushed. It took a couple of attempts to get it up the first section of the stairs. Poor Kelli was straining so hard her teeth gritted together looking not unlike the piano keys on the bloody instrument we were trying to move. With extraordinary effort, pulling every ounce of strength we had we got it to the top of the stairs.

Now we had to get it down some stairs to the garage. That proved relatively easy, had it got out of control it would have pushed me through the garage wall, with Kelli not far behind.

Using the last of whatever muscle power we had we slid it into back of the truck. It creaked and sank a bit, this was only part of the crap we had to take. We borrowed Cameron’s vehicle as it was larger, but we also filled up the Toyota, and drove in convoy to the dump.

There was a feeling of elation as we slid the piano chassis into the dumpster. These were the last musical sounds it made as it hit the floor, a sad end to it’s life, but it fought all the way and almost beat me.

Kelli was an amazing power house, without her it wouldn’t have happened. What was appropriate is her favourite album is “ In search of the lost chord” by the Moody Blues, well I think we bloody found it.

30th May 2019

Move out, clean up day 6

I added the skirting to the entry way to allow Kelli to bring her glass door cabinet that holds all her winter hats and gloves. It is the last piece of furniture to be given a place, and it looks good there.

I started on the dismantling of the piano. I knew it wasn’t going to be easy, but I tried to approach it as a reverse assembly project.

I did pretty well up to the point of trying to separate the big steel casting from the wooden frame. Some of the fixing screws were beneath the strings, meaning the strings were added last.

I had reached a dead end, the only option left was to be brutal and remove as much casing as I could.

I ended the day with just the big heavy bastard frame to move upstairs tomorrow.

Kelli did her magic again and got rid of more unwanted shit, including some old dolls and toys. They disappeared into the back of a truck and was gone. One lady was even going through tins of old paint we had stacked up ready to dispose of.

I even managed to get rid of the nine sheets of OSB that I had bought last year, so even space in our new garage is freeing up.

29th May 2019

Move out, clean up day 5

I ventured into the shed to clear all the stuff that had been stored there.

It was an jungle of bicycle parts, old toys, and a stack of storage boxes all belonging to Cameron. Everything was covered in old walnut shells, the floor was inches thick in them. I laid everything out on the grass whilst I swept up the floor of the shed.

Kelli came out and had a fit. “You can’t leave that stuff there, we’ll get into trouble with the city”

“Well that was the point of clearing out the shed” I retorted.

Earlier, on our first donation run to Goodwill, yes imagine, we were actually taking thing to the place instead of carrying it away.

We stopped off at City Hall to pick up a couple vouchers allowing us to take crap to the city rubbish tip.

“ I have an idea” Kelli announced, “we will put the bike stuff on Marketplace and take the rest of the boxes to the dump” So that is exactly what we did.

The bike stuff disappeared into a truck shortly after it was posted, now if we could only do that with the old TV’s.

“ You threw my old toys away” Cameron cried, when we told him, and as a consolation we said which dumpster they were in.

At the end of the day the shed had been emptied out, so mission accomplished.

Amongst Kelli’s selling triumphs of the day was finding a buyer for a pair of old windows that she found in a skip. We were busy dumping our rubbish, when she made the discovery.

One again she showed me that money can be made from anything, if you are prepared to dig deep into a large smelly skip.

28th May 2019

Move out, clean up day 4

It is cold in Holland, and the wearing of coats and hoodies is essential. The big clean-up continues. We are down to the dregs but the task of moving the piano still looms over us.

I went round filling in holes in the wall where pictures once hung.

I did more work on the floor tiles, and finished another tub of grout, but still not able to finish

Greer is still confined to her room with her sickness.

We sat around the fire, watching the dogs race around the back garden like mad animals. This is their first experience of running free. It is like having front row seats at a horse racing event, sods of grass kicked up as they pass.

27th May 2019

Move out, clean up day 3

So that we didn’t go completely mad by the endless clearing of junk, we worked on a couple of jobs in in new place. Kelli worked on re-fitting the webbing on the couch in the sunroom, whilst I laid the last of the edge tiles in the entryway.

I then felt energised to go over to the old garage and move out an old dresser I had used as a tool cupboard. The plan was to put it out at the side of the road and wait for the stampede. Well that didn’t happen, instead a girl stopped her car and I could see that she was trying to fit it on her back seat. That would never fit, so I went over to offer some help. A few measurements convinced her that wouldn’t work, so the only option was the boot. When she opened boot lid, inside it was full of bits of wood and other things she had collected at other times. I established that it would just about fit with a bit sticking out at the back. We both managed to squeeze it in, and lashed the lid down with a piece of cord.

I dragged out an old armchair from the basement hoping that it would find a new owner, but rain put paid to that for the day.

That gave me the excuse to start the grouting. Oh what fun that was, wiping on, washing off, washing off again, and still more washing. By the end of it I had “granny fingers” pale and wrinkly, and I was only able to do half the floor before the tub of grout ran out, so once again a trip to Menards is on the cards.

Tonight I had the pleasure of fixing Kelli’s tree branch in a prominent place. This piece of dead wood has been around as long as we have known each other. Every house she has occupied has had the tree fixed somewhere. Most wood has a natural lifespan eventually turning to dust, but not this one, it will last forever. I teetered on the ladder holding it up to a proposed position, when drama struck, a twig snapped off. Kelli was horrified, accusing me of doing it deliberately. “ I would have accidentally burnt the bloody thing “ would have been my response if I had the courage to say it. The nail went into the wall holding the curly willow into its position for eternity, or unless the rot that should have set in years ago finally takes hold.

26th May 2019

Move out, clean up day 3

Kelli had her list for clearing the house, and I continued to work through the crap in the garage.

Halfway through the morning Kelli had the brainwave to put stuff at the side of the road, and tell everybody about it on Facebook. When something is free in Holland its like shouting “Gold!” Cars and SUV’s came from nowhere. They blocked the road in their enthusiasm to pick something up for nothing. We couldn’t put things down fast enough, people were taking it from my hands as I was carrying it down the drive.

There were books, toys, old windows? (Yes people keep old windows here) and small items of furniture. I cleaned off the old table that I had been using as a bench, and that went almost immediately. I would look at Kelli with disbelief, and she would smile knowingly.

We certainly got rid of a lot of stuff, even a small tv, so success.

As darkness fell, fireworks exploded around us. Because it was Memorial weekend it has become common to let off loud fireworks. We were sitting by the fire watching the bats fly above. I decided that it would be a good time to burn the model I had made of her parent’s house when we were thinking of adding an extra floor. It seemed, at the time, to be the best option for having a home of our own, but in retrospect what we have now was the best thing that had happened.

The model was destroyed in a matter of minutes, but the sadness of the burning was lightened by a nice glass of red.

25th May 2019

Move out, clean up day 2

Okay I’m bored with this already.

I’m concentrating on the garage, and there is dust and sawdust everywhere. I move a box, big cloud of dust, shift a piece of furniture, big cloud of dust, it is hell on a stick.

We had a lady drive from Wyoming to collect Greer’s old bed frame. This was a massive steel four poster monstrosity.

She turned up in a SUV that was smaller than ours, and as the end frames were nearly seven feet tall by five feet wide. The only option was to tie them to her roof rack. This was a struggle, but we managed it. By the time she drove off her vehicle resembled a space ship. She did let us know the she got home safely.

My goal for the day was to move an old gun cabinet that Kelli’s dad had made. It was buried deep back in the garage, filled with junk, not being utilised very well, but it was a fine piece, and deserved to have a useful purpose in the new garage.

I didn’t want to disturb Kelli, so I decided a plan that wouldn’t entail me being severely disabled. With careful tilting and sliding I managed to get it on to a trolley and wheeled it back along the road. As it came apart in two pieces, the lower part was easier to move.

Getting it back together required the same creative action, but no injury was sustained.

A good shower washed away the filth, and then we sat outside with a fire burning all the old wood. We toasted the evening sky, and watched the glowing embers fade away.