Another Lifetime to go

21st July 2018

We did the rounds of the two Goodwill this morning. I am surprised at myself, as I never thought in a thousand years I would voluntarily go into these places. However it is becoming the norm, and less traumatic for me. Kelli can always find something, whether it is things for the wedding, or items to sell on. The principal idea behind Goodwill is interesting, as it is a charity foundation to give employment and training opportunities to those who may have barriers to finding a conventional job. It is a non-profit organisation that raises money (mostly as a result of Kelli) though the hundreds of thrift stores around the country.

We met some friends for lunch at the Brick Lane Pizza, in Grand Rapids, a cool place that serves a good vegan and vegetarian menu.

On the way back we stopped at Goodwill again, this time to let Kelli use the facilities. Having a quick look round we found a five foot long bench that weighed a ton. We struggled it into the truck, and took it home. This should be another quick transformation.

20th July 2018

The Japanese are in town! Dressed in their customary bright coloured raincoats the ladies were sipping their coffee talking non-stop.

They were passing round these old fashion picture devices called cameras, I guess some parts of Japan never change with the times.

It is fun to be a part of this colourful world.

Even in this small resort town the English, and Japanese co-exist together with the locals. Well our money is always welcome.

I had another restless night, my thoughts dominated by stairwells, supporting walls and suspending floors. I thought that building a scale model would channel my thoughts better than my drawings would, but it has exposed me to much more detail, and many more questions.

I completed the sofa table frame, I discovered that I didn’t have clamp large enough to cover the five foot span, so I had to improvise, not ideal.

19th July 2018

Kelli continued to clear crap from the garage, lots of stuff that didn’t sell from her booths had been stored, gathering dust. It was time to put it on the side of the road, and wait for the vultures to descend and pick though the stuff. This was aided by a note on Craig’s list offering them for free.

As I was working on my table frame project, cars kept stopping, and people would rummage though the pile, squirrelling items into their car, and then disappearing. Within a short time the pile had reduced. However one item had survived, resisting all the people that had taste, and not been attracted to the ones with none. There had been a lamp at Hudsonville for ages. It started life providing light for the booth, moved around within the limits of the cable length. It became like an unwanted gift that you could not throw away. It became as familiar as the floor tiles, but it’s time had run out.

It was moved into the garage, on to the table where my chop saw sits. I would see it every time I made a cut, gradually getting covered in sawdust, it stood defiant.

Eventually, as part of the clear-out, it could not avoid the hand of Kelli.

It was added to the pile of things, awaiting a new owner, and a new home.

We hoped it would be gone by the morning.

I completed the first part of the model for the treehouse. I discussed the basic ideas with George, over a couple of glasses of wine and gleaned some of his experience that will help with the next stage of the design. I will need to get a good stock of chardonnay.

18th July 2018

We loaded up the truck with rubbish to take to the local recycling centre. Kelli had contacted the council and obtained permission to take up to a thousand pounds of crap at a time.

These centres are not as well used as they are in the U.K. The term “tip” seemed appropriate as it looked more like a bomb site. We drove up to the office where the truck was weighed. I handed the guy the permit, and asked if we should separate the metals, woods and plastics, ” Nope, just dump everything in the yellow bins”.

This was such an inefficient method that it surprised me.

There wasn’t much evidence of people doing anything, the lack of activity made us think if we had come to the right place.

We drove round to the row of yellow bins, and proceeded to dump our stuff, contributing to the miss-match assortment of Astro turf, shopping trolleys, and Venetian blinds. Our feeble collection of wood off-cuts, old fans and plastic boxes were soon all swallowed up inside the bins. I did not want to lose the wood bits, preferring to burn them in our little outdoor stove, but there is little need to do it in summer, and any smoke would arouse the attention of the local fire department who would think that there was a forest fire, and douse the neighbourhood with a thousand gallons of water.

Watching those little bits of wood disappear down the cracks of the yellow bin made me sad, and yes, I bet I would need some of those pieces for something or other.

17th July 2018

I had to work on the sofa table, the leg frames were ready to glue up.

Kelli and I visited the caterer for our wedding. We had chosen Perredies to supply the food, there were questions we had, therefore a face to face meeting was the best way to answer them.

There was so much talk about food, it was all I could think about.

Luckily we did get a sample of one of the salads to taste.

At the end the menus was agreed, and another item ticked off the list.

In the evenings when we chill out, watching yet another episode of Star Trek (I don’t know how many seasons with Patrick “bloody” Stewart there are, but I am starting to take on a Scottish accent). Kelli, being capable of doing more than one thing at a time, flits though Pinterest looking at furniture, room settings, and food. It is the food that drives me to distraction. It is even more interesting than listening to a miserable Klingon, or a boring android. My tummy rumbles as the images flick past my eyes, and we dive down another wormhole.

I, in return look at videos showing concrete footings and roof trusses. Sometimes we are so absorbed in our different divergent we miss old Patrick’s catchphrase, “Engage”

Other times I succumb to sleep in a desperate attempt to keep my sanity.

16th July 2018

The heat hit me as I opened the front door. The humidity was going to be high today. Humidity, I’m usually only reminded of that when I’m in the US. Like everything here, heat is subdivided into dry or wet. My mother used to use the term “close” when it was thundery, but apart from that hot, was hot.

Kelli didn’t sleep too well because of the heat, I on the other hand can sleep anywhere, the last year at HM taught me how to do that.

Waiting in line for my coffee, there was a guy with really thick nose hair . He would need a scythe to hack through that clump. I don’t think Ronson make anything that could tackle growth that thick. At first I wasn’t sure what it was, the colour of his beard was different, so I thought it was a nose ring or some kind of decoration. I looked closer, no, it was growing.

This is a phenomenon usually experienced by us older gentlemen who sprout hair everywhere but their heads, however that is what grooming is all about. This might be seen, to my one reader, as a little tasteless , but if he has to stand a few inches from me I can’t help but observe. The only other case I can remember was whilst I was in India, where this guys nose hair rustled when he breathed.

In the afternoon we picked up rolls of woven polypropylene, this is used to cover the outside of new builds, and what we will need for the treehouse. I saw it for sale on Marketplace, and although it had been used to protect a concrete slab, it was in good condition. Now I just need to clear some space in the garage to store it.

15th July 2018

“Have to got ten dollars?” Kelli inquired

“Yes thank you” I responded

“Smart ass” she answered, ” I’ve just seen something on Marketplace that I can sell, with nothing to do to it” she showed me a picture of a piece with three drawers and nine pigeon hole compartments. She grabbed my ten dollars, and we both got into the car. The place was close, about a ten minute drive. It was an area that I was unfamiliar with, so we drove with the doors locked.

We pulled into a driveway that was more like a car park, the next house had two caravans and four cars parked on the grass. A lady appeared carrying what I thought was a small shelf, but it turned out to be the item Kelli was paying the cash for. From the original picture I thought it was much bigger, and that is why Kelli needed me to come along and lift it into the truck.

14th July Saturday

The day was cooler in Saugatuck, there had been rain, and there was a steady flow of people through the Book shop. A small leak in the roof caused a “plop! plop!” Into a plastic bucket.

I was eager to get back home to finish sanding the drawer fronts, and get the dresser ready to go on Facebook. I also had the sofa table frame to finish.

My visits to Uncommon Grounds have become a regular excursion, and somewhere I can view the town from the comfort of an armchair.

Kelli was making a list of things for the wedding that has to be paid for, but we have been searching for a new caterer. We had contacted two, but never received a quote, this is a little disappointing as we wanted to support local businesses, so the search is ongoing.

I have been making lists of jobs I have to do before I go back to the UK. Fixing the Dyson, finishing the back panel to the monolith, and to clear space in the garage for storing materials for the building project code named “Treehouse”

Trying to stop Kelli looking at furniture and fittings is like holding back a rampaging bull. I am still making drawings and taking measurements, trying to establish floor and roof heights, something that is not easy to do without digital equipment, I feel another trip to Lowes is inevitable.

Dinner tonight was one of the best vegan Cesar Salad I have ever tasted. Kelli found this recipe, and made the dressing and crouton. It was so good I could have easily eaten my own body weight in it.

13th July 2018

“Food!” Is the only word that Kelli’s two dogs would ever utter. There lives are tuned to searching out any morsel they can. It is a running theme between us, and more for fun I keep my theory running. Dhama is the black and white older female, she is cool, and is the best trained. Phoebe is the young mad red female who enjoys chewing at my hand at any opportunity.

Dhama tolerates Phoebe pretty well, they do have their moments, but the power of the elder prevails. Both share the sunny spot at the bottom of the bed where the early morning sun hits, but with the smallest crumb hitting the kitchen floor, they both move like whippets to investigate.

I have my pet names for both of them, so Drama and Pubes have to tolerate this juvenile behaviour, but do this in their pure innocence.

Letting them into the yard for their morning toilet is met with doggy enthusiasm, in fact they have learned to play “the game” because when they come back into the house they go straight for the treat jar. This is repeated many times during the day, or whenever they want a treat.

Having dogs around has been apart of Kelli’s life even before we got together. There are many graves of the pets she kept in different places in Holland.

Just round the corner there lays Maisy, the miniature schnauzer she was the only dog I know who could puke and shit at the same time.

She hated everything, and everyone except Kelli and her family, but is remembered often for her erratic behaviour, and attitude.

It is pleasant taking them for a walk in the evening. You can appreciate the calmness, unless they spot another dog, or ducks, or anything remotely human, then they both set each other off. The other noticeable event comes with anticipating where Phoebe will dump. It is usually on a nice patch of someone’s lawn, but Kelli is always prepared, and has a carrier bag at the ready, which then has to be carried for the rest of the walk.

12th July Thursday

I haven’t cut any mortise and tenon joints for quite a long time. Now there is a good reason for this, they are usually crap. My woodwork teacher used to shout ” Butt, what the hell did you use to cut these joints? Your knob?!” So naturally I avoided this area of carpentry for a while. My dovetails were good, so good they gave me an “A” in my GCSE, but the mortise and tenon always eluded me.

So why did I decide to use them on the commissioned sofa table? Probably because I couldn’t use dovetails, and because I thought that I have come all this way in life, I should learn how to cut the perfect joint, and not the pathetic excuse I was known for.

I tried to remember which should I cut first, the mortise or the tenon? So a quick visit to YouTube set me straight, but also raised the expectations. These were examples of perfection, the sound of a sharp blade slicing through the wood fibres was so exciting, I almost forgot about the job I was supposed to do. So out came the oil stone. I remembered my woodwork teacher shouting “Butt, what did you sharpen these chisels with, your knob?!”

Marking out the mortises was simple, I learned that little knocks with the mallet is better than big swings. Slowly the floor became covered with wood chips as I patiently worked on through the day. The first tenon was ready, I had remembered to cut on the waste side, and amazing it fitted snugly and relatively square, I reduced the length of the tenon by six millimetres and the joint was complete, only another ten to go, but I think my woodwork teacher would have be pleased.