Another Lifetime to go

17th November 2025

Chem trails? What are they for? I don’t get it.

There are people that are behind this, what is the purpose, where is the financial gain, or are they just sick bastards.

There are people flying these aircraft, what kind of low life can do this? They then go to their homes kiss their wives and hug their children.

“ What did you do today daddy?”

“Well, I flew around the sky spraying chemicals that would land on people and make them sick”

Is there someone trying to play god? Are all the governments in on this? 

Maybe America is leading the way of pumping shit in the sky, but I think Europe isn’t far behind.

What is happening to us? I believe that the old and the sick are targets because we are a drain on the country. The countries would have more money to spend on other things if it wasn’t for the sick and the old.

Covid was a good start, kill off the weak first, then get everyone vaccinated with a poison that will shorted their lives, it’s all coming out.

Everything we are told has been lies.

I read that in 1933 there were a total of thirteen million Jews living in Europe, in 1945 there were still thirteen million, so where were the six million murdered in the camps?

I tell you, turn over another stone and there is another story waiting to blow your mind.

There was a James Bond film where the villain was head of a media empire, and they manufactured the news, that’s what happening today.

Wow you can tell that nothing much happened today, apart from shopping.

I have a different view on things these days, I’ve always been sceptical about most things, but I have taken it to a new level.

The bible, to me was a book of stories, but now I see that it was created as a document of control.

We are reading The Story of Enoch, one of the books not included in the bible, and there is some crazy shit going on in that.

I’m back up at Henry’s tomorrow, that should tame me, and prevent me from sending me off on a rant, but if anyone can make any sense of why chemicals are being sprayed into the sky, tell me.

16th November 2025

Day 2 at Henry’s.

Boy! my joints hurt this morning, I feel like an old wooden boat creaking with the incoming tide.

It was definitely colder today, the big lake had stormy waves and the wind blowing off from it chilled the bones.

I picked up where I left off. I had my list, but that became irrelevant when Henry wanted me to concentrate on the landing, not quite sure why, but I managed to work that in with my main plan.

I managed to get all the skirting nailed and filled.

It is strange, when the pieces are cut, they slide together perfectly, but the moment I fix them, a gap appears, it’s like I’m knocking the side of the building apart. 

But that was a move forward, I will probably give my trip to John the wood’s a miss for this week, just to keep the momentum going, it is definitely going to be a six day or possibly seven to get everything finished.

15th November 2025

It was day one at Henry’s, there were reservations about doing the job in the first place, because I am not quick when it comes to doing skirting boards or door trim. I look at it as a piece of furniture, and that deserves care, and attention to detail.

So with my tools, I headed off towards West Olive. The drive was through some of the most beautiful  golden maple trees that the wind has not stripped. It was a thirty minute drive, ending up a narrow wooded lane that opened out to the view across Lake Michigan, it is a million dollar sight.

Henry had primed all the timber, but at sixteen feet the pieces were difficult to manage, but we found a way of getting them up to the first bedroom.

I was using his chop saw, that was interesting, there were teeth missing, it was out of square with the fence and not perpendicular to the bed.

Therefore my first job was to adjust those. There wasn’t much I could do with the missing teeth, so I made the best with what there was.

The oak flooring had been sanded, and looked great, but where some of the strips had been covered by a thick skirting, and a quarter round, which I personally hate, some had been cut short, and would show under the new trim.

That will have to be dealt with when I was ready to fit the new skirting.

All the walls had been re plasterboarded and remarkably square.

The main task was to bond a small strip on to the main board, I thought that was easier than effectively doing the job twice. This extra piece was to cover up the majority of badly trimmed oak flooring strips.

Well I didn’t finish the first room, I now think it will take two days a room, as I gave Henry a daily rate, it will mean extra cash.

He wants to get the rooms finished for thanksgiving, I’m not sure that will be possible, because the floors need to be sanded and another coat, or possible two applied, and the walls and ceiling have to be painted as well.

I will work towards getting my bit finished by the end of next week, then I will have to give my joints a good rest.

As I left, the sun was floating on the lake, it was amazing sight.

14th November 2025

Kelli had a doctors appointment in their new premises. No longer do we have to drive to Zeeland because the new place is on the North side of Holland.

It certainly is a smart building with lots of windows, natural light floods in helping with the atmosphere of natural healing. I thought it was a good move, and a lot more convenient.

Of course the loser in this deal is the Goodwill in Zeeland, a place where we have found a number of good pieces of furniture.

The examination went well, Kelli has more muscle resistance which could mean a reduction in the number of supplements she has to take.

 Once that was over we headed towards the UPS  shop for more returns. 

The last time we went there I noticed an upholstery shop, that was new, I wanted to see if they could make the cushions for my prototype chair. I took in some renders to show the form, the software did not allow me to show the cushions in the style i wanted, that was part of the discussion.

The guy seemed excited to do something different, I guess, a bit like us, always working on an established piece rather than something new.

I was more interested in whether he was up for the challenge, but I came away feeling that he could, and as we were always returning Amazon stuff we could see how he was doing.

Now I have to check out the styles of cushions and colours of the fabrics, watch out Pinterest I’m coming for you.

13th November 2025

We took pictures of the latest dresser, and unloaded the monster that was still in the truck.

In the dark we didn’t see what the condition was, but in the cold light of day we could.

There was a bit of damage on one side and the top was a little worn, so a refinish top is on the list.

It was a sunny day, nice to work outside again.

I wanted to make an extra shelf for the spice rack. Kelli had bought some glass jars at Goodwill, but they were fatter than the spice containers from the stores, so she ran out of room.

I had some strips of maple lying around that was perfect. That all went together well, but I was unable to fit it without taking the complete rack out  because it was such a good fit.

Several weeks ago we sold a pair of headboards to a couple for the daughter’s redecorated room, but for some reason the paint remained a bit sticky. We offered to take them and give them a coat of clear lacquer, so they arrived today.

That has happed in the past, I can’t remember what paint manufacturer it was, but we got rid of that particular tin.

12th November 2025

Well the trimming Job that was supposed to start today has been delayed. Henry called to say they were behind schedule, with the sanding of the floors.  I suspected he was being a little ambitious to get that done and sealed before I took over to do my part.

Anyway it gave me time to do stuff outside.

I cleared all the leaves that had fallen on the driveway, hopefully this will stop them from blowing into the garage.

I have been forbidden to rake the leaves on the front lawn in case I disturb the bugs and wildlife that have taken refuge in the ground. To me it just looks so untidy, I’m sure there is a compromise somewhere.

I glued up some offcuts that I brought back yesterday to make the legs for my chair.

Then I started to take the old fence down, that was hard, rusty nails and brittle wood made a simple job difficult.

It’s so noticeable how the temperature drops in the evening, event just taking the dogs for a walk requires scarves and gloves, just wait until the winter comes.

11th November 2025

It was back down to John the wood’s barn to do a bit more to the chair.

He looked quite smart in his new winter coat, the car was nice and warm, the day was cold and windy.

We arrived at the barn, John even knew which key opened the door. Usually it’s a ritual of clanking keys until he found the correct one.

Inside he had more timber laid out for the lectern he had to make before Thanksgiving. 

He told me they had to make it double skinned with a metal sheet in between to make it bullet proof. These American churches are not safe places to be. 

I started by giving the back a good sanding, then there was a rough assembly to check that everything fitted correctly. Then we started on the bottom frame. We found some decent offcuts that would do the job, so I ran them through the saw. John disappeared, he does that sometimes, I then rough cut them to thickness, and awaited John’s return to get the pieces thicknessed to size. For some reason he picked them up and carried them to a different part of the barn with me chasing after him telling him what had to be done. In the end I carried them back to where the thickness planer was.

So another job out of the way we started on the assembly of the chair structure. I decided to use pocket screws to hold the side to the back. I started drilling them, John actually reminded me that not all the holes had to be drilled on the side panels, I looked at him in amazement, he had stopped me making a grave mistake. 

I rewarded him with a cup of hot coffee that I had brought down with me.

We put on clamps to make sure all the parts fitted properly before I screwed it all together. 

Finally we assembled the frame, and that was a good days progress, now it was time to take John back home.

I loaded the car with some off cuts so that I could make the legs, and whilst I did that John was busy trying to put on his new coat. For some reason he couldn’t work out the zips, so when he got to the truck he only had half of it on, rather than trying to work it out, he sat all the way back home with it wrapping around his waist.

There is never a dull moment with him.

On the way back I had to stop in to Nature’s Market to pick up a supplement for Dharma, our oldest dog. She has developed a hacking cough, she sometimes sounds like an old smoker.

Once I got back home we had to leave immediately to collect a free dresser, you see, everything stops for free.

We found the house, the outside was decorated with Halloween figures and lights, the dresser was in a porch at the end of a stone pathway.

This would be challenging.

First we removed the drawers then gingerly we carried this large piece down the path. I was going backwards, if I fell the thing would fall on top of me and probably break my legs. With that in mind I went very slowly. Poor Kelli could not see any of the path and had to rely heavily on the feel of the path.

Somehow we got it down and into the truck, our days work done we headed home.

10th November 2025

I had arranged to meet Henry at a timber merchants in Holland, he wanted me to look around and meet the guy who would be milling all his timber. I’m not sure why this was important because he was late and I was waiting around trying not to look like a homeless person.

Apparently he was trying to rent a drum sander to do all the floors, but he had forgotten to renew his drivers license so they wouldn’t rent it to him until he was able to prove who he was.

I didn’t ask any more questions, these old folk really bring the standard down. So in essence, I rushed my breakfast down to drive to a timber merchant to do nothing at all, more fool me.

So moving on, it was food shopping day. I was relieved to find that I could now get cash out of the ATM, much to Kelli’s relief.

Snow was starting to fall as we left Natures Market, something about lake effect snow, I didn’t care what they called it, it snow and it was bloody cold. 

I think every year my tolerance level for cold goes down. The first year was , okay it’s cold. 

The second year, it’s certainly quite cold.

Year three and so on, I’m bloody freezing, how long till spring?

So we did all that, even buying the turkey for thanksgiving.

The snow was falling quite heavy although not really settling, once we got home we had to prepare the dresser posted Saturday to be collected. We had the usual collection of time wasters, but eventually someone came through.

Good news was that the snow was not expected to hang around, probably gone in a day or two, but it sets the prelude to a hard winter, brrr I can’t wait.

9th November 2025

Today we hosted Larry’s remembrance party, as today would have been his birthday. 

We laid on some snacks and drink and awaited the arrival of some of his friends.

At 2.00pm trucks started to pull up outside. We originally planned to hold it outside, but because snow was expected, we changed it. We shouldn’t have bothered because most of his friends milled around outside, and they brought their own beer.

I decided to bring round the fire pit, so at least they didn’t freeze to death, and, I had a lot of off cuts to burn.

The fire roared away, and heat was welcomed.

I talked to all of Larry’s old buddies, to him he was known as “Turk” something to do with turkeys where he worked. In his hay day we was a wild one, once firing a machine gun into the forest. I told the story of him working on our truck, he was laying underneath with a cigarette burning close any volatile substances, coughing and spluttering as he did. I made a hasty retreat expecting the truck to be blasted into the next street.

As the stories were shared the weed came out, the laughter grew louder, and the beer flowed more freely, it was great to meet his buddies.

His daughter was there, she has the task of selling the property, quite a responsibility for someone so young, but it will help her financially to build a new life.

It was two hours of fun, everyone enjoyed themselves, and to gather the group together meant a lot to them.

Good old Larry’s spirit must have smiled on us, but I bet he was dying for a joint.

8th November 2025

I had the most emotional video call with my friend Martin. The first words he said to me was “I’m dying mate” he looked like a defeated man slumped in his chair, his face twitching with pain.

This was not the Martin I knew, even in his worst moments he was all about fighting. What I saw on the screen was a shadow of his former self, and I was shocked.

He told me how the rest of his days would play out, he would lose all control being fed by tubes and in constant need of care, this he adamantly refused to accept. He talked about alternatives,  if his spiritual beliefs would allow him to choose.

Always a difficult question, but quality of life is important, and to a person travelling down a dark tunnel towards the light with no hope of a return, they should be allowed to make that choice. 

We talked for an hour, at times his voice cracked with emotion, he is not afraid, he worries about his wife Liz, but I reassured him that she is a strong person, she will be okay.

He had been close to death before, he used to talk about the white room, where someone would ask if he wanted to stay or return, that gives him calmness, he will go there again.

We both laughed at the story of the twenty foot bungee that he inadvertently left attached to his truck when we went to a fish and chip shop.

As we stopped in the car park and saw the bungee he said in a loud voice “ Oh no what’s happened to the dog” that entertained a few of the customers.

We both cried at the inevitable time we would have to say goodbye to each other. I told him that he was inspirational to me, all the things he had tackled despite his handicap. He built his house from a ruin, single handedly, there was nothing he couldn’t do.

And so as his voice weakened, and the pain was intolerable we ended our conversation, this is not the end, we will talk again.

I sat quiet for a moment, my red eyes stinging, the rest of the day beckoned.

I had to visit Henry to agree the materials he needed for next week, so I could start the trim out. I like Henry, being Spanish, and with a sense of humour, his misunderstanding of what I’m saying makes us both laugh.

I’m looking forward to doing the work.

The other crisis of the day was I was unable to draw out any cash from the machines, all my transactions were cancelled.

This was a shock, I had noticed that even trying to buy on Amazon was not possible, panic was setting in.

I was prepared to shout at my bank for maybe forgetting to tell me about any changes to the banking relationship between the UK and US.

However, everything was explained when I looked at my UK phone. They had contacted me by text to query some transactions that I needed to verify, and temporarily blocked my card.

Phew! That was a relief.

We did finish a dresser, a quick clean and polish and out.