Another Lifetime to go

8th July 2025

I had plans on my own today. I was heading down to Byron Center to pick up an Old Mac G5 that was being sold on marketplace. As I was in the area I would call in and see John, who was the wood guy who made our countertop. I wanted to get an idea of what it would cost to make the top for the kitchen island that I have been asked to make. I got down there after 4.30pm and he was not there. I tried the door to his barn, it was unlocked. I was a bit concerned because he has some valuable kit in there, and I didn’t have his phone number in my American phone. Although his place is in the wilderness, there could be some low life about who could strip the place.

Now I had time to kill, so i drove into the town to find a coffee shop, then it was back on GPS to find the place with the computer.

It was actually close to where the wood man had his shop, so easy to find.

Matt the seller was reloading the operating system having deleted it to clear any personal information. I waited for it to reload, Matt kept apologising saying that he might have loaded it on to the wrong drive. Anyway, it was agreed that he would complete the installation, including any updates and deliver it to me tomorrow.

All in all it was non day, but I did have a nice drive.

When I got back, Kelli had painted a small cabinet that will go to a lady down the road.

7th July 2025

Another Monday rolls on, food shopping and stuff, week in week out.

The news was dominated by an announcement by the FBI and the Justice department that There was no Jeffery Epstein client list, and that he committed suicide. This is driving everyone crazy because only a few weeks ago they were saying that the files were on the desk being analysed. Suddenly all the key people that Trump put in his cabinet to release all the details to the public have turned out to have lied.

This is typical of what happens over here, it’s the rich and powerful who rule America, the same ones that are on the list.

I’m actually sick to death of everything, all the good things turn out to be unresolved and quietly shelved thinking that the people are stupid, and will soon forget about it.

I shall be turning my phone off for the rest of the week, to get a bit of peace and quiet.

On a lighter note Cameron turned up this morning with chairs that Kelli had bought on Marketplace, each one was a different colour, and two different styles, I did forget that she did get these, quite a shock when I saw them.

These will replace the chairs we currently have around the dining table, the old ones will be sold, I hope. There have been many different chairs in that spot since I’ve been here, I have no doubt there will be many more to come.

6th July Sunday

After the hectic last couple of days it was refreshing to take things easy. I did a little in the garage, staining two tops, but mostly working on  the computer working out the design for the kitchen island.

I did notice that I had a few bites on my arm and legs, something had been intoxicated by my pure English blood.

We searched the garden for any fallout from last nights activity, but there was very little. 

Although it wasn’t sunny, it was still humid and unpleasant to be outside, well that was Kelli’s excuse.

We didn’t even get to Kelli’s mums for ice cream, that was a blow, I suppose we’ve seen too much of them over the past week, a change is as good as a rest.

5th July 2025

It was going to be an easy day, no furniture, but a few places to go.

Our neighbour across the street informed us that they were having a firewood display in the evening. As it was a good opportunity to watch the show, we offered to contribute in exchange to be able to sit at the end of our drive to watch proceedings.

But first there was a trip to UPS to return a cool sheet that Kelli wanted to try. Now when I say cool, I don’t mean “Cool” in the trendy sense, I mean it was supposed to keep you cool whilst you sleep.

Keeping cool is not something I need, with the AC blasting away, I struggle to keep warm.

Anyway she was not happy with it, so we had to somehow get it back into the box it was delivered in. It took a lot of effort, but eventually we managed it with the addition of straps of tape.

Then it was off to Plato’s to sell more clothes, no day out is complete without that.

While all that was being sorted we drove across the road to Not So Shabby, antique and general tat emporium, where Kelli once sold things through. This is not my cup of tea, but it was their birthday, so it was worth a visit.

Then we went to a firework store, it was called Jake’s Fireworks, and inside, guess what? It was full of fireworks. Now I thought that maybe twenty of thirty bucks would do the trick, that might have bought a box of sparklers. I was shocked at the cost of these things. We ended up spending seventy, and that was the cheapest.

When we got home a quick splash in the pool was in order. Now newly refreshed, I started work on the kitchen island design. During which I noticed that a large branch had broken off and just missed loud man’s Jeep. Kelli heard it crash to the ground, I was obviously oblivious.

I went over to examine, Dave the neighbour was already there, hands on his hips trying to work out how to deal with it. I volunteered to help, even though I don’t have a chainsaw, but the branch base was rotten to the core, with some evidence of carpenter ants crawling about.

Later I took the box of fireworks over.

As it got dark I moved two chairs to the end of our driveway, our observation point.

Once we got seated the explosions began, the force of which would make the Ayatollah quake.

We laughed when some farty ones went off, “That’s ours” we joked.

It was a good display, so many loud noises, and debris falling around, the full result will be seen in the morning.

4th July 2025

That day arrived, we were having the family over for the annual celebration. I had the honour of being the cook, which was ironic, that a British person was cooking for Americans.

I had cut all the back lawns, the grass is pretty bad, so much of it is scorched beyond recognition, but I cut it anyway.

I unwrapped the grill, the first time since last year. I gave everything a good clean, and decided to start it using scraps of wood that I have in abundance. I didn’t want a repeat of last years fiasco where I ran out of charcoal before completing the grilling. I had a big bag, but using the wood scraps ensured I would not run out.

Fifteen minutes before the official start I started the kindling alight. 

All that was doing a good job, flames were flickering, I then decided to spread some charcoal over the burning wood. I carefully held the charcoal bag and shook a few chunks over the flames. As I set the bag down, I noticed that was on fire, now I was in a predicament, should I cook the burgers on the grill or the now burning bag. I was running around in circles trying to find something to extinguish the flames. 

Thankfully the hose was close by, I grabbed that hoping that the water was still turned on, yes it was. I fired a jet into the bag, the flames were soaked, I could breath again.

With all the dry grass on my lawn, I could have easily started the great fire of Holland, a great excuse for America to hate the British even more.

After that debacle, I got down to the serious business of tuning meat into blackened slabs of carbon.

Actually I didn’t do a bad job, everything was edible, although after several bottles of Dutch beer, I couldn’t  care less.

I’m always the last to eat, I had my two brads and a small burger to devour.

After the last of our guests left, I had the washing up to do, the young children that came never eat everything, most of the food is left on the plate, I should cook it, and throw it straight into the bin, and cut out the middle man.

Both Kelli and myself were exhausted, entertaining is such hard work, for me, fighting fires didn’t help. But now it’s over for another year, we are sitting hearing the fireworks exploding outside, Kelli is not ready to go to the organised displays yet, but she is no longer disturbed by them now, so another step in the right direction.

3rd July 2025

Another good start for the day, we sold our latest piece, and we had a new buyer for the two matching dresser that caused us grief yesterday.

In between all this activity we had a visit from a potential client who wanted a kitchen island built using an old door that she had acquired. 

She had it in the back of the truck, it had partially stripped, but a lot of chippy paint still remained. Personally I don’t like old paint, I would prefer to strip the wood completely and start again. The budget she had was pretty reasonable, and we seemed to get on well.

Now I need to put together a few proposals, and get a rough quote together.

We unloaded the door, and talked through some ideas, this could be a fun job, and I’m looking forward to getting started.

Later, after she had gone I did a lead paint check, all the different layers proved positive for lead, Kelli sent her a note informing her of this result, and suggesting that all the paint should be stripped off, and an alternative finish be applied.

We had planned to meet up with Hem, a young student and friend of Cameron, who was working on an assignment from the university of Bath, would you believe it?

He was a bright lad who had ambitions to be an aeronautical engineer. 

I met up with him when I was in the UK prior to Covid, so I was excited to see him again.

He had planned a reunion at the New Holland pub, for 5.30pm. 

We got there early to have dinner first, and waited around to see if he arrived. After half an hour Kelli tried to contact him, eventually getting him on messenger. He was running late, we couldn’t stay much later as we had someone coming to collect the two dressers.

We had to reschedule for Saturday, talk about a piss up in a brewery.

2nd July 2025

There is a lot of things wrong with the world at the moment. I feel most of the time we are being played, and most of us are too blind to see it. 

Alternatively, we are happy to go along with things if it doesn’t affect us.

We know that food prices won’t go back down, why should they? Suppliers  know that we will adjust, and keep paying the price. We know the price of petrol won’t go down, governments want to force their green agenda on the people, and keeping petrol prices up will achieve that.

The prices of petrol changes daily over here, why? What regulates that? Is there a cartel controlling the prices? No one can explain that. “ Oh, oil is a commodity and that changes daily” is one of the answers, but that doesn’t account for the thousands of gallons that are sitting in the underground tanks at every forecourt.

I will continue to ask the question.

People were made to feel guilty about not taking the Covid shot, I refused because I didn’t want an untested substance injected into my body, but the fear pressure was great, and at times I nearly fell for it.

Carbon credits, what a fantastic money making con that is, and people fall for it. There is no proof that trees are being planted as a result. Carbon has to be present in the ground so that things grow.

People like Bill Gates, the deplorable so called entrepreneur, can take a private jet to Africa to lecture them on climate change. 

I think people can’t be bothered to do research, to understand what is going on, but everyone needs to question everything, don’t believe what politicians say, they have agendas that don’t take us into account at all.

In America, the capitalist heaven, the American dream, that’s a load of crap, capitalism only works if you have money, most don’t.

“ You’ve got to get a good education, you need a degree” then you spend the next forty years paying for it.

There is no way I can make any sort of dent in the system, we continue to do what we do.

I had the stool collected tonight, the guy was delighted with it, and handed me cash in an envelope, I got what I asked for, nothing extra was added, that’s okay. In my little world, I get satisfaction from others being delighted with what we do, just a very small fish in a very large bowl.

1st July 2025

Something happened today that has not occurred before, we had two rejections to our furniture.

What we posted yesterday got a reasonable response, and one said they definitely wanted and was prepared to offer us more than we were asking because she had been looking for a pair like we had for a long time. 

A time was agreed, and on the dot the lady arrived with her husband. He immediately put the tailgate down on their truck, a good sign.

The lady however was not so positive, she opened all the drawers, muttering about the floors not being solid wood.

I think she wanted better quality pieces, but what did she expect for the price, a bloody Chippendale?

So she apologised and the husband hitched up the tailgate and headed off.

Kelli was straight on the phone to the next one in line.

About an hour later another couple turned up.

They were all about the “sniff” test. Apparently they had a daughter who was allergic to everything. So watched as the two pulled out all the drawers sniffing them and muttering to each other. Finally they announced that they would pass, they didn’t want to risk making their daughter sick.

After they left, I took a drawer and did the same experiment, there was a hint of something, maybe a trace of laundry soap, but nothing offensive. 

Most of the dressers we have found have cedar drawers, and cedar had a strong scent, so that wouldn’t have been acceptable either.

So at the end of the day we were back to square one, so the dressers were reposted.

30th June 2025

The list of places we had on our list was vast, okay a slight exaggeration, they were our normal places, UPS store to return Amazon stuff, Plato’s to sell more clothes, and added into that was a trip to Zeeland to collect two matching dressers that we could hopefully flip.

GPS led us to a mobile home site, these are not the best places for quality furniture, so I was a little apprehensive.

A big guy opened the door, the pieces were inside stacked on top of each other, just like the picture on Marketplace. The moment I entered the place there was a smell. It is a smell of animals. What I thought was a pattern carpet was in fact stains from something that probably added to the stench. I could not get those pieces out fast enough, dousing our hands with cleaning gel. 

We headed back to Holland so that Kelli could get whatever money Plato’s would pay for the clothing they kept.

We still had to do our shopping, thankfully it was painless, and we also found another plant to save.

For lunch we decided, just for a change we would get a pizza. I haven’t had one for a couple of years, so my taste buds were dripping.

Whilst that was being made we took our shopping back home, and I returned later to collect.

I don’t know, I think the best I’ve had have been in Italy, this one was a bit gummy, even though it was a thin crust. I had the feeling that a slice would get stuck in my throat and I would choke to death, not something I like to think about.

Kelli was busy giving the dressers a good clean, ready for some pictures to be taken.

One had a missing back panel, so I have to make one of those tomorrow.

29th June 2025

It was a relief to do nothing, the temperature was oppressive, not that I was complaining but having air conditioning was the best to be in.

We did have to go out and get Kelli’s mum a birthday present as it was her and Cameron’s birthday. Whilst we we out, Kelli had arranged to go and look at a buffet that was free on Marketplace. This was on the north side, and it wasn’t a bad piece, but bloody heavy.

I wasn’t sure we even had the space to store it, yet alone the energy to do much with it.

There were scratches on the legs and lower shelf, cause by a small dog, but that stopped us just cleaning and flipping the piece.

So we left it, although we added, if they couldn’t give it to anyone else we would take it, but not until the end of the week, that would give us time to finish a couple of pieces to make space for it.

The plants at Menards were a bit sad, but Kelli found a couple that looked okay. He mother hasn’t got a good track record of keeping plants alive, most want to die the moment they enter her home due to an abundance of negativity.

I sometimes feel that myself, but my instinct to survive overcomes that.

The party itself went well, I told them the story of Robert the plant, which went down particularly well and lifted the mood a bit, and the cake and ice cream was enjoyable.

We returned home and Kelli scraped together dinner from any fragments that’s left in the fridge, she very good at it, thank goodness it’s food day tomorrow.