Another Lifetime to go

7th December 2024

I think I’m going though furniture doldrums, the snow, the winds are sapping my enthusiasm.

I’m trying very hard to stay motivated. We sold the large dresser we got from Goodwill last week, which was a blessing as we did nothing except replace the drawer guide mouldings.

We have Lloyd and Nancy’s desk that is nearly finished, but we can only do one coat of paint per day because it takes so long to dry.

The same is problem is with the bureau, it takes so long.

I’ve started repairing one of the desk pedestals that I disassembled, the cold effects the adhesive and the Bondo, so that takes time. I’m sure once the desk is gone, for which we’ve already paid for, my enthusiasm might return.

I finally received a birthday card from my two young grandchildren, it had taken one month to arrive, that’a the US postal service over here, disgraceful.

There is a bit of discontent at Kelli’s mum’s house. When Matt and Brenda moved in they were supposed to help out with running the house, but that doesn’t seem to be working.

On top of that, the two puppies they have don’t get let out to do their business, instead do it on floor pads upstairs, and very rarely get let outside or taken for walks.

This had annoyed Kelli who cannot bare to see animals not trained or treated properly.

There has to be some strong words and rule making ahead.

6th December 2024

I don’t understand Americans, I know some that I do, but there are so many that have no idea about stuff.

Kelli has alway been concerned about eating good food, I have mentioned before that healthy food costs more, and that’s a sacrifice we are prepared to take.

I was watching a FDA senate hearing which is the food and drug administration. This is where members of the senate challenge officials of the FDA on matters for which the hearing has been connived, this was obesity in young children.

I have written about the additives that have been added to foods in America that are banned in most of the rest of the world.

It was proposed that warning labels should be added to foods that contain these chemicals.

As a side note it took over fourteen years to get labels added to cigarettes.

Listening to all the legal reasons why they can’t be added to food containing these additives was making my head hurt.

If there was a label added to Kelloggs corn flakes that had the same severity as cigarettes no one would buy any of that product. That in itself would send an important message to food manufacturers.

The way they were talking was that all the manufacturers would fill the courts with lawsuits for years, and all the time children would continue to eat these poisons and die early.

Surely no parent would want to feed their children poison, would they?

The food industry pump millions of dollars into political campaigns and the politicians themselves, it is a disgusting country, full of disgusting people.

5th December 2024

It is still cold, I would gauge it as bloody cold.

There is cold, very cold, bloody cold, effing cold, and where’s my testiclites. The longer I’ve been here the more I have moved up the charts. I almost cry when I enter the warm house after a long walk. Even the dogs feel the cold, we dress them up with a warm coat and hat, they look miserable and embarrassed, but they give me a good laugh.

I think I discovered very early on that my head is not shaped to take a woolly hat. Over a short period it moves up, and then sits on the top of my head.

We got a bit of painting done, getting the first coat on was a triumph, the temperature certainly doesn’t help the drying.

I did more snow blowing, it works well when there is only a couple of inches to clear, that why I keep the machine handy.

The sky was interesting this evening. Moving in from the lake was a bank of dark clouds, they looked menacing, and full of something nasty.

I have noted that there are amazing cloud formations, some look unreal, and not what I’ve seen in the UK, but I never have my phone with me to capture them.

4th December 2024

Firstly it was a trip to the post office to take some return packages, then it was to an address on eighth street for some free crap, then on to Plato’s to try to sell more of Kelli clothes she no longer wears. The wait time was thirty minutes, so while she waited, I drove to Zeeland to collect a supplement that she had run out of.

Whilst I was there I put petrol in the truck, and it was bloody cold, I couldn’t pump the petrol any faster, then back to pick up Kelli.

She was still waiting for the clothes to be sorted. There is nothing more creepy than an old man walking up and down the isles full of women’s garments, it is not where men should be.

Eventually everything they wanted was complete, not entirely to our satisfaction, there seemed a lot more clothes returned than we delivered, but it was just my imagination.

Then it was on to the UPS store to take more returns, all this and we hadn’t even done our shopping yet.

That was the next thing on our list. 

By the time we got home it was too late to do much in the garage, I did some token scraping but that was all.

I did start reading a report on the Covid Pandemic by the government sub committee.

The full report covers over five hundred pages, but it confirms what so many “conspiracy theorists” have been saying that it was a bio-engineered virus that was funded by the US and developed in Wuhan, China.

It stated that all this happened and was not a conspiracy theory.

The report names the people responsible, and defines the vaccine as nothing more than a therapeutic drug, just like many others that were discredited.

It went into great detail about the gain of function experiments and how it was funded covertly.

I will be waiting to see if the main stream media pick up the story, somehow I won’t hold my breath.

3rd December 2024

I got the snow blower out for the first time this winter. Admittedly there was only three inches, but I didn’t want it to freeze. This appliance is not really built for cutting through ice, so  clearing the white stuff was crucial.  There were even areas that were too much for the motor causing it to stall, so taking it slow stops the batteries from overheating, and those lithium cells get hot.

I managed to prime the desk and Kelli started painting the bureau. 

There was an incident that happened in the garden when Kelli was adding seed to the bird feeders. She was disturbed by a bunch of sparrows that live in our holly bush, they flew out in a panic, seconds later a hawk flew past Kelli missing her head by a few inches. There have been incidents before when hawks have grabbed a sparrow and leaving it dead on the lawn.

It’s no wonder that out little birds are so edgy and looking out for predators.

2nd December 2024

The loud Jeep was back, much to our disgust and dismay, after Dave said he was leaving, he bloody came back. I don’t know what odd arrangement they have, and I don’t want to know, but unless he gets a different exhaust fitted, we will escalate the available options we have.

A sprinkling of snow fell today, but that didn’t stop me uncovering the fire pit. This would be the first time I have used it, the inside was gleaming and ready to go.

I had three buckets of scrap wood that were overflowing and I kept tripping over them, so the had to go.

It was impressive, the fire burnt all day getting rid of a lot of wood, it got so hot out there the snow melted in an eight foot radius.

The dresser we collected yesterday was hauled out of the truck and in to the house to take pictures, it was in such good condition we didn’t want to mess with it, and just flip it.

I then spent time on the desk, gluing up some loose pieces and priming the drawer fronts. 

I would like to get it completed this week weather permitting.

1st December Sunday

I had nothing planned to do today, there was snow on the ground, it was cold and grey; nothing would tempt me out there. I had forgotten that we had a desk in the truck that I had to unload, because there was a dresser at Goodwill waiting to be collected.

The garage was a mess, there were strips of veneer that Kelli had stripped off the top of another desk that we are doing for Lloyd and Nancy. So the first job was to clean the floor and move a few things to gain some space.

I then unloaded the desk from the truck on to a trolly and pushed it in the garage.

I then set about taking the top off, that way I could then separate the two pedestals and store them, thus saving space.

Kelli was busy in the kitchen making granola bars and elderberry syrup, the house smelt fabulous.

Then it was time to collect the dresser. Fortunately they had loaded it on to a trolley making it easier to get to the truck. We had to load it ourselves as the staff at Goodwill are not allowed to help.

Then it was on to Kelli’s mum for ice cream.

We always try to take a walk with the dogs every day, they are dressed up with cardigans and hats, their sad humiliated faces peering out, it gives me something to laugh at, knowing that I look just as ridiculous. Kelli, who has a fear of slipping, had spikes on her shoes, she tell me I should fit them to my shoes, but I’m British I don’t need them, I know she is waiting for me to end up on my arse.

30th November 2024

The Dyson finally got kicked into touch, I was fed up with defending it, and agreed that we needed something more reliable. The battery life was short, and the slightest amount of dust would cause the appliance to stop, not the best thing to happen a vacuum cleaner.

We drove to Menards to see what makes they had. Looking at their stock there were many I hadn’t heard of, but he finally chose a Hoover cordless one. It may not be the best on the market, but at least if it does on the side of the box it will be an improvement.

We stopped off at Goodwill to drop off some donations, and while we were there we saw a desk that we can convert into side tables, the top was solid wood but the sides were ply that needed a bit of repair. Kelli also saw a six drawer monster that we will pick up tomorrow.

We had a small chest freezer given to us by Mike and Lesley our English friends down the road. We had considered getting one to store much of the frozen food that we currently have in the one in the kitchen. The question was where to put it. The first option was the store room off the garage, but it gets full of junk, and would get buried under things piled on top. The next choice was in the entry way. There was a bit of space next to the cupboard where the hats, gloves and scarves are kept. Yes we do have a lot of them.

With a bit of moving we placed it into position that we agreed on, so now we’re ready to store all our cold stuff ready for the winter snow storms.

29th November 2024

The first snow of the winter fell overnight, not a huge amount, just enough to provide a white covering.

We were preparing for our belated thanksgiving dinner when Kelli received a message from her mother giving doubts about joining in. Yet another kick in the jewels as we had cleaned the house from top to bottom, and set the oven going with the large turkey breast. There was some rapid messaging with Kelli’s brother, Matt, finally it was agreed that we would take all the food we were preparing, up to Mum’s house.

As everything was cooking, we saw a fire engine parked art the bottom of Larry’s driveway with all the lights flashing, this is not a good sign.

I saw two firemen enter Larry’s house, then an ambulance arrived and reversed up to the front door. After a few anxious minutes they brought Larry out and placed him on a gurney. As I have mentioned before, he is not the most healthy person, so it is likely that it was his heart or lungs.

So the put him inside and eventually drove him to hospital.

The turkey looked wonderful as it emerged from the oven, there were small potatoes roasting in the bottom of the tray, and the smell was wonderful. With the aid of a couple of oven gloves I carried the dish to the truck along with the stuffing and gravy. I had my bottle of red courage and a corkscrew, a device non existent in that house.

We brought everything inside, and noticed Matt was still preparing his special potato dish.

“What!” I thought, he had all morning and most of the afternoon to do it, and he waited until we arrived. I was a little pissed at that, luckily we had our roast potatoes and we didn’t have to wait another hour for his to be ready, what a pillock.

The meal was amazing if I can say that myself, there was plenty for everyone and after two glasses of wine, I even forgave Matt.

The evening concluded with the picking of names for the secret Santa, a tradition we adopted a few years ago to reduce the stress of present buying, I got Kelli’s mum.

28th November 2024

Well thanksgiving did not work out at all, in reality we have moved it till Friday, on account that Kelli was woken up at 5.30 by the loud Jeep guy. We went to sleep in the belief that no one would be going to work, that was shattered when the Jeep’s engine roared into life and then throbbed away for twenty minutes.

I was pissed and jumped out of bed, threw some clothes on and ran outside.

There was a black saloon sitting in the driveway with its headlights on in front of the offending Jeep. I walked up to the driver’s window and shon my torch in the face of the individual.

I called out “ What the hell is going on? There’s people trying to sleep,

The person did not have the chance to speak because Dave, the house owner came over.

“We’re trying to to get him out of here” he said.

I could tell from his body language that things had been happening, and as I made my point, I walked back to the house.

As I got in, the Jeep roared past with the black car following.

By this time Kelli was wide awake and wanted to know what was going on.

I told her what I knew, but it didn’t help when she tried to sleep.

Her mood then deteriorated from anger to rage in a very short time, meaning any sleep for either of us was impossible. A few door slams later she got into the truck and drove off.

This is when I realised that the thanksgiving dinner would not happen.

We were due to have the family round for a group meal, that had to be postponed.

I was not impressed, so I worked in the garage for a while to get my head straight and give Kelli a chance to calm down.

She suggested that she report the incident to the police, not that they could so much, but getting the issue recorded might add some weight.

The police vehicle drove into the drive, and the officer took down the vague description of our problem. 

To clear our heads, we took a long walk, the wind froze our eyeballs, but it took our minds off the disaster of a day.

Kelli had been messaging with Dave throughout the day and learned that the Jeep man had moved out, apparently there had been some crazy things going on all that night.

I quietly gave a sigh of relief, could this really be happening, will we be able to sleep beyond 5.30?, I bloody hope so.