Another Lifetime to go

17th September 2024

Not the best start to the day, Kelli woke at 5.30am and couldn’t go back to sleep.

That is always a downer, and it was difficult to snap her out of it.

We took an early bike ride down to the beach at Point West. The sand was hot and the water was calm and quite warm. The place was deserted, the snow barriers hadn’t yet been installed, the setting was ideal, with blue sky kissing the water on the horizon.

On the way back Kelli complimented a chap on his Trump sign, why? I have no idea, they all look the same. This gave her an opening to talk to him and his friend. We cycled up his driveway past a collection of Porsches, yes they must have a bit of money. After she told them of her recent conversion there were several minutes of exchanged thoughts, and a promise that he will deliver a sign for the front garden.

And yes it magically appeared a few hours later, after we had got out of the pool. Oh dear, I don’t like politics to be openly displayed like that.

I plenty of things to do including repairing a drawer. The dovetails were broken, and it was difficult to recut, I got so angry with it I smashed the whole thing apart, I was quicker to make a completely new drawer from scratch saving only the drawer front. That is what I did, for me it was not so productive as I wanted, there are many pieces I need to repair so Kelli has things to work on whilst I’m away. 

The big heavy bugger that we got free a week ago was taking up valuable space, so we decided to try to sell it as it was, many as a project for someone. We took pictures of it and Kelli posted it on Marketplace.

16th September 2024

What a busy day ahead, first it was back to Zeeland for Kelli’s doctors appointment.

This went well, her strength has improved and he did a bit of realignment to help the muscles in her legs improve. There was shouts of pain, as he hit certain places, but then her threshold for pain is low, so I expect it.

Once that was done, the next thing on our list was to meet up with a buyer of the three chairs we had listed.

This was to take place at the Family Fare car park in Jenison. 

On the way Kelli spotted a pair of headboards by the roadside with a free sign on it. We hurtled past for several miles before I agreed for us to turn around and pick them up. I wasn’t not  going to be the person who said “ let’s pick them up on the way back” this time.

We drove back, stopped in the driveway and hoisted them on to the roof lashing them down with a few bungees, then we continued on to the meeting point.

That went well, the lady, who traveled from Grand Rapids was pleased with what she saw, so I loaded them into the back of her SUV.

Then it was off down the road to collect another dresser.

The sight that greeted us was one of “ What the heck”. The carcass was reasonably structural, but the drawers had been badly fitted. Someone had used roller slides held to the sides with wooden spacer blocks and shimmed using a bit of a plastic ruler. It was a complete mess, and will need a lot of work and new timber to make it run properly.

Reluctantly we loaded it into the truck and headed for home.

Most of the day had now been used up, but I had one last task to do, and that was to deliver the bow fronted dresser. 

The address was across the road from a place we had delivered before. This guy was appreciative that I was able to deliver it, which was a nice boost to the day.

Earlier Cameron had dropped off a dresser and side table that he found at a garage sale. He frequents these often, mainly looking for classic style clothing, but this was the first time he found something for us; not the best quality but I’m sure we can make it pretty.

We finished off another dresser which was quick and dirty, considering what it was before we started, it didn’t turn out that bad.

15th September 2024

There has been some smutty goings on around here.

Dave, the big guy over the road, the one who had a go at us for allegedly complaining about his lodger, wanted to talk with Kelli.

Apparently it’s was not his mate, rather his wife’s. There was some kind of threesome happening and he was sick of it.

He came to warn us that something might happen as he plans to serve papers to evict this chap. 

This was all quite intriguing, and later in the afternoon a police car turned up.

Kelli was straight at the window trying to listen to what was being said. She gave me a running commentary as things were happening, but it fizzled out to nothing.

It all happens at Central Bay.

Earlier, we managed to sell the two side tables, in the nick of time, because the change off colour was in the planning stage.

We also picked up a free dresser, so as soon as we get a bit of space in the garage, it gets filled up again.

It was Matt’s wife Brenda’s birthday so we went up to their home for cake and ice cream.

The cake was too sweet, now I like a bit of cake, but this was too much for me, I struggled to eat my slice, not even having a second helping? Not on your nelly.

14th September 2024

I delivered the porch decorations to Elaine. She got quite emotional seeing it in place, I was pleased that it had that effect.

Sometimes you have to follow your hunch when there isn’t a specific brief from the client.

She said she wanted something, but didn’t know what it was. As she stood there looking at it she said it was exactly what she imagined.

That was a good start to the day, it was warm and sunny, and I wasn’t planning to do anything strenuous, so I sat on my stool and chipped paint off yet another dresser.

For a few weeks now I haven’t been using my machines at the weekends to save the neighbours wrath and maintain a quiet couple of days.

We splashed around in the pool for a while, well until my float finally deflated, then we went for a bike ride.

It was a bit longer than usual, we visited Dave’s grave at the cemetery, the plants in the urn were still alive, Kelli gave them a good watering.

13th September 2024

Another trip to the range and still more frustration. The groupings were there but not where we wanted them. I sure it’s still early days yet. The most therapeutic part is collecting all the spent casings, I’m sure I collect more than we shot.

There is still a warm run of weather, where we try to use the pool, although the water is a little colder. It must be close to the end of the season as most of the inflatables are starting to fail.

Finally finished the porch decoration, the final pieces were bonded and pinned into position, ready for delivery tomorrow.

It was a funny old day, there are many pieces to work on, it’s sometimes difficult to decide which to start. 

Kelli repainted a dresser that hasn’t had much attention, maybe we should contact that drunken Texan, see if he wants it.

12th September 2024

I finally managed to book my flight to the UK.

Not actually having my new card, made things difficult, but with Louise’s help she took a picture of the new card and sent it over to me.

There were a few other items that were billed to my old card, so I was able to get those straightened out.

We had a lady turn up in her new Ford Bronco to collect the coffee table, she told me that it will take pride of place in their new weekend cottage.

We finally, and I say finally with relief, sold the three drawer dresser. Kelli wasn’t sure if it was going to happen as the guy was a bit strange with his messages. However we agreed to deliver it as it was relatively close.

We pulled into the driveway behind a car with Texas plates, we unloaded the dresser, and I knocked on the door.

There was no immediate answer so Kelli went to message him, just as he appeared in the doorway.

We knew straight away that he was as drunk as a skunk, he was slurring his words, and almost fell down the steps. He handed Kelli the cash, and we proceeded to carry it up the steps. It was not the easiest things to do, I was going up backwards and he was pushing me.

Managing to get it into the porch he almost ran the dresser into me.

By the time I walked out of the place, Kelli was already in the car with the engine running ready to make a quick getaway, and all this and it was just 1.00pm in the afternoon.

Our final task of the day was to drive to the ATM so that the cash could be deposited, on the way she spotted three bags of plants by the side of the road. How does she see them? They’re on my side of the car, and I don’t. 

Two of the bags were daisies and an unknown one, I’m sure they will be happy in our garden somewhere.

11th September 2024

There was a lot of activity across the road this evening. The lady of the house has a habit of shouting rather loudly at their lodger. Whether it is fuelled by drink we do not know. Kelli was alerted by our next door neighbour who messaged that something was going on.

I was requested to open the window so she could hear more clearly. Personally I could not make out anything that I could understand, I just knew something was going down.

I was expecting the police or SWAT team to turn up, but so far all is under control.

It was our usual shopping day, this also included a visit to Plato’s with two more bags of clothes.

As it would take about half an hour to sort through the bags, I decided to go and get a coffee. By the time I returned it had all been sorted,  but out of the pile of clothes they only took twelve items. Kelli was peeved as she expected much more. The assistant explained that some of the items were “more mature style” that didn’t go down well.

It stuck in her head for the rest of the day.

“ What did she know?” Kelli continued “ no one with green blue hair can appreciate good style”

I had to agree, the assistant did look a bit of a horror comic, but it takes all sorts.

The trick is we will take the same bags back at another time when someone else is on duty, hopefully we will be more successful.

The expedition round Aldi resulted in Kelli finding a half dead plant that he had to save, it would be so bad, but we’re still charged full price for it.

I continued to work on Elaine’s porch decoration, getting it ready for the final assembly.

10th September 2024

There was more action in the garage; the coffee table was finished and the dresser we finished yesterday had a slightly darker paint job.

I did a bit more work on Elaine’s front porch decoration

.

The warm temperature returned, so it was back to shorts and short sleeves.

Kelli revived a sparrow that had flown into our window and stunned itself. She first thought it had died, but after carefully stroking it and talking to it, it came round and flew out of her hand, it was a wonderful moment captured by some shite on her palm.

We even got in a bike ride, Kelli is still nervous about riding side by side, therefore I am a little behind, meaning I can’t always hear what she is saying, not good. There was talk about getting a communication set allowing us to still talk to each other, but that would entail pressing a button every time you wanted to talk. That, I thought might be too distracting.

Of course it was the big presidential debate this evening. It was two hours of the same talking points over and over again. Kamala Harris was smug and condescending, talking as if she was addressing children. Trump on the other hand rambled on as he does totally missing the point of the debate. Trump’s team must have been pulling their hair out shouting “ that isn’t what you were supposed to say!”

9th September 2024

It was a day of stretching limbs and cracking bones, a day of realignment in head and body, yes I had an appointment with the kinesiologist.

Instead of Kelli going through the treatment she had the chance to witness my suffering.

However I did not suffer much, apart from a crack of my neck on my left side to help relieve an ache in my shoulder and elbow.  It is a strange feeling with I am gripped by the ankles and yanked hard, there was a click, and suddenly I am taller, or so I hoped.

I’m fortunate not to suffer too much pain and ailment for my age, Kelli makes good food so my digestion is not compromised, so with my body now tuned, we left.

As we were a few minutes early we popped into Goodwill, and saw a coffee table that we thought we could flip. Loading it into the truck we set off for home.

On the way I wanted to stop at the Herman Miller company store, it was in the old Engineering office building that I remembered from my first ever visit to the US in 1986.

There was plenty of stock, I was looking for sofas, something to replace the old one in the house, that had served us well, but I would like something more modern.

There were a few to choose from, but not quite what I was looking for.

Once back home, after some lunch, there was work to be done.

The coffee table that we thought we could flip quickly needed a few repairs, and Kelli then decided to repaint it.

We did paint the bow fronted dresser we got the other day, we took pictures of a pair of side tables and the three chairs we recently collected, so all and all a good day.

8th September 2024

There was some urgency to get the two side tables ready for collection, not that there was much, apart from fixing the tops and cleaning any crap from underneath.

I unloaded the truck of the two dressers we collected yesterday, not that we had room for both of them, but I wanted the bow fronted one.

This was the one that when I picked it up, the bottom front piece fell off.

I felt that this was easy to refit and offered a quick refurb and back on the market.

Some of the chipboard had broken away, but with some epoxy adhesive I packed it and put sash clamps on it.

I will add some wooden blocks to reinforce the damaged areas.

We were going to Kelli’s mums for ice cream as usual. There was a bit of hesitation from Kelli’s part because moth balls had been added in the garage to try to get the bats to move out.

She did not like the smell, and it was evident as we got out of the truck, the stench was everywhere.

We were storing the second dresser there until we’re ready for it.

As I moved it into position I looked up and Kelli had found on old Covid mask which she put on as she carried in the two drawers, it was hilarious.

However, it did not stop the smell getting through, which just goes to show how useless they were.