Another Lifetime to go

29th July 2024

It’s hard for Kelli to walk around because she has to keep her leg straight, this is putting a lot of strain on her other leg, making life difficult.

There are only so many pain relief tablets she can take, that, and all the supplements makes her rattle

It’s very humid outside, so perspiration happens with the lightest of tasks, anything more strenuous and I drip, not good when I’m sanding because the drops can stain the wood leading to even more sanding, and so it goes on.

I did stain the record cabinet, which was a plus, but I still haven’t worked out the problem with the cassette recorder.

I have noticed that the mainstream media have started to rewrite history. The censorship is so blatant, if you type in to Google, Trump assassination attempt, it is not the first thing that comes up, even though it’s current news, it is buried near the bottom. (Note that did change a few days later)

Kamala Harries’s history has changed, she was given the border and became the “Border tsar” well that was a disaster, suddenly all that disappeared.

The democrats will stop at nothing to stop Trump, they have tried to ruin his reputation, take his business away, take his money, and almost took his life.

The only thing left will be civil unrest, this is where they can issue a state of emergency and suspend the election.

Most people aren’t stupid, they’ve seen the dirty games the government play to beat them into submission. It is a tinderbox, with petrol at four dollars a gallon and food prices that have doubled it won’t take a lot.

Add to that the country being run by a senile old fool, and the choices that the population have to make, it’s going to be a rough ride.

28th July 2024

A day of rest for a change, but first a bit of work on the record player to get it ready for the staining.

Next I did some work on a side project, that is restoring classic cassette tape recorders. I repaired an old Sony a while ago, but I bought a cheap Technics on eBay. The unit itself needed new belts and a new motor. When everything arrived I used this opportunity to put it all back together. The deck itself is very basic so the refitting of the motor was simple, but the belts a bit more awkward, but it all went together, thing we’re looking promising.

I re soldered the power wires to the motor, and plugged all the rest of the wires into their respective places on the circuit board.

Then I plugged in the deck and pressed the on button, nothing happened. Normally I would expect the motor to turn, but it didn’t.

Was the motor a dud? I asked myself, I better check it.

I found a nine volt battery and connected it to the motor with some wire and crocodile clips.

The motor worked, and all the functions operated as they should.

I removed the power lead from the circuit board and found the pins that supplied the power. I checked the voltage at the pins and it registered twelve volts, this should mean that the power supply works. I checked the continuity of the wire from the connector end to the motor, and that was okay, so it doesn’t make sense why it doesn’t work.

That’s my quandary this week.

In the afternoon we went up to Kelli’s mums to help Matt and Brenda clear out the top floor of the house, as they are planning to move in soon.

The three rooms were filled with junk, since Dave died, much of the upstairs hadn’t been touched, and he was an avid collector of everything.

They had already made a start, but my main purpose was to move the furniture. Getting the gun cabinet out was the greatest challenge, it was made from solid walnut, but fortunately it was in two halves. This was relocated into Kelli’s old bedroom which had her mother’s collection of seasonal house decorations in bags all over the floor, it was messing with my head to see such chaos. The last thing was a massive oak desk that we moved against a different wall.

After that, it was back to the house for a rest.

27th July 2024

A more subdued day to be sure. Kelli spent the day walking with a straight leg, and in obvious pain. We took a trip to pick up some medical supplies so she could redress the wound.

I worked on the record cabinet trying to get it ready for staining tomorrow.

It was a hot day, so we tried thinking how we could get Kelli into the pool without getting her knee wet. With a bit of cunning and acrobatics we managed it, of course it was even more tricky getting back out, but that was in the back of our minds as we floated around.

The day was playing havoc with her pain threshold, by the evening it was aching bad, so at nine in the evening I drove to Meyer, the largest supermarket I have ever known to buy a pain numbing spray.

This place is vast, mainly the reason we don’t go there, but on this occasion I had to.

I had plenty of time to look for the stuff as it closed at midnight, but surprisingly I found it quickly.

As soon as I got back home she applied the spray, which did help, thank goodness.

27th July 2024

It was another troubled night for both Kelli and myself. I have come to accept that these things happen, but that’s no consolation for her.

We did finally get some sleep, only after I moved on to the couch, but we both slept till nine.

I had to drive to Elaine’s to check the template I had made for her feature over her front door.

By the time I got home Kelli had finished painting the bed frame, so I tackled some re veneering on the record cabinet.

We also manage a float in the pool.

After that we did something that would change the course of the day, a bike ride.

It was great, a ride down to Kollen park.

There was activity on the lake, diners were already tucking into their early dinner at the Boatverks, and the fishermen had their lines cast into the water hoping to catch something for theirs.

We started to retrace our journey, past the brightly coloured flower beds, until we came to a portion of our lives where we both can’t explain what happened.

Somehow we collided, whether I was distracted or Kelli, I just don’t know, but she fell off her bike which in turn knocked me off. So there we were sprawled on the pavement Kelli shouting in pain.

She had hit her elbow and her knee, blood was starting to seep through her white leggings.

On this occasion neither of us had phones with us, and as she had looked at her knee injury, decided that he would need to go to the ER.

Fortunately there was a guy walking towards us with two large dogs, he stopped and asked if we needed help. He had a phone which he handed to Kelli. She was able to call the paramedics, but we had no idea how long that would take to arrive.

In the meantime two strollers stopped to help. One was very friendly Indian lady and her tall American husband, they stayed for quite a while and even offered to go back to their home to get some snacks for us. They then went back to their home.

The main problem for me was how to get the two bikes back home.

As the ambulance arrived, the two paramedics got out to access the situation.

They applied a dressing, after first cutting her leggings to access the wound.

She was then loaded on to a gurney and lifted into the back of the ambulance.

My plan was to lock her bike, and for me to ride back home to get the truck, retrieve her bike and then go on to the hospital, which is exactly what I did. I did engage Turbo mode on the bike and got home in record time.

In the meantime, the Indian lady had driven back with some food, but the paramedics advised not to eat anything until she had been seen by a doctor.

However she followed the ambulance to the hospital until I got there, what a kind lady she was.

Then came the noisy part. Kelli pain threshold is very low, so any touching of the wound would be met with a yell.

The doctor proceeded with the pain numbing injections, which in themselves hurt, but once they kicked in, he got on and gave her five stitches.

We were both starving, and our only option was a take out, by the time we got home it was past ten, not a good time to have a meal, so we’ll see what happens.

25th July 2024

I had my regular meet with Lloyd for our beer tasting session, and I have to report that the beer was wonderful. I enjoy our session because he educates me in all things America. Our conversation cover politics, religion and all things in between. I do find I learn a lot, and although he is obviously a Republican, he is not on the Trump train. He recognises the man’s failings and is not convinced that a lot of the issue that effect this continent will change in the short term.

A number of times during our talk there was a group of people in the next section of the pub who were so loud, one woman in particular had a terribly loud and ear damaging laugh, boy did I sympathise with her husband.

Before my “Man’s time” I did a bit more paint scraping from the record cabinet. This exposed some damage to the veneer and an area of sand through, this is not what I wanted to find.

I did not want to re veneer the whole panel because the shape was a bit complex, so I decided, with my wife’s agreement to make a join in the next best part, the problem is I will have to do the same feature on the other side.

This was adding more complexity to the job than I expected, but at least the damage will be repaired.

24th July 2024

In the time I have lived here I still can’t understand Americans. They always refer to it as the most powerful country in the world, but in my humble opinion it is run by people who are as dumb as rocks, or that’s what they want us to believe.

It is well over a week since Trump nearly got assassinated and information is only trickling through, and most of it is contradictory.

Many independent media sites have sifted through hundreds of videos and studied the audio forensics that determined that there were three different guns involved.

Other experts can’t believe that a twenty year old with very little shooting range experience could have made those shots at all.

The whole thing stinks, the secret service failed to do their job, the local police were incompetent, and the official line is that there was one shooter, it’s like JFK all over again, but this time there isn’t just one film of the event, there are thousands.

I will be watching with interest how the investigation goes, and so should the rest of the world.

23rd July 2024

I made a start on the mid century record player, stripping away the black paint revealing the oak veneer underneath. The customers came round to see the progress, they were excited, and I was also. They gave me a healthy deposit and left full of anticipation of what it would look like.

As the paint came off there were some areas of damage that had been filled with white putty, this will need some attention but there was nothing that can’t be repaired.

We took the opportunity to jump into the pool, but not long after the sun disappeared behind some clouds, so that was a bit short lived.

Towards the end of the afternoon, a chap arrived bring the bed frame that Kelli will be repainting, it’s a heavy bugger from that country that makes lots of beds, Vietnam.

22nd July 2024

It was the day of commissions, two came in, one is painting a bed frame, the other is stripping and refinishing an old mid century Grundig record player.

This is going to be a fun job, the customer bought it from a seller on marketplace who had painted it black. It had all of it’s guts taken out except for the radio facia.

I looked on line and found the exact same model in original form, that was commanding a significant figure of nearly a grand.

I also had my hand down a dog’s throat. This is not something I look forward to every morning, but sometimes these thing have to be done.

I was aroused by a desperate call from Kelli, thinking she had cut herself or trodden on something sharp I rushed into the house to find her on the couch with Phoebe on her lap.

She had been chewing on a dog treat and somehow got it jammed between two teeth and partly down her throat. In obvious distress I forced her mouth open and saw the obstruction.

The next problem was how to remove it as the object was a bit slimy and difficult to grip.

Kelli found a pair of small pliers, and as I held Phoebe’s jaws open, she attempted to pull it out.

After several goes she managed to get it out, much to my relief and the dog’s

A chap turned up to collect the coffee table, and I had fun stripping down the desk that we got a few days ago.

I had to go and repair the piece we delivered yesterday. A slither of wood came off as I pulled the dresser out of the truck.

As they weren’t that far away I decided to ride my bike.

When I arrived, the lady opened the door, I apologised for the issue, she then told me that the top drawer would not open. Oh no, I thought, I tried pulling it hard, but it was stuck, I tried pulling it really hard, I thought I would tear the front off, but it didn’t budge.

I got on with the other repair.

Once the new paint I applied was drying I tackled the drawer again. I deduced that it might have got jammed during the moving. I could see two points that looked as if they were the problem, a sharp pull down moved the drawer slightly but not enough to release it.

Asking if the lady had a putty knife, I was able to lift the other side, then it pulled out.

I kissed the floor with relief. I could now see where it had stuck and sanded the area until it slid in and out without problem.

So a successful event, it was now time to return home.

As I was riding along south shore drive I was overtaken by a real cyclist with all the gear.

Not to be outclassed, I turned on the power, I was gaining on him, reaching eighteen miles an hour, when out of a driveway rode a young girl, without looking, pulled right out in front of me.

I had to take emergency action, slamming on my brakes I avoided the collision. She was still unaware of the potential accident she could have caused, she carried on as if nothing had happened. By this time the other cyclist had disappeared into the distance, so I turned my attention to the person who pissed me off.

I was gaining ground, the whirling of the motor I hoped, would put her under pressure and possibly make her fly off the path, but no, she turned at the next turning, damn!

21st July 2024

It was great to have people round and to get the grill going. The weather was perfect, hot with the occasional breeze, just right to have a burning furnace blasting your face.

We had our friends Chris, Jill and manic Morgan who we hadn’t seen for ages.

I managed to cook chicken, sausages and a couple of burgers without charring them to a crisp.

Earlier we had to do some last minute touches to the heavy dresser we were delivering today.

Some staining had appeared on the side panels, and needed refinishing. I sprayed over them with a spirit based primer, then once dry, Kelli repainted them.

Getting it into the truck was difficult, we had to asked the big guy across the road to help.

It was a short distance to the drive for delivery, and equally difficult to unload, but once it was in position it looked great.

However in getting it out of the truck, a small piece of wood had broken off, we didn’t realise this had happened until we got a message from the customer, luckily it broken piece was still in the back of the truck, so I have to go round tomorrow to fix it.

20th July 2024

We decided to have a gardening day, some of the bushes have got a little bit out of control, so I gave them a hair cut.

We’ve had some plants eaten in the front garden, either by rabbits or deer. Kelli dug them up and replanted them by the pond to see if they come back.

It was a pleasant change to do something different, clipping the forsythia was quite therapeutic, and having done a lot of that between here and the cottage in Bradford on Avon, I’ve become quite an expert.

It was also a pool day, calming looking at the blue skies watching the aircraft flying overhead, possibly heading into Chicago, maybe from Heathrow.

We then took a drive to see Elaine who had a project for me. She had sent a picture of a decorative feature she wanted on her porch. She had a pair of gorbels attached to the supporting posts, and she wanted something to link them together. We chatted, and agreed a direction to proceed with. This isn’t a fantastic money maker, but it could be a fun job to tackle.

We also sold the big heavy bastard dresser, we plan to deliver it tomorrow.

It was also the fifty fifth anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing.

There is a strong feeling over here that the whole thing was an elaborate hoax, I still like think it happened, an event of that scale is too vast to fool the world with far too many people who would have to keep it secret.