Another Lifetime to go

9th June 2024

The worst part of outside grilling is the cleaning of the grate. It is a mindless task of scraping a rubbing to remove the remains of the last time it was used. Armed with a tin of Barkeepers Friend I polished each rung until it shone, my fingers were now ground in black, not a good look, and not easy to clean. I did light the charcoal first, therefore had plenty of time to do the cleaning operation.

“Why do you go to so much trouble, the heat will burn it off” said my wife mockingly.

“Things have to be cleaned” I replied in a rather sulking tone, meaning I wished I’d thought of that. But I continued to the end, and finished just as the coals were ready to start the cooking.

So after spending about an hour cleaning, we we ready to grill one piece of chicken, not two or three, just one, my only glimmer of joy was that there is only a small area that will need cleaning next time.

Activity in the garage was slow, however the large white dresser was finished enough to take pictures. I didn’t feel too bad it was Sunday, you know, the day of rest.

8th June 2024

Kelli has a great knack of finding stuff. Yes, she searched out the furniture, and often that leads to something else.

Recently we picked up an old desk from a house quite close. There were also various terracotta flower pots that she also grabbed.

In the various messages from the house owner we learned that there was a whole lot more things he was planning to offer us.

Well that happened today. A message came through that an old tool chest and a lot of timber was ready for us to collect. So once breakfast was over we set out on a new adventure.

We arrived to find a long bench at the end of the garden with all kinds of items stacked on it. there were a few eight foot lengths of six by twos. They went straight in the back of the truck,along with some planks of straight grain pine. The power came out to greet us and invited into his garage to view the tool box and a stack more of timber.

The tool box was old, probably made by a woodworker at the start of their career, it was solid, and heavy even without any tools in it. I don’t know how it could have been lifted by a single person once it was fully loaded.

I was not going to turn down the timber, it was old, good quality material that today costs a bomb. I have enough to fulfil all the furniture I still want to build, now I have no excuse not to start it, but hang on, I have furniture to repair.

7th June 2024

There was a full day planned, a frantic exercise in catching up.

I had wanted to complete two dressers, one that had money on it, the other to get some space.

Throughout the week we had accumulated a desk and another dresser, getting the bikes back in at the end of the day is like threading a needle.

We didn’t reach our goal, we lost a couple of days in the week, but using the weekend should put us back on track.

Kelli decided to make change to the small white dresser that hasn’t sold. She felt that a change of handles might do the trick. So with a drill, glue and dowels she plugged the old holes and a blob of Bondo. Hopefully, with painted wooden knobs it should look better.

I started the repair to the dresser that I collected yesterday. A number of the drawer runners were missing, so dragging the saw outside I quickly made some new parts.

We also managed to sell the desk even before we have done any work on it.

There was a moment of drama when a spider ran over Kelli’s foot. The scream that she let out was loud and shrill, almost a 911 call. The windows and doors rattled of the house, my ears bled, and Larry thought his time was up. In terms of frequency, it was up there with the hypersonic,but fortunately it was only a small spider, I can’t imagine what would have happed if it was a big bugger.

6th June 2024

On this memorable day eighty years ago when the allied troops sailed across the channel to liberate Europe, I also ventured into the unknown.

It wasn’t so terrifying or life threatening, but for me it was.

I may have been to Muskegon once with Kelli but this time I was going solo. My mission was to collect a dresser that was going to be finished to match one we had already sold. These would both go into the same room, so they had to have similar features.

It wasn’t a complicated journey, it was the intimidation I received by the truck drivers who were right up my rear.

Even driving within the speed limit I had the truck grill filling my rear view mirror. It is very common for them to undertake then pull in front, you have to have eyes in the back of head.

I was warned that certain parts of Muskegon were a bit dodgy, but luckily where I was going should have been a bit more affluent.

It was, the houses were large with lake views quite a desirable area.

As I pulled into the drive the garage door opened to reveal piles of unsold furniture. What I was there to collect was looking a bit sad in the corner. The middle drawer was sagging as it didn’t have any guide pieces, and areas of the top were a bit flaky, but nothing that we haven’t seen before.

I loaded the item into the back of the truck and headed back. It was forty five miles back to Holland, so with the radio playing I made my way.

In the meantime, Kelli had painted the large dresser and the drawers, and sorted out what she planned to wear this evening when we were due to meet up with Lloyd and Nancy, our new customer/ friends for dinner.

Which, by the way was great fun, another two glasses of Old Speckled Hen went down a treat.

5th June 2024

Always expect the unexpected, they say, well we do, and we did.

We were setting off to do our shopping, Kelli could hear a “tick, tick” from the driver side wheel, she pulled over and I got out to look.

Embedded in the tire was a large industrial fastener, I was amazed that it hadn’t gone flat.

We decided to drive on carefully to do our shopping.

Once that was done we drove back, unpacked and had some lunch, then I set off to get the tyre fixed. We had been running around for a while without a spare, due to another puncture, but I planned to have the front tyres replaced, now I had no choice and to get it done.

I got to the tyre centre and was served by a cheerful black guy called Ben. He had braided hair tied in a bun. I explained the issue, so he came out to inspect the vehicle. He looked at all the tyres and informed me that they were seven years old, and there was normally a ten year life. The spare was the one with the fastener in it was twenty four years. After a bit of a discussion, and a bit of bartering I agreed to have all the tyres replaced, you can’t put a price on safety.

There was supposed to be a buyer for the small dresser turning up whilst I was gone. I had moved it out of the storeroom to outside the garage to await them.

However that didn’t happen, Kelli called me to say she had a call from the buyer saying that she didn’t realise how far away we were. What a load of crap, she lived in bloody Zeeland!!

Needless to say she has been blocked from ever seeing our stuff in the future, we don’t need those lightweights.

4th June Tuesday

Selling reloved furniture is not easy, there is no buying pattern, therefore no predictions for if, or when we sell something.

We have a small dresser that hasn’t sold, it’s been a couple of weeks and one change of handles, but no bites.

There are the side tables that haven’t sold either, so the month is looking dire even though it’s still early in the month.

I’m working on two dressers hoping to break the sales famine.

Just as dissolution starts to set in there is some action.

A lady that has bought from us before wanted a dresser for a holiday let so she drove over to look at the walnut top dresser we finished yesterday. Although that one was not the right colour for her room, she was keen on the mid century piece I had started on. A quick discussion on finish and it was sold. She handed over a deposit, and now it was down to me to prepare it for painting.

Later we sold the walnut top dresser to a person who also wanted a second piece that Kelli found in Muskegon that was very similar.

Near the end of the after noon Kelli announced that the small dresser had been sold at a knock-down price. That hurts, but having it sitting in the storeroom is no good to us.

We had to run out to pick up a free desk that was very close, this will be converted into another pair of side tables.

So in reflection, what started out a bit bleak ended up a bit more positive, I guess it’s all about thinking positive.

3rd June 2024

Oh goody, it’s a trip to Grand Rapids to collect a gardener’s bench. Now Kelli loves old things which is why she married me, but when we arrived at the address, and saw what was waiting outside I had my doubts.

It looked like it had spent its entire life outside. That wood was cracked and weathered grey, the areas that was painted was chipped and sad looking, the only redeeming features was it had potential to look cute.

This was the topic for the drive back. Kelli wanted to keep it exactly as it was and put in the sunroom. I suggested that it be stripped down and refinished and rebuilt, replacing all the rotted timber, remaking the top and adding an oil finish, then it could go in the sunroom.

We went back and forth trying to find a compromise, I was insistent that I wouldn’t want it in the house, but it could go in the greenhouse.

By the time we got home we still hadn’t agreed.

I unloaded it from the truck and looked at it. It’s held together with nails, large rusty nails, I have burnt better things.

So the dilemma continues, I know Kelli will try to sneak it into the sunroom, but I don’t believe there is room, but we shall see.

We decided that today was pool installation day.

We pull out the large tubs from the shed and laid everything out on the paved piazza, and started the filling process. It does take a long time to fill, however I did notice a leak. There was a small puncture in the side wall with a thin jet of water spurting out. I tried to find the waterproof tape that I bought a couple of years ago, could I find it? No I bloody couldn’t. That made me angry, it’s in the garage somewhere. I did manage to find something that I slapped on the inside and relied on the water pressure to keep it in place, which worked. Tomorrow I will try to find the proper stuff and get the job done properly.

We’ve started doing some new arm exercises, my chicken arms still exist, so this was another attempt to strengthen them.

So for ten minutes you have to keep your arms up and perform ten different arm movements. It sounds simple but it’s harder than it looks.

I’m interested to see what happens after two weeks of this.

2nd June 2024

The smell in the morning can be the best thing I experience living here. It still is crisp and unlike when summer kicks in and everything gets baked. It still feels like a holiday, I hear the sound of the boats on the lake, and when I catch a glimpse of the water, it sparkles.

I had plenty of things to do, a top to stain, a dresser to unload and more free stuff to collect.

We set off for the north side following Kelli’s GPS that seems totally off. For example the time was noted at thirty four minutes, then it dropped to ten minutes, then five, then “You’ve arrived!”

The pieces were set out on the driveway. There was a low dresser, if you can call it that. It had just two drawers, so for anyone with restricted height, it would be perfect. Then there was a coffee table, usually the kiss of death for resale, and finally a child’s mid century style dresser/wardrobe. Kelli was excited about it, so we stuffed all of it into the back of the truck, and drove back home.

After staining the top of the long dresser, I started scraping off the top of the new dresser. It had been painted black, but underneath was a red wood grained effect coating, and underneath that was a birch veneer. Thankfully the surface was good and should stain well, now just the drawer fronts to do now.

Kelli finished the dresser that was already sold to a customer, but as she also wants another to match.

The search begins.

1st June 2024

Another new month, and more challenges ahead.

We removed the dresser we bought yesterday from the truck to see what we were up against.

We needed to unload because Kelli found another free dresser in West Olive. As we were on our way she caught sight of some terracotta flower pots at the end of someone’s drive. She quickly did a u-turn and I was the unfortunate person who had to get out and collect them, and placing them in the back of our vehicle, then we proceeded to do the purpose we intended to do.

Some areas of the West Olive are pretty, spoilt by those that live there, fortunately with all the leaves on the trees and hedges, a lot have been hidden.

After a small detour, caused by the driver missing the turn, and the navigator not passing on the instruction, we found the place.

It was painted blue and white, and very heavy. It was a case of removing the drawers. As we lifted it the kick board remained on the ground, n it a good sign, but we would probably discard it anyway.

I never sure if the owners are hiding in the house watching us struggle, with the piece of junk that must have, at some time graced their home. I guess that embarrassment keeps them hidden, I know I would.

Once we got back I started scrapping the top of the new dresser, it was a thin veneer, looking like pine, but more likely to be an Asian softwood.

After an hour that was done and sanded, there were a few marks that I dare’t sand out, but once stained should be okay.

Then it started raining, and it did for the rest of the day. Kelli managed to finish the dresser she started yesterday, should be ready for picture tomorrow.

31st May 2024

I can only believe that the city trash collection drivers have a practice range that they can hone their bin grabbing skills.

They can drive at a breakneck speed approaching the bin, then almost without stopping grab the thing with a pair of giant claws, then flip it up to empty the contents.

It then deposits the bin back on the road severely battered. Then it’s on to the next house repeating the procedure.

I find it fascinating, to watch, the driver has little expression, mindlessly staring out of the windscreen, like a train driver, he’s seen it all before, and just wants to stop for a burger.

We had to drive to a car park to collect a dresser that we had bought. Of course I didn’t take my glasses so I could fully identify what it was made from, I think it was a veneer, I guess I will find out when I offload it.

We managed to finish the pair of matching side tables that came from an old desk, hopefully they will sell quickly. Another dresser was also painted, hopefully ready tomorrow.

News of the Trump guilty verdict was all over the media, this will decide America even more that it is already. I’m trying to stay out of the discussion, as I have said before, I don’t like the man, but what the Democrats are trying to do is wrong, and the country will pay dearly for it in years to come.