Another Lifetime to go

19th May 2024

The day started with an hour and a half Skype call with my friend Martin. He was early with his call, even before our breakfast. After half an hour I had to halt our conversation and pick up after our food. It was awkward because to was giving me an update to his health condition.

I knew it was bad the last time we spoke, but this time it got worse. A CT scan of his brain showed that areas were dying and affecting his lymphatic system. There is no doubt that the prognosis is not hopeful. He is suffering severe flight and fight attacks, with high anxiety and paranoia.

His doctor is requesting an MRI scan but it’s not going to change anything.

That news was not that I wanted to hear, so when I called him back we concentrated on our history together, we’ve had a lot of laughs, and shared many stories, that lightened the mood a bit, but it’s hard to accept that I will lose him soon.

I was in a bit of a reflective mood for the rest of the day, even though it was warm, and I wore shorts for the first time this year. There were tomatoes to plant and more grass and weeds to pull up.

In the afternoon we rode our bikes up to Kelli’s mother for ice cream, a welcome break from the sadness I was feeling.

18th May 2024

The police were out in force across the road. I was beginning to believe that Central Bay is a war zone. There were four police vehicles and a handful of officers armed to the teeth approaching the house. This followed wheel screeching and a lot of shouting. Kelli, as usual was at an open window trying to listen to was was being said. A couple of officers climbed the steps to the front door calling out to someone inside. The couple and their children had driven off some time before the police arrived, which left, we believe, a lodger who had been living there also. It got very confusing, and when the family returned there was a lot of talking and raised voices. Finally the police left taking their heavy artillery with them. Kelli heard the work “Warrant” which they would heed to enter the house.

Once they had left, the couple were walking about outside, trying to communicate with the person inside. That is when we got back to what we were doing. It was a hot day, great for working outside, there was staining and painting, and in between that a bit more weeding .

I even started scraping the paint off the top of the dresser that we’d collected yesterday.

I heard the sirens gradually getting closer, they blocked the end of the road and about five or six heavily armed cops crept closer to the house, some hiding behind trees in Larry’s front yard.

I joked with Kelli that it has been twice that he has had to flush his stash down the toilet only to find out that it wasn’t him they were interested in.

There was more talking and rattling of armaments but no action, eventually they left again, with no action happening. It’s frustrating not knowing the details, but there was a bit of movement of cars but nothing made any sense.

Maybe we will never get the story, I can’t imagine Kelli knocking on their door asking what happened, we will just have to wait for the next time, with their record, it will be in a couple of weeks.

17th May 2024

“The one thing you are good at is finding ways of making money” I blurted out, this was not what I had intended to say.

“The one thing I am good at!!” Kelli exclaimed,her mouth was wide open.

I meant to say “ one of the many things you are good at…” it just goes to show how a few additional words can make a tremendous difference, and avoid a punch in the mouth.

We had a good laughs about it.

The whole conversation started because we collected a free dresser from an address in Saugatuck that we had visited before. The owners had a garage of furniture from a second home that they had sold. We loaded up the dresser and a blanket chest, but the rest of the furniture they planned to sell on Marketplace.

There didn’t seem to be a lot of excitement in the lady’s voice, so on the way back Kelli hatched a plan to offer her services to post the furniture and to take a commission. I thought it was a good idea and made the compliment, which didn’t come out right.

I guess I will be ribbed For a long time, as “ Golden tongue Pete”

Later in the afternoon I met up with my new friend Lloyd for couple of beers. As we were engrossed in deep conversation, I felt a tap on my shoulder, I turned to see someone I didn’t recognise, he then introduced him self in the Geordie accent I did remember, it was John O’Hara. He was surprised to see me, so I gave him the quick version of how I got here, then, after sharing a “great to see you” he went back to his table outside.

Two beers later I said bye to Lloyd, then we both went to the gents, funny that.

I walked outside and saw John sitting at a table with Mark McNally, I walked over to say hi and Mark explained that he just “retired” from Herman Miller.

Of all the time I’ve been here I hadn’t bumped into anyone I knew that worked for Herman, yet today I saw five, as the people who gave us the dresser had also worked there in the past, funny old world ain’t it?

The squirrels around here are always emptying our bird feeders, and they are so blatant about it. We always joked about getting something to scare them off, so a bought a catapult. It’s not a professional type of titanium and carbon fibre, it’s just made out of wood. Ever since it arrived I have tried to hit something, with no success at all. I can’t even hit our postbox.

The squirrels still persist, safe in the knowledge that we couldn’t hit a barn door even if we were standing in front of it.

However, whither it was a fluke, but Kelli fired off a shot at a blighter that was upside down on the feeder. Twack! It hit the target. It flew off and ran off like a scalded cat. Kelli couldn’t believe that she hit it, and I was amazed as well. We high fived each other, it was more the fact that we had hit something, rather than what we hit, but for the rest of the evening she was concerned about the wellbeing of the creature.

16th May 2024

We had a second lesson at the range. Now that we are members, this was the first opportunity to fire off a few more rounds.

We stopped off at a store called Bullethole to pick up some proper ear protection and some training rounds, then it was off to the Chickowa sporting club. The weather was perfect, drove through the gate and down to one of the available ranges. James, our instructor was waiting. After a bit of pre-amble we got down to some serious shooting. One of the targets showed an armed assailant aiming at us, he was who we had to focus on, and not the lady assistant standing behind him.

Kelli did really well, grouping the shots ensuring that he would never rob a store again. I on the other hand didn’t do so well this time. I had trouble with my grip, and I wasn’t so relaxed as I should have been. But we did some damage and created quite a pile of brass casings that no doubt will get recycled.

I only managed to do a little work in the garage before we had to leave, and there wasn’t much time after, so a casual day.

15th May 2024

Not much was planned as far as work was concerned, although it was a busy day.

Kelli had to drop some Amazon packages to the UPS for return. You see, she doesn’t keep everything. Thankfully that doesn’t take long, then on to Plato’s for yet another bag of old clothes, I think I would be worried if we didn’t go there at least twice a month. Then it was off to Zeeland for her doctors appointment.

She keeps notes of everything that she experienced throughout the month, and the doctor has to check out all of them. It is a good way of exercising her concerns, although it hadn’t reduced the supplement intake at all.

I asked the question regarding HRT, and what benefits Kelli might get from it. I was quite surprised at his response. He explained that the treatment is not without its drawbacks, especially getting off it, and he would only support it as a last resort. He was happy that Kelli was handling the change well and as her sleep was more stable she should continue with her program.

By the time this was done we were both hungry, so we had a bite at Jo 2 Go a small snack bar back in Holland. After that it was the usual shopping expedition.

By the time we got back it wasn’t worth changing into our work clothes, so we took a bike ride instead, picking up two dozen eggs on the way. It made a change to get other things done, and tomorrow is equally as disruptive.

14th May 2024

Not everyday is the same, it’s not everyday that I zoom down the road to see if there are any eggs out for sale. I engage turbo and set off, reaching twenty miles an hour before I backed off avoiding a lady with a dog. My journey was successful, a dozen eggs were in the box waiting.

I did the return run with the same enthusiasm, reaching just over the twenty, leaving me breathless for our exercise session.

We’ve been keeping up the them as I have mentioned, but twenty minutes can be an eternity waving eight pound dumbbells around.

Our only release is shouting loudly at the instructor who Kelli calls “ Paperclip” because she is so thin, not an once of fat or any sign of muscle, it’s so annoying.

So far my morning has consisted of gasps and heavy breathing, something I could be arrested for in many states.

I did a bit more weeding around the elderberry bushes, and where I had cut them back in the autumn and left them chopped up in short pieces, where they had touched the earth, they had sprouted roots and had leaves growing from them, it was amazing. I found some old pots and planted a few of them in new soil, maybe if they continue to grow we can sell some, a nice little earner Rodney.

We finished another dresser, and took pictures once the sun had stopped making shadows on our background. It went on Marketplace straight away looking a lot different to when we got it.

13th May 2025

We headed out to the north side of Holland to look at a free dresser that was up for grabs.

This can go many ways, sometimes the piece is in perfect condition, with all the drawers sliding smoothly and very little damage. The opposite to that is total crap, with broken and missing parts where the thing should just be burnt. The one redeeming feature is if it’s solid wood then anything is possible. When we turned up at the address, the house stood out from all the rest. The houses around it were very respectable, well kept gardens and lawn, but this house looked like it was the target for a bomb run, the house was grubby, the garden was overgrown and there was junk everywhere. At the end of this unruly mess was this dresser. From the road it looked okay, similar to ones we’ve had before, but when we got closer it was awful, cheap plastic film wood grain all over. There was a little real wood, but for once I said no, we’ve polished a few turds but I wasn’t going to start rubbing this one.

So we headed back, and I started on the long black dresser we picked up a couple of days ago. This one is going to need a bit of intensive care.

I fitted the tops to the two side tables and Kelli messaged the customers who wanted it.

Then we went for a bike ride, not a long one, our bottoms are not ready for any serious rides. We took notice of the garden arrangements that we passed, just trying to get ideas for when we tackle the front garden next year. I think it will need a lot of big boulders to give the space a bit of height, that should be fun moving those around.

Kelli was busy painting, keeping the production line busy, but the humidity was slowing down the drying time, so that did limit progress.

The call of the weeds was too strong for me, after I cut the grass on the back lawn, I threw myself down on my knees and prayed to the god of trowel and dirt clearing more of the overgrowth.

12th May 2024

It was Mother’s Day over here, so that tied up our afternoon going to Kelli’s Mother’s for an ice cream feast. It was a stonkingly warm day, one of the hottest of the year so far. We spent time doing more gardening, I continued to cut new shapes on the borders, the only issue there is it will need more plants to fill it. But we all want to create our personal piece of paradise, don’t we?

The customers arrived to collect the dresser from yesterday, always a good part of the day. I helped to get it into their vehicle, and handed them the little pot of touch up, they were surprised, it was like I was giving them the elixir of life, they were so appreciative.

11th May 2024

It was the day to get some serious gardening done. I had bought six rolls of edging to put around the beds to give some definition, so a lot of shaping was needed. There was a lot of grass and weeds growing so I found myself digging and removing that as a distraction to my main task. That is what gardening means to me, I just get distracted all the time, I see a weed and have to take it out, I should have a trowel attached to my belt at all times.

Then there is the question, what is a weed? I have no idea, I carry my phone with a plant identification app on it. That is a vital piece of technology, I have been known to dig up a perfectly good shrub and toss it in the bin, not anymore.

That was the main objective of the day, and boy, don’t my knees hurt.

We had a lady come to collect a wall cabinet that we gave to Greer a few years ago when she moved into her mobile home. Since she moved back to Grand Rapids her new apartment won’t allow anything to be attached to the walls, so she gave it back to us.

In true style, if it’s in the garage, it’s for sale, so yesterday Kelli posted it on marketplace and it sold straight away.

We also posted the latest dresser, and that sold immediately as well, but I have to put a couple more coats of finish before it gets collected tomorrow.

10th May 2024

We were off to collect our new breakfast set from Hudsonville. The road closures around Holland were horrendous, and with the extra traffic caused by Tulip time it was not the best day to be out.

But first Kelli had to collect an iron plant stand.

We have quite a varied collection of plants in the sunroom, and with a couple more she found at the side of the road a couple of days ago, we needed a stand for them. “Oh what luck” I thought “ that’s exactly what we need, another plant stand”. So picking that up we learned that the seller had been a customer of ours a couple of years back, so a small world.

Getting to Hudsonville by an arduous route we saw the furniture outside in a porch. I was worried it might be too big for the space, but thankfully it seemed okay.

We drove back and installed the furniture in our sun room, then we set about sanding and painting more pieces.

Late afternoon we had the customers arrive to collect the long white dresser we sold earlier in the week.