Another Lifetime to go

9th February 2024

I was getting a little concerned that we hadn’t sold anything so far this month. We had the dining table and chairs that we recently finished, but there was very little interest. We also had a number of pieces in various stages of work, but we really had to pull our finger out.

We still had the large mid century style dresser that although we had sold it at the end of last month. The buyer wanted us to repaint it black, which we did, but that didn’t count.

I was working furiously to get the long dresser we collected earlier this week, ready for Kelli to paint, but the prospect looked bleak.

It was in the afternoon that Kelli announced that we had sold the table and chairs to the same lady who had already bought a number of pieces that we were holding until March, so out of the gloom came a chink of light.

Kelli sent a picture of the repainted black dresser to the buyer, and she was so impressed she asked us to repaint two dressers she had, to match, the chink was getting bigger.

8th February 2024

The weather was remarkably spring like, I could work outside without gloves, and a runny nose.

I took the opportunity to trim the top from our latest dresser. One end had been hacked off and needed straightening. I did the same to the other end then bonded on a strip of oak to tidy it up. The top itself had a thin oak veneer so I had to be careful not to sand through it.

The month so far is really lean, so we’ve got a lot to catch up on, and the one we picked up yesterday with the Jackson Pollock paint job is going to take so much work to scrape that shit off.

No action on the table and chair set we finished yesterday, I hope they go soon as they take up so much room.

7th February 2024

There is nothing more infuriating than an ATM that won’t accept money, not that it happens to me because it alway works the other way round.

Kelli was trying to feed bills into a machine, it spat them back out. She tried to feed them one at a time, and it continued to happen. She started shouting at it, just in case there was a small person inside, but alas there wasn’t. The temperature inside the car was rising, there were no more money machines in the area, the next nearest was in the town, and she didn’t want to drive down there. I was trying to de-fuse the situation by giving a few dollars to see if that made any difference, but it didn’t, leading to more bad language. I thought she might do an Incredible Hulk and tear the unit out of the wall.

I felt for the car behind us, all they would see is her arm pushing in the notes in, waiting a few seconds and taking them out again, then the truck would rock, as her anger rose even higher.

We admitted defeat and headed to the town. There was a call to the Bank’s customer service, somewhere in America where Kelli gave a poor guy grief about the problem, and adding that they needed more machines, as that one was in the wrong place.

The whole episode was exhausting, as was what we had done before. There was a trip to Plato’s to sell more clothes from Kelli’s wardrobe,(yes it is that big) then on to a doctors appointment for more physical treatment, then back to Plato’s hoping to get her money, and any things they didn’t take, but they hadn’t finished sorting through her stuff.

Fortunately we had other places to go to, first to take a couple of return packages to the UPS store, and then to CD exchange to pick up some DVDs of The Big Bang Theory, yes we try to keep up with the latest trends.

Once that was done we drove back to Plato’s to complete the transaction.

All this, and we hadn’t even started our food shopping yet.

Once that was done there was a dresser to collect. This was an interesting piece. Covered in dribbles of pink paint, like the result of a giant sneeze.

Then it was back home to do some work. Phew!

6th February 2024

Today was our firearm training session at The Chick-Owa shooting range just outside of Holland. We loaded up our equipment and headed out.

First we met James our trainer, he took us through all the safety procedures and some simple maintenance steps. He was definitely well into it, he had a pistol in his belt, three in his bag and a couple in his truck, not to mention the armoury he had at home, definitely not someone to piss off.

Once the indoor stuff was done we moved down to the range. This is where the rubber hit the road. Two targets were stapled to a couple of plywood panels that didn’t have much plywood left. Then there was more training, the stance, how to hold the weapon, and then came the loud bit.

Kelli was the first to try, I wasn’t prepared for the noise, even though I had my ear defenders on, the crack was loud. Under instruction she fired off more rounds grouping them well around the centre of the target.

Then it was my turn, my hand were much larger than even the trainer’s so it was a challenge to hold it property. Once that was sorted, I fired my first shot, it went close to the centre, bloody amazing. Our session lasted three hours and between us we fired sixty shots, removing even more plywood, but although my grouping was slightly better, we were both pleased with our first attempt.

5th February 2024

Determined to get the dining table and chairs finished, I started early on the chairs getting them ready for a second coat. The table just needed assembling.

Just after lunchtime we set everything up and took the pictures, that was the extent of our activity for the day.

However we had driven over to the north side to collect a free dresser. This has a lot of things that need work, the top had been cut to fit against a wall, so a bit of repair needed there.

We took a couple of walks to the corner store, the dogs always know when it’s walk time, and run around in circles until I unhook their leads, then they line up so I can fit them over their noses. Phoebe nearly always does a poop along the way so it’s important that we have bags at the ready.

We stopped of at the local hardware store to pick up some ammunition for tomorrows training session, this could be fun, never thought it would be me doing this.

4th February 2024

I re-sanded the last chair, and sprayed it, it was another sunny day, and I didn’t mind having the garage door open.

We had done our weight training earlier, which usually makes it difficult to lift a fork at breakfast, but I got through that as well.

Kelli was in the kitchen all morning preparing the dinner for later and getting the dough together for yet another loaf of bread.

Over breakfast we listened to an interview with Whitney Webb a journalist who was the most amazing person, she was a walking reference book. The interview covered the Epstein story, and how all American and British politics all seemed to merge into one, complex but fascinating.

Then it was a walk with the dogs along by lake Mac, it was like a spring day except of the banks of packed snow along the roadside.

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

An odd arrangement, but fun to see Matt and Brenda for a while. I was given the task of changing the filters in her furnace which meant going into the basement, once Dave’s workshop, now an empty shell, that was the most difficult feeling, I was glad to climb the stairs again.

3rd February 2024

Oh joy another sunny day, but a cold night.

We took a walk around midnight, the folks over the road were sitting around a campfire. The smoke lay low compressed by the solid air above.

We both had trouble getting off to sleep, so taking a walk seemed to be the best answer rather than feeling sorry for ourselves. Even at night it’s a great neighbourhood, some were still up watching late night television, others were asleep I bet.

We walked in a loop, through a small park with children’s swings and climbing frames, equally as cold as we were.

When we got back the smoke was still trapped, but the people were gone. The house was the warm retreat we needed. Quickly we went back to bed, and thankfully we drifted off.

There had to be a reason for our irregular sleep,could it be the extra supplements she is taking? She racked her brain and came to a conclusion that she had been on tablet that should have contained vitamin D, but she had ordered, or was wrongly supplied one without.

Vitamin D is essential to good health, including sleep. Normally we get it from the sun, but in winter it had to be supplemented. So part of our day was to buy some. I should be taking it as well, I need to keep a strong immune system and the prescribed dose is between 5000 and 10000 thingys.

The stuff we bought were gummies, each one was 5000 so I had one and Kelli two.

“How do they get 5000 Dees in one gummy? it must be really small”

That led on to a long debate about the size of one vitamin D which led to no conclusion, and a strange look from the wife.

2nd February 2024

After an interesting night, Kelli continued to have troubled sleep, or more precisely, getting to sleep, she had to face the day.

I thought we had got though this stage. Many weeks had passed, her sleep had improved, and she had been keeping a log as proof. But this past week the bad times had returned.

I wasn’t that supportive, I needed sleep as well, and the thought of another period of nap taking was not received well by me.

Even the sun didn’t help, it still shone down on a frozen lake, and didn’t make it less frozen.

I had planned a lot of things to do, but didn’t want to do any of them, instead I sat in the garage sanding off paint from a chair that we painted yesterday. A bit of a wasted effort because there was some contamination that the paint didn’t cover.

1st February 2024

Well I didn’t spend the night on the couch. However both of us had another restless night, and even my breathing wasn’t the cause.

We tried to figure out what might be effecting our sleep pattern. I know there are waves and depths that we follow, and once we reach a certain point our brains say “ okay, it’s time to pee”.

But we didn’t let that ruin our day, I was glad to be alive, I did think that I might have to hold my breath all night, that is not a good look.

There is alway a voice that says “Are you awake?”

I answer “ Yes”

“ were you sleeping?”

“I was dozing”

“ you were sleeping”

“No I was just dozing”

“What’s the difference?”

“Okay I’m wide awake now” it’s a lot easier to say that than to answer twenty questions.

I eventually get up to let the dogs out, that burst of cold air hitting my warm body shocks me back to reality.

The dogs know when we’re awake, they have us trained well.

We concentrated on getting the parts of the table painted, carrying them into the house to dry, then it was the chairs.

There were a few paint issues that require further work, but that’s for another day, I was cold, and needed warming up.

31st January 2024

Last night I spent it on the sofa, not that we had an argument, but I kept Kelli awake, not with my snoring, just my breathing. I did offer to stop, but I thought it was detrimental to my life.

This doesn’t happen often, but Kelli can have bouts of super hearing, like when she can hear me sigh when I’ve been asked to do something. The trouble is I can be in the next street, it’s like living with a super hero.

She also has a keen sense of smell. We can be in bed when she will say “something smells” it can’t be me because I alway try to sleep downwind. Then it’s hunt the smell, usually it the rubbish under the sink, or the dogs have farted.

Ether way I’ve grown out of all those things, I only hear and smell what I want to.

However we both managed to sleep, and I must say my hair was not as ruffled as it usually is every morning. It must have been that crack at the back of the sofa where everything gets sucked into, I came back out with ten dollars in change, and decent hair.

We did our weekly shopping hoping that the shelves were full, unlike the Russian supermarket scene we had last week.

We did finally manage to sell the large dresser that had given me so much grief, however the buyer wanted the carcass painted black. I had no problem I would painted it sky blue pink to get the sale.