Another Lifetime to go

31st December 2023

Oh another rip roaring day, New Year’s Eve.

It started off with a walk to the corner shop for a loaf of bread. “Can you get a tub of yogurt “ I just wasn’t quick enough to get through the front door.

Getting to the shop it was practically deserted apart from a young girl cashier. I found some almond milk yogurt and opened the safe to get the bread. It’s so damn expensive, and small. Each slice is the size of a cream cracker. I have to gnaw it carefully making sure my fingers are out of the way. I made my way to the register, but was pipped to the post by a lady in her jogging gear who appeared from nowhere.

She packed her energy drink and protein bar into a back pack and ran off.

I made my way back nibbling a snickers bar, just to give me energy of course, carefully hiding the wrapper in my pocket.

Now we were set for breakfast.

We went to Mike and Lesley’s for the evening, with sausages rolls and mince pies and other wonderful food that a year ago we wouldn’t have eaten, oh how things change.

There is always high expectations for what the new year will bring. With conflict in Ukraine continuing, and the war in Israel and the US Presidential elections it’s going to be an inexhaustible supply of lies and censorship.

I still find it difficult to believe that we have reach this point, the super rich always want more, if they can’t have money they want power, and the people give it to them.

One day there will be truth again, we will find out about when Covid originated and what the long term effects of the vaccine does to people. But it will take us all to open our minds and read between the lines, and hold those who have deceived us accountable.

30th December 2023

We finally got the buffet finished and took pictures, and Kelli posted it on Facebook.

She also put a post of a “items for free” site asking for any old furniture items that people don’t want we would collect and recycle. During the day we had two requests, one was to refinish an old cedar chest and another of two matching side tables, which we collected.

There is alway a chance that we will get some crap pieces, but we would have to deal with that when it arises, but getting free stuff is good.

We did our usual walk with the dogs in the morning sunshine, but we are now in winter, and when the sun hides behind the clouds, the cold hits the face.

I started the reconstruction of the footboard.

This is going to be a slow laborious job using a lot of Bondo to fill holes and missing bits.

We had the customers come and collect the dresser we had been holding, they were happy with it, it’s alway a tense moment when they see it for real, but so far we’ve had very few people change their minds.

29th December 2023

I had to drive to the nearest ATM to get out some cash. I go to a credit union because they don’t charge a fee like the other banks do.

But like most ATM’s there are other customers using them. I position myself so I can slip in once they are finished. My transaction usually take about a minute and a half, but these people were taking ages. They first check their balance, then that have to contact the cashier, then they chat for ever, all the time I’m trying to guess who has less to talk about. Eventually one moves off very slowly and I drive really close to the machine, so I can open the window and reach across to slip my card into the slot. If you don’t get close you then have to open the door and lean across, but of course the seat belt is holding you back, so that has to be unbuckled. It is always advisable to put the vehicle into park or you could move forward and not be able to reach the money or retrieve the card, all of which I have done in the past.

Most of the time Kelli is driving so I have to get out and walk through the drive thru, I have not done that at a fast food place, but I would love to try it one day.

We continued work on a bed frame, I had removed one part of the foot board because it was loose, but now I tried to do the same with the other end as it to was loose.

I was hitting it with a mallet and prizing it with a crow bar, but it wouldn’t budge. I had to get more physical with it. Kelli was on the phone to Greer but looking a bit concerned at what I was doing. I was also concerned at what I was doing, but I was committed. Finally there was a cracking sound as the curved plywood panel snapped, “Shit” I uttered, Kelli rolled her eyes as only she could, this was going to take longer than I thought.

“Well it will be a much better job when I finished” I announced, as I set about cleaning out the splintered plywood.

28th December 2023

The lure of the dollar store was too strong for Kelli, she went off on her own this morning to get more stuff. I had other things to do that were far more important, like watching birds eat seed, or something equally absorbing. I was able to have my music up nice and loud until she came back and then the speaker mysteriously dropped to half volume. Now it wasn’t anything that she did, it just decided to run out of battery power. The Bluetooth speaker I spent a lot of money on has only two hours of battery storage, what a pile of crop. If Elon Musk manufactured it, it would have lasted a week, come on Elon get your finger out.

Kelli still has a love hate relationship with the Dyson, it is either full of crap or out of power, now that is HIS fault. I know it’s not the best design in the world, it’s a case of form over function, but at the end of the day it needs emptying or bloody charging.

Today was the first full day of Kelli’s wound being exposed to the air, well it should have been, she was nervous that it might catch on her clothes so she insisted on covering it up for a bit and then exposing it for a short time, a bit like a flasher. Anyway she wasn’t listening to me, she kept saying to me “well you’re not a real doctor”, and I have to admit that the only medical experience I have was watching Casualty.

But there is a long road to proper healing, and with Kelli it will be a bloody long one.

27th December 2023

Kelli plucked up the courage to have the staples out of her arm.

We drove to the hospital, parked the truck and into the Emergency room.

We passed security, that place is loaded with security, you couldn’t steal a plaster in that place.

She signed in and then took a seat, there were a few souls in front of us. We played the game of “guess what they’re in for”. One by one they were called in. One big guy shuffled to the door, we decided he had a staple in his scrote. The next one was in a wheelchair pushed by his wife or mother, he was holding a towel to his ear, we thought he was trying to pierce his ear with a staple gun. Of course we never knew the result even though I tried to read what was on a large monitor screen inside the room.

Then it was our turn, they led us into a side room where Kelli had to put on a gown. A few minutes later two kids, entered, one looked fifteen, the other twelve. The fifteen year old had the staple removal tool. She explained the twelve year old was shadowing her, just our luck, the trainee was training another trainee.

The procedure to remove staples began. The first one made Kelli whence, it dropped into the tray, then one by one they followed. There was stage when the twelve year old was going to remove the last couple, but Kelli was not having it. It was bad enough having a kid doing the job, but to let her little brother have a go, was not happening.

The wound looked good, but there was a bit of blood where the staples were, which was not surprising. She was advised to let the wound breathe, but the thought that it might catch on some clothes, well, maybe not yet. We saw a drawer labelled with “Band aid” so I pulled it open and took out the largest one and placed it over the staple less wound, then we left by a side door, fortunately the drawer was not alarmed, so we didn’t get accosted by security.

26th December 2023

As there is no Boxing Day over here, it’s back to work for everyone.

We had run out of a few things, so I volunteered to walk to the corner shop.

The air was clean, taking deep breaths, I could feel the scale peeling off my lungs, it felt good.

It was quiet, no cars passed me, I could see the lake between the houses, it looked grey and cold. I walked past a plot of land that had a sale sign planted in the ground. It was someone’s garden, a sign that the home owner couldn’t be bothered to cut the grass anymore, so it’s easier to sell it.

It is priced at $179,000 for a patch of land next to a main road, where you can only catch a glimpse of the lake, someone will buy it.

I walked around the store selecting the items that Kelli had written on a scrap of paper, this list had grown considerably once I had agreed to go. The lighting inside is so bright, they should issue welding goggles at the door, it hurts, the song “ blinded by the light” is appropriate.

I get to the checkout and cheery Brenda asks all sorts of questions “How was your Christmas?” and “whatcha doin today?” I could barely speak, my mind was telling me to get out of there before my eyes melt.

As I left I realised that I didn’t even buy my Snickers bar to nibble on the walk back, a sneaky pleasure and personal reward for making the trip. That was because I had eaten so many since yesterday as Kelli bought me a packet of mini bars from the Dollar store, so the guilt of eating them at every opportunity was foremost in my mind.

Getting back home I sat and enjoyed the warm lighting of our Christmas tree.

I laughed to my self because it’s tall and thin, it looks like it’s passed through the chipper already, but it suits us, we are supportive of the underdog.

We did finally do a bit of work in the garage, working on a buffet where I stripped the top and shelf and Kelli sanded and primed the body. I’m struggling to get motivated at the moment, although it’s not cold, there is still an effort to leave the warmth of the house. Once I’m out there I get used to it, but the dripping nose that runs constantly reminds me that it’s warmer inside.

I did another job that is essential but boring, cleaning out the gutters. This rates just below collecting dog poop, but with all the trees around they get full and clog up the down pipes.

Putting on my rubber gloves, I open the short step ladder and start the scooping, filling my large bucket several times, rather satisfying I find.

Kelli has finished painting the buffet, I help with the drawers and doors. My job is to place the pieces on a large cardboard box so that she can spray them from her seated position. She has a seat with castors that she rolls around on, it’s our version of robotic painting, she’s already worn out one of them.

Finally it’s done, we can close everything up and go in the house, into the warm, where the dogs are sleeping and the food is simmering, it’s been a long day.

25th December 2023

So the day began, a good breakfast of waffles, scrambled egg and bacon, followed by a flurry of present openings, and that was that.

The prospect of the Christmas lunch at Kelli’s mum loomed, so we went for a walk. I was expecting to see all the children in the area playing outside with their new toys, but there were none about.

Kelli had made a sponge yesterday, so today we had to turn it into a Victoria sandwich. My job was to make the cut to separate top and bottom.

My plan was to place the cake on a flat surface, and find something that was half the thickness, place a knife on top and rotate the cake thus making the straight cut. At Kelli’s suggestion, I kept the cake on the plastic base of the cake cover. Needless to say it didn’t work to plan as there was an area in the middle that the knife didn’t quite reach, so when we removed the top piece it took a chunk of the bottom with it.

We were left with filling it with jam and cream.

Carefully we fitted the top section, which cracked in a couple of places, but they were covered up with powdered sugar.

So we had a sponge cake with a replica of the San Andras fault now filled with jam and cream, and a top surface that looked like the result of an earthquake covered with white sugar, but it tasted wonderful.

Around 3.00pm I had a FaceTime with Ryan and Louise plus Marlo, Amelie and boyfriend Luke.

Alway good to see them all.

At 4.00pm we headed off for our family Christmas dinner.

The red wine certainly helped, I was happy, everyone had a good time, and the food was great.

It’s amazing how tired you get doing nothing, I was shattered when we got back, falling asleep on the sofa, but hang on, that was probably the wine, mmm now I remember.

I want to wish my reader a very merry Christmas, and if there is more, I wish you both a very merry Christmas.

24th December 2023

It was Christmas Eve and I didn’t feel like doing anything. I did however give another coat of finish to the two side table tops, but that’s all.

I had a two hour Skype call with my friend Martin. It’s is always a real “down to earth” talk with him. This year is a progressively down one for him, I’ve seen him bad, but not like this.

He has been an inspiration for me because he has achieved so much despite his disability.

He has made metal furniture, woodwork, rebuilt a derelict school house, surrealist paintings and repairing old clocks. His tragic life started at the age of seven when he was diagnosed with Tourette’s, at the age of nineteen he was given experimental drugs that changed his life forever.

I have known him for thirty years, meeting him at a furniture exhibition at Earles Court where he was exhibiting his metal furniture.

He invited me to see his workshop in Essex and we’ve been friends ever since.

He told me his life story, he had done things I could believe, and his sense of humour made me cry with laughter so many times.

I hate to see him in such pain, and I know in my heart he will soon be released from that.

Every morning I have the job of putting a fresh dressing on Kelli’s wound, I take pictures of it so she can see the healing process, we have a few more days before the staples are removed.

We also sold the latest dresser to be collect at the end of the week.

23rd December 2023

It was a bit of a rush around today, getting petrol, moving a piece of furniture out from storage to the garage to start work on, and taking pictures of the latest dresser.

The main event of the day was visiting the new Dollar General store.

Let me make it clear, I hate those places, I have to wear a disguise just to walk through the door.

It’s the place where things never get stolen, no one shoplifts from a dollar store. Can you imagine being attested for stealing something that costs a dollar? No thief could take the humiliation.

Anyway this store opened up in place of Blockbuster that has disappeared from the planet. We pass it all the time but never wanting to go in, until today. Kelli needed some sticky tape to wrap presents, and we couldn’t be bothered to go into the town. Once we entered this emporium of cheap shit, Kelli’s eyes lit up.

They do this every time we enter a store, but today was different. She found the tape but realised there were a lot more things she could get. Dog toys, dog bones were just some of things that went into the basket, followed by washing powder and a large bag of M&M’s.

Noticeable not everything was a dollar, which in my opinion is misleading, some were two and even three.

That is when we decided that we would go round the place separately buying crap for each other to put in our Christmas stockings.

I went round finding sweets and cheap stuff, I came across some “Gas relief” pills, I nearly got them but I was too embarrassed to take them to the checkout.

22nd December 2023

Kelli had some shopping to do, so this gave me the opportunity to check out the refurbished Starbucks where the old Mall used to be.

It seemed that a lot of money had been spent making the inside smaller.

I used to visit the Mall whenever I came over on business, it was great, I bought a lot of CD’s and Levi’s 501’s, but it slowly declined and now part of it is used by Hope college, the rest is a collection of uninteresting shops.

I guess the great wheel of progress keeps turning.

It was a rare event that I had to drink two coffee waiting for Kelli. The traffic was really bad as everyone seemed to be leaving work early and rushing out to buy their Christmas presents, yes, it’s the same the world over.