Another Lifetime to go

1st December 2023

We paid a second visit to the local humane society to take a look at another dog. Freddy, our first choice, was not suitable to hang out with our other dogs, as it was a bit highly strung.

We saw another one whose name was Peter, now if that’s not a potential opportunity for confusion, then nothing is.

We checked him out, and his profile mentioned that he would be good around other animals. We did view a pit bull mix, who was lovely, and also very strong, just a bit too lively for our home.

We learnt later in the evening that Peter had been adopted, that was disappointing, So we will foster a different pooch, but act much quicker.

I had to go to Kelli’s mums to wait for a repair man to arrive to look at her walking machine.

I had tried to look at it a few days ago, but didn’t have the knowledge or the test equipment to see what was wrong.

I was there just in case the machine had to be moved, so while I was waiting I removed the screw holding the plastic covers in place.

Once I removed them I could see all the components that worked the appliance.

I plugged it in, and switched it on. There was a red neon that lit up, proving that the switch and power supply were okay.

I was still confused, and tried to chase the cable from the electronics to the display on the top of the treadmill. I noticed there was a slot at the base of the display and then noticed the safety line hanging over one of the handles. This had a black plastic clip and an orange piece at the other end of a piece of cord. Then the penny dropped, the orange end should fit into the slot, which it did.

At that point the display burst into life, everything was working as it should.

I called out to Georgia, and showed her the working treadmill, explaining the purpose of the safety line.

“I’ve never used that line” she said indignantly.

“ It won’t work without it” I argued.

And so the discussion went on, she wouldn’t accept what I was telling her, and she swore that line was never fitted.

I left triumphant that I solved the problem, and Kelli messaged the guy not to bother to call.

That was that, we did get a call from her later to say that I was correct, and that the cord must have got pulled out by her grandchildren.

Anyway she is now able to do her daily exercise however long that lasts.

30th November 2023

There is a lot of talk on the independent media about the World Economic Forum (WEF) and its plans for “the great reset”. This is all about the world post Covid, and how the future of the world would look like. I won’t go into detail on this blog, but urge my reader to do their own research because the implications, should they be accepted by all world leaders could affect everyone.

Since I reeducated myself and done so much reading, both Kelli and myself are far more sceptical of what is newsworthy. With that in mind, we take most things we hear with a very large pinch of salt.

As long as it doesn’t stop me getting on a plane when I want to, I don’t care anymore.

The snow has gone, the slightly warmer weather has done its job, the garage door was open with the sun shining through.

I looked out towards Kelli’s wild garden and noticed that the bird bath had suffered a terrible accident. Half of the ceramic bath had broken off leaving the other half attached to the base column. Normally that should have fallen as well but it was held in balance by a block of ice.

I pointed it out to Kelli who immediately went over to investigate. She was horrified at what had happened, but she made the mistake of touching the ice with the lightest of touch.

It was just enough to disturb the balance and send the remaining part of the bird bath plummeting to earth breaking into many pieces.

She was now doubly horrified, but for me it was the funniest thing I had seen in ages, and I ribbed her all night long.

29th November 2023

We finally got to The Butler to have my birthday burger, it was delicious, I can’t wait for the next one in another fifteen years.

We got to the place early, it was so early we gave the chef a lift. That of course is not true, but we did get a parking space outside the main entrance. Inside, it was just how we remembered it, all white and grey, well that was the hair colours of the customers, so I fitted in well, Kelli, on the other hand stuck out like a sore thumb.

We had a table overlooking the water and the sun setting over the trees.

I managed to drink two pints of a wonderful amber ale, so by the end of the meal I was a bit merry, we carried out our doggie boxes with my tomorrows lunch the three feet to where the car was parked.

Saugatuck has its Christmas lights up already, making the high Street look like the main runway at Chicago airport.

Earlier in the day we did our shopping instead of Thursday. Magically it had everything that it had run out last week, no doubt a bout of panic buying.

We did a bit of work in the garage working on the mid century piece. The top that I stained a couple of days ago is taking an age to dry, a real drag.

28th November 2023

Today is my grandson’s eighth birthday so I gave him a FaceTime call. He’d had a good day with lots of his friends leaving him tired. It was good to see him again and reminded me of the birthdays with my boys. Maybe they weren’t as extravagant as Ethan’s but in our own way they were as fun.

There was more snow today, but it’s supposed to get a bit warmer over the next few days.

Working in the garage is hard because things take so long to dry. I had veneer work to do to two drawer fronts and a bit of sanding, and that was it, I’d had enough.

We took the dogs for a walk in the park, we are trying to do that every day so we don’t fester away, along with our hand weight training, it not exactly Rocky, but it’s good for us.

With all this cold weather we have the regular weekday starting of the neighbourhood car, and then leave them running for half an hour, which disturbs Kelli’s sleep. She really can hear a flea fart, it’s uncanny.

27th November 2023

We paid a visit to a local animal humane society because Kelli was tipped off about a poor dog that was up for adoption. Now we already have two dogs, and as one of them is getting on a bit we had agreed some time back that we would get a “cross over” animal to take its place.

Freddy is a boxer/bulldog/whippet cross(god knows how that happened) who had a rough life, which is always a sob story that Kelli falls for.

I agreed to go and see what was involved in the adoption process. Of course once we got there she found out that we should apply on line, but we did get a chance to see the poor beast.

Once we got back Kelli made the application, so now we wait.

We did manage to finish another dresser and get pictures outside in the cold.

The snow continued to flutter down all day, but it didn’t stop us taking the dogs for a walk. Both of us dressed appropriately in thick coats and scarves, a look that will be continued for the next few months.

It also heralded the breaking out of the fleece lined work trousers, these are so warm it keeps my legs nice and toasty unlike the rest of my body that feels like an iceberg.

26th November 2023

Snow was forecast today, I looked out of the window for warning signs, but the sky was grey but not threatening.

I had wood to cut up so I dragged the saw outside just as a few flakes of snow fluttered down.

We finished the chairs by reupholstering them in a black and white fabric. We had a lot of it left from a previous project, and we felt it looked good. We now hope they will sell quickly.

Kelli’s sleeping pattern has improved, she now averages seven hours a night, even when I have to get up to “splash me boots” she is able to get to sleep again.

It has taken us two years to get to this point, and I had no idea what a lack of sleep can do. I did not understand the healing qualities of sleep the body needs, and I had no idea that eating meat again could make such a difference. All I know is Kelli is back from her hell, there is still a way to go on her journey, but we now see progress.

25th November 2023

I finally got around to changing the cistern on the laundry room toilet. I had exhausted all excuses, and rather than antagonise Kelli any more, I rolled up my sleeves and set about the job.

I laid the instruction sheet out and followed it to the letter, even though I thought I didn’t need it.

At least over here there is alway a tap on the water supply line which makes maintenance very easy. I proceeded to take the old bits apart, getting covered in a black substance that stained my fingers.

It took about an hour to do the job, including the adjustments to optimise the water flow.

Triumphantly I carried the old cistern parts out to the rubbish bin and threw them in.

Once that was done I lightly sanded the chairs ready for another finish coat. These were originally from Asia so the timber was a strange combination of grains and colours, but once the seat pads are recovered from the brown vinyl they will look wonderful.

I collected all the drawer parts from the dresser we found on the street in Grand Rapids.

It had one complete drawer, two without fronts and one drawer missing, so this one will take some time to finish.

I also had some veneer repairs to a drawer front from the mid century piece to work on.

24th November 2023

Everything is back to normal, the fridge is full of leftovers and the city collected the rubbish.

It was time to get back to doing stuff in the garage.

It is now noticeably cold with the garage door open, cold enough for me to wear a hat, although the shape of my head causes the hat to slide up, making me look like an elf. This is amusing to Kelli who keeps motioning me to pull it down.

I had three drawers to make new floors for, so out came the table saw to cut up the large sheet of plywood. I had removed the old ones by knocking out the back piece of the drawer box. These were in a bad state and needed a bit of repair.

Kelli sprayed a coat of finish on the four chairs that I had stripped, and started work on yet another dresser.

Lunchtime meant a plate of leftover turkey, stuffing balls and red cabbage, yum yum.

Then back out in the cold to do more stuff.

Kelli put new knobs on the previous dresser we’d finished so we took new pictures and reposted it.

We got a bite straight away from a lady living in Florida who plans to move back to Holland in March, it would mean storing it until then, but hey ho! a sale is a sale.

23rd November 2023

It’s Thanksgiving and a day that will descend into chaos very quickly.

We, as the hosts had set out what each family member should contribute.

We would do the turkey, Matt would make mashed potato and a macaroni cheese, Brenda would do the red cabbage, German style, Cameron would bring an apple pie, Greer and Dylan bread rolls and flavoured butter and Kelli’s mum would bring the pumpkin pie.

That was the plan, Brenda failed at the first hurdle not getting the red cabbage. “ You only had one thing to do” was my controlled thought.

We were then informed that she “got” a jar of the same vegetable, so we walked along to collect it, but it then turned out that she didn’t have it.

She did however find a store open and bought one then delivered it to us. So we were able to prepare it and make it available for the Thanksgiving dinner.

The turkey turned out really well, much better than we thought of as it was our first one.

Everyone enjoyed the spread, noting especially how good my stuffing balls were.

I did have a few drinks, always a necessity at any family event.

But just like every special day, we tried to play a box game, but no one had played it before and nobody understood the rules, just like being in England

22nd November 2023

Thanksgiving Eve once again, a good time to buy food. Kelli had more things to take to Plato’s, a real case of “You again?”, but when her closest crosses into another time dimension, there will still be clothes that have been forgotten.

So there first, then Nature’s Market then Aldi.

Being spontaneous I suggest going to New Holland for lunch, it had been weeks since we were there last.

The day began with a young lady finally delivered a coffee table that needed some work. I say finally, because I have been waiting for it for over a year since first contacted, I had given up ever seeing it.

So now it was in front of me in all its glory, a two foot by four foot oak table.

I was given a full break down of what had happened, a flower pot sitting on it causing a small area of water damage. Normally a water stain can be treated with oxalic acid, but due to the construction there was small areas of blistering.

To do this job probably I will have to strip the whole top, a Herculean task because it was a patchwork of inset veneers. This will be either a triumph or disaster.

We expected the stores to be heaving, like the pre Christmas rush, but it was quite the opposite, although a lot of the items had sold out, like orange juice, that stuff grows on trees, for gawrd sake!

We finished the shopping, took it home to unload, then went for lunch.

Since we started eating meat again, the menu choice is vast now, and it was a spontaneous act, that’s the best, and the food tastes better.

I have spoken about the state of vehicles over here, and the one we saw today epitomises that.

Just in front of us was a black Jeep where the rust was working its way up from the ground. The drivers window was lowered with his hand out holding the roof sill. Every so often he tried to slam the door closed but failing every time. So he was driving along holding the door closed.

His best bet was to continually make a sharp right hand turn in order to keep the door shut.