Another Lifetime to go

28th September 2023

The mornings are dark making it difficult to estimate the time, especially through my squinted eyes. We finished our big breakfast that sets us up for the day, even though half of it has gone by the time we’re ready to start on things.

We went off for our bike ride, we took a route that would take us past the derelict farmhouse.

As we approached the site we were excited to see someone working.

Making our way down the driveway, not sure if the person was friendly or not, we were shocked to find it was Nate, the guy that owns the corner shop. He had bought the place five years ago, and it has take a long time to sort out all the legal stuff. The property sits on twenty acres, mostly overgrown, but a fabulous location.

Nate was jacking up the front porch to underpin and replace the rotting structure, no mean feat.

We had a long chat, but being aware we were stopping him digging the holes for the concrete piles, we bid him farewell and promised to check on progress.

The afternoon was short because we had arranged dinner with our friends Mike and Lesley, they were picking us up at 5.15pm, and on the dot they arrived. Kelli is a bit nervous of mikes driving, we think he’s still in England. He doesn’t often stop when the sign says STOP!

If nothing is coming he just drifts on through.

I have been tempted to do the same when there isn’t a car in sight. He also takes the strangest route getting to the town, still he hasn’t had any accidents, but he’s seen a few in his rear view mirror.(joke)

27th September 2023

There was another dresser to collect in Zeeland, a very tidy maple piece that should come out nice.

The weather was cloudy with an expectation of rain later in the day, but that never came.

I was busy working on two pieces at once in order to give Kelli something to work on.

I managed to stain and finish the top of the tall dresser that we got for free from Kelli’s mum’s neighbour.

I fitted legs to the free dresser we picked up a couple of days ago, and finished the repair to the drawer front.

On the way to collect the dresser we passed a farm market that we often see on the way to Allendale. We have never stopped there until today. Of course it’s pumpkin time again, so there were examples of all sizes and colours. These I can’t really see the point of. They grow for the whole year, then they are picked, carved and generally mutilated, then left to rot by the front door, sounds like a good use of peoples time to me.

So we looked around at all the produce, most of which were not grown on the farm, but Kelli did buy some honey for another batch of elderberry syrup.

26th September 2023

Rain was expected today, so the race was on to get things done.

I had a top to stain and graft a piece of wood into a damaged drawer front.

This drawer front came fro the piece that was covered in wood filler and this front was badly repaired

There were also eggs in the cooler outside the house on South Shore, which we collected on our bike ride.

There was also a bit of activity over at larry’s.

His lodger Don’s drinking has been getting out of control. We witnessed him staggering towards the basement door on many occasions, and last week he had to shuffle along on his ass because he was incapable of walking.

So I think that was when Larry decided Don needed help, and called on his friends to find a place for him.

There was a flurry of vehicles coming and going, but today they got his van going and drove it away.

So now our source of window entertainment has gone although we still have the question of where Larry goes several times a day.

The rain finally came just after 6.00pm. There was a frantic rushing around to put things under cover.

25th September 2023

It wasn’t a good night, maybe the excitement of the party hadn’t fully chilled out. On top of that Kelli wasn’t happy with the clothes choices that she made, and like the quick change artist made several transformations during the occasion.

We had to go out to collect some furniture that was posted on a free site. This was a bit out in the wild, but when we got there it was obviously the remains of a yard sale.

There were four dressers standing, ranging from, I wouldn’t be seen dead putting that in my vehicle, to such a shame you left it in the barn too long.

We chose the least of the crap. Someone had plastered wood filler into areas where the veneer was missing, and didn’t bother to sand it smooth. We loaded this sad piece into the truck and headed home.

I made a start immediately, I wanted to get the difficult stuff done first so Kelli has something to work on whilst I’m not here.

I decided to cut off the bad areas off and made some legs for it. Hopefully it will look a lot better than it did.

24th September 2023

The day of our party arrived, I ran down to the corner shop to buy ice to keep the beer and wine cool. Then a quick tidy up and we were ready. We had high expectations of who would turn up, and as alway, tried to cater for the number.

Although we asked our guests to bring a bottle I had bought a few to start things off, and pushed them deep into the ice.

Kelli had the Mac and cheese warming in the crock pot, and it was to prove popular.

The family were the first to arrive, but there was a little disappointment that several that we thought were positives didn’t make it.

I was pleased to see Tom Newhouse and his wife Jill and I spent time talking to them. The food selection that looked a bit light suddenly was more than sufficient. The wine was flowing, especially into my glass as I circled around talking to our friends. Then just as they arrived, they gradually left and the last die hards helped to pack away what was left of the food, and most of the drinks I had bought was still in the bucket.

It was the end of a fun day, both of us were exhausted, and crashed out for the evening.

23rd September 2023

We headed down to Saugatuck hoping to buy some Mac and cheese from the Farmhouse Deli. When we drove up to the car park it was deserted, which is unusual because the place is very popular, and their Mac and cheese is to die for. There was a notice on the door saying that the place was closed for the whole of September for renovation. That took the wind out of our sales, what were we to do?

The only option was to make our own. So back to Aldi for raw materials. We found a few other ideas and bought those to, but we still doubted that we had enough food.

Once we got back I re-grouted the paving to freshen up the patio and pathways.

Kelli started on the Mac and cheese. Soon the large pan was bubbling with the glorious concoction, the smell was wonderful.

We did a bit of cleaning up in the back garden before tiredness took over.

The kitchen will be busy tomorrow.

22nd September 2023

It is anniversary day, Kelli and I have been married five years, and what an interesting time it has been. We have been together every day for four years and none of us drove the other crazy, well almost.

There were times when I felt trapped over here, with Covid, and the residency process, then the vaccine restrictions, all of which were sent to try us. We try to laugh everyday and continue to re-love old furniture.

We plan a small party on Sunday with our friends, so on top of our weekly shopping we bought a shed load of party food and drink.

We did ask that people bring a bottle (not common practice here) we will see if that happens.

We cycled to the big lake, it was sunny and warm and the water looked great. There were many boats taking advantage of the good weather to burn up hundreds of gallons of petrol before they take them out of the water and into storage for the winter.

My trip back is getting closer, it will feel strange to fly again, for so long I didn’t think about distance, more about the time.

I’m sure the piles of leaves will still be here when I get back, there will be no reprieve from that task.

21st September 2023

All sorts of twists and turns today after a disturbed night. We might have got four hours, not ideal, and we couldn’t lay in because the chairs were being collected. This all happened before breakfast, and we were hungry.

After filling my tummy, I started on fitting the wire mesh into the two doors of the hutch.

Then the stop/start crazy lady arrived to collect the two dressers that she finally decided to buy. However then she saw the base unit for the hutch and fell in love with it. She asked how much it was and I gave her a price off the top of my head. I was thinking that she would buy that as well, the big problem was she didn’t want the top part, also Kelli didn’t want to separate them, she saw the hutch as a complete ensemble. This was uncharted territory, I was all for selling the complete piece then she can use all of it or just the base unit. We don’t usually worry about how a buyer uses it, but Kelli was adamant that it should go to someone who would use it as intended.

The messages went back and forth, until we decided to just refund the money for the small dresser and then draw a line under the whole episode.

Once that was over we finished the hutch, took pictures and posted it, I hope we can sell it.

20th September 2023

We woke to the news that the lady who bought the two small dressers yesterday decided that she didn’t want one of them. As she had already paid she wanted a refund. This sent Kelli off the deep end. Because sales have been slow what income we get goes straight out to pay for something, so giving a refund hurts us.

One part of her didn’t want to give the money back, but unless we publish our terms of business we couldn’t really do that, as it could be detrimental to our good name.

That was not a good start, but I had a doctors appointment, so things could get worse.

My main issue was blood pressure, and any treatment was focused on that. A week ago I did check it with my own device and it had dropped a bit, so I had an expectation of a good result.

That was born out by the check the doctor did.

Not only had my blood pressure dropped I had lost two and a half stone. This was a relief, and living without bread, grains and potatoes hasn’t been hard, because Kelli can create amazing meals.

I also had a bit of body tuning, a few clicks and snaps, and I was ready to get up and walk out.

I couldn’t wait to get started on something.

First we had to take a bike ride.

Then we heard that the lady who wanted a refund on the dresser, decided to buy it after all, this could only happen in America, because they’re indecisive, and feffin mad.

19th September 2023

I really thought it was Saturday, it felt and smelt like it, which shows how disoriented I am.

You would have thought I would have got over it by now, but with no actual reference point I drift from one day to another.

We had someone from Grand Rapids coming to collect our three drawer dresser and mirror. We were excited that some activity was happening after a week of nothing.

When she arrived she looked at all the other dressers we had and wanted all of them. Her husband tried to keep her on a tight rein, so she relented and focused on the one she had already paid for. The other one was promised to someone else who was due later, but Kelli promised to let her know if the sale didn’t happen.

We then had to drive to the north side to collect a free dresser from the Waukazoo area.

This was not a quality piece, but a simple paint job will make a difference, and although it won’t sell for much, it will help a bit.

We took it to Kelli’s mum to store until the space became available in our garage.

I gave a final coat of acrylic lacquer to the chairs, and Kelli started on the hutch.

The person who wanted the small white dresser failed to materialise, so Kelli call the lady who visited earlier, offering her a deal on the two small dressers and they were sold.