Saturday, October 19, 2024

Saturday

Today, I was out and about, albeit cautiously. I took along the zyrtec, just in case, but it was not needed. Who knows what instigated yesterday, but it was a baddie. It is interesting to me that in the last couple years, it seems like I have had increasing problems with allergies. I don't know why that would be. 

Tim's been having increasing problems with his phone. The charging plug doesn't fit tightly any more, and so I sat down with you-tube, studied the problem and the antidote. A couple 'plackers' and I was pulling dust and dirt out. We got a can of compressed air, and voila! The cord fit nicely. Problem solved! Except for one tiny thing...now the phone won't take a charge at all. (Yay me!)

So...there is a new phone in Tim's future, and because we are dinosaurs, we are dreading it. He asked for one exactly like mine, because he was always more comfortable with my phone than his. I'm going to talk him into getting a case for it. I blame plaster dust and pocket lint for the failure of this phone. 


This is Comet A3. I think the picture is hilarious. It is entitled, "Oh no. Not again."

We drove to Olean today to talk to a specialist about the very old plaster walls in the renovation. Because the house had a huge hole in the roof, there was water damage on the second floor and we needed to do some structural repairs in the attic, replacing beams and the like. Let us agree to say that the house was a bit damper than it should have been. But it has the old fashioned plaster walls that really are like rock. What do you do with those? Upstairs, we have been drywalling directly over top of those concrete-like walls, mostly because the ceilings needed to be redone anyway due to water damage.

Down stairs, though, with the coffered ceilings and the beautiful leaded glass and hardwood floors and all, there was not any real water damage anywhere but the kitchen which we did gut right down to the studs. The rest of it though, those lovely solid hard as rock walls...except for some cracking. We wanted to talk about someone about how to do those up nicely while still hanging on to those perfectly good walls...well. Except for some cracking. 

Turns out this place was in a very old building, and they were great. They had the same sort of limestone plaster walls, and they were able to show us exactly what they did. Their walls looked very nice. They used a paintable base wallpaper, with the very slightest of texture. They painted it and it looks like the walls of an old cottage. Kind of a limewash paint effect: 


Although we are using a different color, more like a light copper color to coordinate with the dark wood trim and the fireplace. 

We are not completely sold on this color and may change our minds before it is all done.



In any case, that was today. Tim went hunting, and there have been no signs of the little possums today, which doesn't exactly break my heart any, although the little fellow seemed quite comfortable trotting himself out and getting a nibble, and then trotting himself back in as Tim stood there gaping in disbelief. He had time to call me out to take a look. The little guy leisurely ate as we both watched. I find myself wondering if maybe he got separated from his family somehow, and is on his own. Maybe it is not a family of them. Maybe it is just one. 

Maybe. 

But in any case, we need to figure out how to handle this situation. 

So...that was today. 

The week coming up might bring us some very welcome news. We are keeping our fingers crossed, but I don't want to jinx anything until the deal is done. 





29 comments:

  1. Good luck with your possible good news! I am still shaking in my boots about your possum. Meanwhile, sounds like you are talking to the right people about your plaster! Have a great weekend.

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    1. It is great when you come across people who know exactly what to do. To be able to see the product on the wall was also helpful.

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  2. I had a similar problem with my cell, without as much lint and stuff. I got a better, more expensive charger cord, and the plug into the cell's jack was tight like it was new. We thought I might need to get a new cell cuz the charger was intermittant in the jack, but it was the opposite. The charger plug was worn a little thin and wouldn't connect all the time into cell phone's jack spot. Good luck. I LOVE Otterbox cases. They have a little rubber on the edges to keep the cell from slipping out of a pocket, but also a little hinged rubber plug to keep lint and stuff from getting into the jack spot. Be sure and get a glassine cover too. Most phone store techs will put it all on for you. The glassine cover is tricky cuz you don't want a drop of dust under it. Linda in Kansas

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    1. No cord was working in Tim's. My guess is that traveling around in the pocket of a man sanding drywall took a toll on it. We bought a new phone and we got a case for it.

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  3. Possum problem solved by the sound of it. "They used a paintable base wallpaper, with the very slightest of texture." We used that in the 80s to cover over some rough walls, assuming it is the same. You hang in like wallpaper and then paint it. Ray called it anaglypta, my guess at the correct spelling. It was fine.

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    1. It was a great guess Andrew, and yes, it looks like we are talking about the same product.

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  4. I am looking forward to hearing more news about your pet possum 😁

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    1. actually it is against the law to keep wild animals as pets here. Of course...if you all agreed to keep my little secret...

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  5. I just realised I don't know what a possum looks like ( we obvs don't have them here 20 miles north of London).... so I looked them up......they are quite cute !

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    1. Obviously you didn't see a picture of a snarling possum. They creep the heck out of me. They have sharp teeth, and a lot of them.

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    2. Ha! Yeah, possums really are not cute at all. I bear them no ill will, but they have pretty nasty dispositions.

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  6. Good to retain good original plaster ..shows that the old style materials can last.
    I know of one potter who was flooded out recently who has cleared out all the modern materials that got trashed by the waters and is rebuilding with old style materials...as other older buildings around him survived a little better...and he can afford it, unlike things from builders merchants.
    Paintable base paper sounds like what I'd call lining paper that you can paint or paper over

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    1. This has the slightest of a texture, and is meant to be painted. You can buy the same product which is unpaintable and meant to be papered over. We don't want to wall paper twice! So we will paper and paint. But we are talking about the same product. We began putting it up today, and it really looks pretty nice.

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  7. Hope the good news comes through. There's always lots going on in your world.🙂

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  8. My only suggestion about possum is: trap and release, call in animal control! 🤷
    Wall coverings: got nothing there, as well!

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    1. We don't have an animal control. People take care of this stuff themselves.

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  9. I thought Possums lived in Australia.

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    1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia_opossum

      Different possum Dave!

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  10. We have a similar situation in our house with walls. Cracking for sure. But like yours- rock hard.
    My daughter Lily wants a pet possum so much but you have to have a permit or something to keep a possum around here. Thank goodness or she'd have five of them, at least.

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    1. I actually think it is against the law to keep wild animals as pets. And...I don't want a possum. Even though this little fellow is cute. But...no. I can get in enough trouble without adding a possum to the mix.

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  11. I grew up with old, cracked plaster walls. They were covered with peeling wallpaper when we moved in so the cracks weren't apparaent. Dad patched them as best he could. apparent. Kids were sure there were dead bodies behind the lathe, because of the horsehair used in the plaster sticking out in the broken places.

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    1. LOL. These walls are rock solid. Tim feels that the house settled. I don't think that. I think it was open to the elements for so long that the moisture caused the walls to develop cracks. But of course, Tim's take on it is the correct one. Tim was afraid that if we just patched and painted the walls, new cracks would appear and the new owner would be upset and thinking we sold them a crap house.

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  12. A new phone sounds exciting to me. The walls don’t. And the possum really doesn’t.

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    1. Whoooo boy. I wish you were here, AC. I would have handed the whole mess off to you. As it was, I was on the phone for over an hour. Result? New phone broken.

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  13. My daughter used that paintable underlayer wallpaper before she repainted all the walls in her 150 year old house. She did it ten or more years ago and it still is lovely.

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  14. That's really good to know, Joanne. We started putting it up today. We are pleased with it so far.

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  15. Just a returning thought..as we get older, allergies can worsen or even appear when you have been problem free all your life...

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I'm glad you're here!

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