More stripping 8 & 9 February 2014

Just Justin and I for the weekend this time.

We took the ute, and took the glass shower screen from Gavin, which we've now put stored in the back hallway.

Justin did some work up in the study on Saturday afternoon.

hard at work

And given that I had so much fun last time, I did some more stripping - wall paper that is.

I had pretty much finished off the small rooms upstairs (with the exception of the ceilings) - so I started back in the upstairs hallway.  The wallpaper here is a faux marble effect

ready for more stripping

When I stripped off the wallpaper above the door to the little room leading onto the veranda (on the false wall) the wallpaper was stuck onto hessian revealing the boards underneath

hessian backed

And there were actually two layers of wallpaper on the hessian : the faux marble wallpaper on top

faux marble

And a lovely two tone floral paper underneath

hidden wallpaper

close up

I wonder why it's "sanitary"

completed section

Anyway I made quite a mess, dust, grit, paper, and water - as this wallpaper didn't come off as easily as in the smaller rooms.  I had to use a wet sponge and scraper, and could only get small bits off at once, ending up with a papier mache type mess on the floor.  Cleaned it up though'

Finished up around 5 or so, and decided on drinks and nibbles in a new spot.

Justin reading the paper while waiting
(photo taken through dining room window)

I made up a nice platter for us, G&T, cheese, olives, smoked mussels etc

getting ready

reading the Sturday quiz

As I felt both gritty and grotty I had a shower before dinner, and was surprised to hear voices when I got out.  It was Nicole who had dropped in to say hello and see if we wanted to go to the pub with her and Damian for dinner that night.  As we had already planned to go to the pub for dinner, that fitted in nicely with us, and we walked up there together.

A couple of Damian's lawn bowls friends joined us - Bruce and Joan - who had just bought a house on the "Toorak side of the Loddon"

We had a pleasant evening there, and then back to our place with Damian & Nicole.  A few more drinks  by candlelight on the veranda.  And of course Justin brought out his guitar.

Bacon and eggs for breakfast, more watering the garden by me, and then also more wallpaper stripping, still in the upstairs hallway.  There was water damage and some mould on the left hand side.  Looks quite awful, - worse in the photos than in real life I think

water damage on ceiling

 

bit of a mess

I've started stripping over the arch

and also started stripping next to the doorway

 
Here are some more photos of the various wallpaper borders in the hallway:-

Border #1

border #1 - different section

hidden border (under other wallpaper)

more hidden borders

some wallpaper from the veranda room

Justin and I also can't agree on the small room at the end - leading onto the veranda

small room leading onto the veranda #1

small room leading onto the veranda #2

Justin wants to rip down the "temporary" timber wall, to get rid of the room and further open up the hallway - letting in more light.  Conversely, I would prefer for the room to remain, but to put glass up the top, or next to the door to allow more light through.  Light can be a bit of a problem up in the hallway, as on dull days, it's quite dark up there.  Anyway, it's a stalemate at the moment.

 Justin also  did some digging with Damian's trenching shovel

It's a bit hard to tell, but it's a shot of Justin digging
(photo taken from an upstairs window)

a good size trench

 

Fear of falling backwards Feb 1 & 2 2014

Just me and Mum back in Inglewood for the weekend, and it was hot again!!  I took the below photo at the Inglewood Emporium on Saturday afternoon.  This thermometer is on their outside wall, in the shade under the veranda - and shows 46 degrees celsius.  Like a couple of weeks ago with Justin and the kids it was baking hot!

now that's hot!

Mum and I arrived Friday night (after Fraser's cricket game), passing a lot of trucks along the way.  Got up nice and early on Saturday and watered the garden before it got too hot.  There are definitely improvements from prior watering, green grass around the fruit trees...

patches of green

New leaves on the fruit trees...

new leaves on the pear tree

and revitalised front garden artichoke.

artichoke re-growth

But the fruit remaining on the trees ie plums have continued to shrivel into custom made prunes

prune tree

And the ground is so crunchy and dry

this was once green

I have taken to stepping on the brown leaf fronds from the hoop pine, as I figure that crunching them into the ground, pulverising them into dust, will at least be some type of mulch

hoop pine mulch

After the watering, I gave Mum another ipad lesson, and took some photos with her ipad to include in some emails that she was sending

Mum #1

Mum #2

I then put a yabby net into the reservoir. The reservoir was even smaller (they use the water for the footy ground and grass tennis courts).  The spot that I had caught 2 yabbies previously was now much shallower.  I looked for another deeper spot, but couldn't really find one, so had to compromise with a relatively shallow position.  Nevertheless, I was feeling hopeful for some yabbies for entree.

shrunken reservoir

 After this we basically stayed inside, as the house was reasonably comfortable downstairs.  Had a simple lunch

Saturday lunch

And then I ventured upstairs into the sauna for some more wall paper stripping.  And hence the title of this blog entry.  This time I was stripping wallpaper up the ladder, and although perfectly safe, given that I was up near the top of the ladder, I sometimes felt an unreasonable fear of falling off backwards.  This of course didn't happen, and I also made sure I didn't lean out, or over too far, better to climb down the ladder and move it.  I think we'll go for scaffolding for the ceilings - both for wall paper removal and crack patching etc. Perhaps this will be an Easter job

ceiling wallpaper  from the new "bathroom"

wallpaper ceiling border

Worked on this for some hours, dripping sweat, and then went and checked the yabby nets - nothing!!!

Knocked off, and had a well deserved G&T with Mum in the dining room while playing a game of scrabble.

scrabble & G&Ts

Showered and changed out of my work clothes and felt a lot better, and then off to Kingower.

Mum - changed into her glad rags

On the way to Kingower

We drove  into the blinding sun, my vision not helped by kamakazi insects squashed on the windscreen. This is why we had come this weekend - to see The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel movie on the Village Green.  We saw 2 kangaroos on the road far enough away to be no problem, and another on the way back in the middle of the road which had obviously been hit by a car.  Was able to drive around it.

We got there just after 8pm, and Terry was setting up, nobody else was there as yet.  We were offered a glass of icy champagne and gratefully received it.

Mum in pride of place (facing the wrong way)

The Village Green

 

Terry setting up

 A smaller group than normal - David & Arelene, Damien ( Nicole was still overseas), Daniel, Bev & Allan, Chrissie & Mark - that was about all.  I had wondered if it would have been cancelled due to the weather - it was still quite hot (but nice enough in the shade).  Terry scoffed at that, of course it was going to be on.

Anyway, the movie was lovely.  I'd seen it before with Mum, but it was just as enjoyable watching it a 2nd time.  By this stage the temperature was very pleasant, there was no wind, it was a clear night, and the stars were very bright.  

Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

I guess the film finished around 10.30/11pm, and I started to pack up, as I assumed Mum would just want to go back to the house.   But some of the others were settling in for a chat, and asked us to stay a bit longer.  I asked Mum if she wanted to stay, she did, so we did, and continued our lovely evening.

Sunday, and Mum slept in (she'd taken a while to get to sleep), so I watered the garden solo.  

More Ipad lessons

Sunday Ipad lessons

I still wanted to catch some yabbies, - so threw in the net in a deeper spot that I found

deeper yabby spot

But alas, still no luck, not a single yabby.  Mum and I had researched on the ipad that sometimes yabbies just disappear, there one week, and gone the next.  I wonder if this is what happened.  But you can bet that I'll try again somewhere else next time.

And more wallpaper stripping for me.  I finished the room apart from the ceiling.  I was quite pleased with myself.

see, it's a pretty high ladder

unwallpapered walls #1

unwallpapered walls #2

      

I also wanted to say that last Sunday I saw an article in the Sunday Age about a rather nice looking mini mansion in Caulfield

Caulfield mini mansion

But what piqued my interest was the photo on the next page of the tiles in the entrance hall, as they are very similar to ours