Life...

[fajrdrako]

Many very distressing and bad things have happened lately, but I don't want to talk about them. The good things? Well - I have a beautiful, beautiful new computer that is faster and better and even cheaper than I had dreamed or hoped. I have a new refrigerator.

I have at last reached the point where my ankle is enough better that I can move around my apartment freely, albeit with a terrific limp. I cooked a meal yesterday. I have rearranged and cleaned up my living room as I do desperately wanted to do, and vacuumed all by myself. I have new clothes so I can look good.

Good times, bad times. It's the way life goes.

Comments

[walkingowl.livejournal.com]

I feel for you. Last night I tackled a clean-up in the corner of my back living room, the one that is a closed-in porch -- that is, it sits not on foundation, but on a concrete slab under the flooring. The one corner leaks water. I have a dehumidifier going there nonstop. I recently found out that the problem is that the wall itself is leaking: the back yard is where the well and cistern are, and the gound near the foundation is sopping wet! For instance, yesterday I pulled out jewel-weed there: the stalks were over an inch across (jewel-weed rarely gets bigger around than a pencil; it grows in pervasively damp ground) (and its juice is good for poison ivy, fyi). This was a veritable jewel-weed garden! And, right inside from that spot, seeping moisture messing up my living room.

To be specific, messing up two of my bookcases. I had thought they were safely moved out of range. Not so. I took the books off them last night, and found that much dampness existed, alas. Know any ways to dry out damp books, remove the moldy smell? Sigh! And... well, the bottom shelf on the one bookcase got so damp that it fell apart under the weight of the books. I may have to just throw it out. (It's wood; there will be a bonfire to mark its passing!) I was much surprised.

I am glad that your broken-up flooring will soon be neat and pretty again. Wish me luck on my damp corner!

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

If the books are actually mouldy, there's no solution except to trash them, or the mould will spread. I had to do that when I was in the basement apartment on Carling. If it's just damp but not mouldy (and smells okay), you can put tissues between the pages, or use a hairdrying on the individual pages.

If you get dampness, things rot.

Good luck in drying out your damp spot!

[walkingowl.livejournal.com]

Hmm. Thanks for the tips. I will try to save the books -- hoping no mold, just damp. But, alas, the corner smells musty, so... doesn't look good.

Thanks for the good wishes. I think it would help if one could dig away outside and then coat the foundation stones with something...! Quite a quandary, really.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Smelling musty is not a good sign, but the book might still be salvagable.

When I was living on Carling, some of the books by the window got mouldy. Black mould. There was nothing to do but pitch them.