It has two massive flower spikes with many blossom branches coming off the main flower spike. The effect of all this vigour is that the orchid is at its peak just now. It was a pretty pathetic specimen when I bought it last year. The plant itself was nothing to write home about and the one and only small flower spike only had a few drying blossoms still clinging on for dear life.
orchid oncidiumLook at it today! It has made all my efforts really worth it. I have had to support the flower spikes with a few small bamboo sticks. It looks top heavy, doesn't it? It will be re-potted after the flower show is over.
The other orchid that started blooming in August is still going strong. That's three solid months of blossom from that orchid!
On another front, work has started on the damp in a back sitting room. Two south facing rooms have become increasingly and alarmingly damp in the last two years. As yesterday was another rainy day and The Man of the Place was prevented from working out side, he started in on the back sitting room. He disconnected and removed the radiator from the wall and started chipping away at the plaster.
Once the plaster was gone, we could see that a number of the bricks were obviously wet. See above photo with the very noticeable wet patches! My husband then started to remove the inner layer of bricks. Inside the wall cavity (the space between the inner and outer layer of bricks) the insulation that was blown in there at great expense a number of years ago was absolutely sodden. It could be squeezed and water would drip out! This was no longer a damp problem but a water-coming-in-from-somewhere problem. When the insulation was removed we could see that water was almost running inside the wall cavity from outside (it was raining quite heavily outside). It was my guess that water was running down the plate glass window and instead of running off outside, was getting channeled down the inside of the cavity wall. It is no wonder that the room was damp!
I think we'll have to take advice from the people who installed our windows years ago and/or advice from our old pal Kevin The Builder.I am so pleased and proud that I have a husband that can do things like repair our house. It is when a little home owner crisis such as this occurs he really does become The Man of the Place.
Himself having a bit of lunch.
Foot print in the plaster dust.
1 comment:
It's really nice to see your husband exert so much effort in repairing your house, right Peggy? It touched a special place in my heart when my husband did just that last year. And to reward him, I used my cash advance money to treat him to the most expensive dinner date we've ever had. You gotta show that you appreciate your man, you know. :)
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