30 August 2017

Stones and cones

Just as the latest heat wave was a-building, our neighbor's house was undergoing major work. The neighbor, a woman who lives year-round in the Paris area and spends just a few weeks here in summertime, had cleared out a day or two earlier. Now I understand why. This is the exterior wall of her bedroom.


The house is an old farmhouse. The late husband of the neighbor grew up there, and his mother lived in the house until about 10 years ago. She passed away at the age of 95 after spending a few years in a retirement home. Six of our neighbors have died since we came to live here in 2003. Four of them were in their 90s.


I don't know why the "render" (sheathing) needed to be taken off this wall. It looks like the wooden ceiling beams that are set into the stones might be rotting. Maybe the wall was no longer waterproof and moisture caused damage.

If you saw Walt's blog post yesterday, you've seen Tasha the Shetland sheepdog puppy in her neck collar-cone. I took this one early one morning this week.

By the way, yesterday the temperature hit 95ºF (35ºC) at least. Sometime around four o'clock in the afternoon I just took to my bed with no covers and the fan blowing on me. I slept for two or three hours. Then I got up, watched some news on CNN about Houston and the flooding, and went back to bed at nine. I slept. I hate to complain about our weather when I see videos of the disaster in Texas. Today, our high temperature is supposed to be much, much cooler than yesterday's. Relief...

25 comments:

  1. Yes, it was nice in Paris too:-)

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    1. I bet your heat was on and the radiators were hot! Did you get up to 26ºC in your place the way we did here? Thanks goodness there's a cool breeze this morning.

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    2. Yes, I keep the thermostat at 25°C at all times :—)

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    3. As you know, we keep ours at 18.5ºC. So 26 in the house feels like an oven. Luckily, today the temperature is only 22.

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    4. I feel more comfortable in an oven than in a freezer.

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    5. Just to be clear, when I said 22 degrees I meant centigrade. That's about 72 in ºF. Not exactly a freezer... I'm glad you enjoy the heat and I hope your boiler keeps the temperature up. It's very comfortable here today at 24ºC in the house.

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    6. Well, to be as clear, 26°C is not an oven either :—)

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    7. MDR, CHM. When you can't open the windows without making it hotter in the house rather than cooler, I call that an oven.

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    8. Maybe you should consider moving, lock, stock and barrel, to Spitzbergen! :—)

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  2. Poor Tasha. Bless! When do her stitches come out?

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    1. A week from today. Now she's showing symptoms of a bladder infection. Trying to pee several times every hour but nothing coming out (except when she's in the house!). We have an appointment with the vet this afternoon.

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  3. Poor old Tasha. She can't win at the moment. It must be hot in the cone too.

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    1. It has really cooled down today. We'll see what the vet has to say this afternoon.

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  4. Oh, no! I hope that sweet little Tasha will feel better soon. And, I'm so sorry to hear of your oppressive heat. Yuck. Very glad it should be better today for you.
    Judy

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    1. We have an appointment at the vets' at 4:30 this afternoon. It's probably a bacterial infection that can be treated with antibiotics.

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  5. I like the looks of the stones making up the house wall. It’s amazing that the different sizes of rock have worked so well for so long. I guess the mortar is the important part to hold the wall up.

    I hope Tasha gets well soon, poor baby girl!

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    1. Dr. Nourdin prescribed an anti-inflammatory and an antibiotic this afternoon. He said it was unlikely that Natasha has bladder stones at such a young age.

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  6. We were 95 degrees and 60% humidity yesterday. Going up to 100 later in the week.

    chm and Ken your repartee at the beginning of the comments was too funny! Weather says Paris is 77 degrees today, sweater weather for chm, lol.

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    1. I'm still in shorts and a T-shirt here in Saint-Aignan. There was a nice cool breeze today, and even a little bit of rain this afternoon. Very civilized.

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    2. I'm seriously considering getting an air conditioner of some kind. Even with the U.S. dollar falling like a rock under the Donald's leadership.

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    3. Ken they make free-standing ones now that work pretty well; you've probably seen them. Not too pricey either. Yes, it'll probably be at $1.45 before his majesty is done. ;-)

      Have you ever seen photos of his Versailles-in-the-sky?

      http://www.idesignarch.com/inside-donald-and-melania-trumps-manhattan-apartment-mansion/

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    4. Thanks for the link, David.

      All this fake furniture is probably made in Mexico. Sad. If bad taste killed, he'd be dead by now!

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  7. Bless her heart, I have had my fair share of bladder and kidney infections, they make a person/pup miserable. Glad she has the meds, hope they work fast :)

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    1. We hope so too. So far so good. I have to go to the pharmacy and get one more medication this morning. The good news is that Tasha seems to be full of energy, and her appetite is good.

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