When we moved into the Cottage here in Rathcormac, we thought it was perfect. It still is perfect for us except for one tiny little detail... The only bedroom in the house smells like nasty horrible cat pee. We have narrowed it down to one wooden beam right by the window that is the culprit.
It's awful!
We forget about it when we're downstairs, but whenever it's bedtime or if we need something from the room... inevitably, one of us says something about it.
Today i've spent most of the day upstairs in the bedroom researching where to find a decent washboard for our laundry, how to prepare wool fiber with hand cards, and how to effectively remove the smell of cat urine from wood. Fortunately i found a website with many a comment from many a user telling how wonderfully white vinegar works.
Coincidentally, downstairs is a bottle of white vinegar! I would have never known, had my husband not told me that "ocet" means "vinegar".
WIN!
I set to work straight away, saturating this million year old beam with the vinegar in the affected area. Then i decided to conduct a little experiment... I put baking soda into a bowl and mixed it into a paste with water, and spread it over the recently saturated wood.
When the baking soda is dry, i plan to wipe it off the wood with some warm water and let the whole thing dry for a day, then see how effective this process has been.
I expressed interest a few months ago to V about learning how to spin my own wool... and if he knew of anywhere to find wool when we're in Ireland. He told me that his friend owns 3 Jacob sheep that he shears and just burns the wool from every year! GASP! just BURNS it?!
V saved me a bag, and i'm looking forward to shearing season coming up to acquire more. hehehe
We are currently looking for a set of hand carders and *possibly* a spinning wheel, although i will be attempting first with a drop spindle. I'm seriously looking forward to this project!
As for the washboard... *sigh*...
the wash machine we use is shared with our landlords. Although it works well enough for them, none of them are getting nearly as dirty in their day-to-day as my husband is... and his clothes just don't come out clean. There is still mud on the hems of his trousers and various spots in our clothes that i know for certain would be clean otherwise... ie- in and AMERICAN WASH MACHINE! hahaha
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