This has not been a great week for Lair construction. In fact it’s just been a bad week. I spent a lot of money on the wrong ceiling paint and so lost five days’ work. By this time I hoped to be done with the project for the season, and instead I’m…not. I couldn’t paint the walls because I couldn’t paint the ceiling because…aw, screw it. Hell, nothing went right. I had to spend an afternoon baking bread when I’d gotten up thinking I had two days’ supply. But then mold. I was pissed off.
Then on top of that I had a day’s sickness, an apparent reaction to something I ate. Possibly bread mold, who knows. Yesterday it was best that nobody was around who had to put up with me. Except LB, who forgives me my outbursts.
But I got to town this morning and spent almost all the folding money I had left on another gallon of ceiling paint and ten gallons of gasoline. Just finished rolling the ceiling, and it looks great.
Gonna go do horses and dogs after lunch. Tomorrow’s the last I have to get up early to take care of Ghost. I’ll hit the walls with a couple of coats tomorrow and then Monday I can take up the plastic and finish with the floor. There seem to be no twin bed rails available at any local thrift stores, but I know where there’s a couple of bedframes. One of them will work with the head and foot boards with just a tiny bit of modification. I’ll get to moving closet poles and my big dresser into the closet, and barring any new bad thing I may be sleeping in the new bedroom before next weekend.
Just as well, too. LB’s getting tired of being thrown out of “his” room.
I hate to sound like my granny, but be careful with any furniture from a second hand store, especially something bed-related. The danger is bedbugs, which have become quite the “thing” in the years since you left civilization behind. Carry just a few invisible eggs into the Lair, and you are officially infested. Getting rid of them isn’t simple!
When Ghost’s staff return, don’t forget to suggest the meds to them. They’ll need a scrip for either the Vetprofen or the Meloxicam. and neither of those will do anything to help the piddle problem, but either should make him feel much more spry. Whichever the vet recommends should work fine.
Metal bed frame outdoors. Apply gasoline and ignite. Allow to cool and brush off residue. Paint.
No chance of getting bed bugs or anything else nasty when you take them in.
“Metal bed frame outdoors. Apply gasoline and ignite. Allow to cool and brush off residue. Paint.”
Brilliant ML! They say that heat kills both the bugs and their eggs. (Burning the paint off with a torch would be a more controlled option) Plus, even without the fire the paint would probably safely encapsulate them. So ML has prescribed a truly “belt and suspenders” solution. (Two is one and one is none.)
Thanks, Ben. 🙂 I’ve lived alone since 1986. Too poor to hire much done, so I’ve had to learn how to do things myself as much as possible. But this trick came from long before that. We had chickens (temporarily) in big wire rabbit cages. They got some kind of bug on their skins and were quickly looking bad. We finished up the new chicken run/house, and put down a layer of diatomaceous earth for them to dust themselves. The old cages then were hauled out to a large clearing and burned with gasoline. When they cooled, they were cleaned off and then spray painted with a rust resistant paint. We raised rabbits in them for years after that. Neither the rabbits or chickens ever had the bugs again.
This conversation has taken an interesting turn. There can really be bedbug eggs on a metal bed frame? I would not have expected that. Don’t know if I’m really interested in burning it with fire, but a new coat of paint couldn’t hurt. What the hell, I’ve painted everything else this season.
Oh yes! There can be eggs and/or the critters themselves.
Bedbugs have become a “thing” in the last ten years or so. I suggest a Google search with the term: ” used furniture bed bugs”. And yes, you may color me paranoid about this.
Joel, the thing is that heating the metal – one way or another – takes care of any eggs or critters which might be in tiny crevices, which might not be totally covered with the paint. Belt and suspenders, remember. Just a little insurance. Oh, and if there are casters/wheels involved, be sure to soak them in vinegar or strong bleach at least overnight. Those wheels are usually plastic, of course.
Google “bedbug epidemic”.
Here’s a sample http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/tag/bed-bug-epidemic
Kentucky,
Not sure I want to use a site predicting apocalypse as my objective reference for bugs. Just because said bugs subsist exclusively on human blood does’t make them that scary, yet. There are more scary bipedal sorts that suck blood too, and I know you know.
And Ben, a helpful point you brought, but I’m curious what was wrong with the first paint. Looks like the solution was a clear coat if I see the picture right?
John, if you Google as I suggested, you will find enough info on bedbugs to make you never stay in a motel again. That link just happens to be the first I saw in a loooong list.
They are nasty and they are extremely difficult to get rid if once you have them. Prevention/avoidance is by far the preferable option.
But suit yourself, of course . . .
🙂
Crap. The little buggers where not even on my radar until yesterday. Now I’ve got antiifa next month, popcorn, and bugs, to to think about? I have the MamaLiberty solution she gave me, but then I’ll lose most of the popcorn. dammit.