Yup.
NOT so watertight. There was a small crack in the lid, and - who'd have thought it - we've had rain. LOTS of rain.
Every flat surface in the house has been covered with towels and drying photos.... yes, amidst the chaos of packing... perfect, just perfect.
They weren't ALL our photos, and a good proportion are duplicates... most were safely stored in ziplock bags (see, Rose Red is right!) - but there were at least two stacks of about 100 photos each that were glued together. After soaking in tepid water, we were able to peel most of them apart. Most have damage to the emulsion layer, at least around the edges, but some are ruined. The glossy ones seem to have fared worse than the satin finish ones. We've had to throw out about 40 or 50... again, many were duplicates, but not all :(
This only adds to my determination to digitise all our photos and slides. I have a damn good scanner (EPSON 4490 Photo), and need to start making use of it. Massive job, though - eeeek!
OK, time for the second scary thing - leave now if you don't like spiders ....
I'm serious ...
It's OK, no-one will think you're a wuss...
Bye! See you later :D
OK everyone else of steely disposition - here we go!
This is an example of one of the Hunstmen spiders that we share our home with - once they get to a good size we catch them and put them outside. They're not poisonous, but can give you a bit of a nip and a fright (this one was curled up inside a folded knitting pattern, so it gave me a start when I picked it up!). Hasn't it got pretty striped legs?
When they're small (under 5 cm / 2") our family calls them 'Ickle Bickles' cos they're small and cute ;) They can get bigger than this one, which is about middle sized. They can get up to about 15 cm / 6" across.
OK, back to packing - things are really happening now, everything's fair game for being put in a box! Catch you all a bit later - will comment on your blogs when I need a break from it all, but may not be often for a little while yet...
Gosh, I will never look at a knitting pattern the same again!!
ReplyDeleteShame about the photos - I've been there with the whole drying thing - except it was books and it was my house that leaked! Glad you could salvage most of them!
Holy moly.
ReplyDeleteYou did warn us and yet I still looked. I never get that close to them.
God, that photo incident was the last thing you needed this week!
Okay, so that is a friggin huge spider. I was afraid you were going to find the Sydney angry black scary spider. But I guess since you're not in Sydney... :D
ReplyDeleteAnyway, sorry about your pictures. Get on with the scanning already!! You know, with all that spare time you have.
I am really glad I didn't see one of those in Aus. I did get stung by some ugly yellow flying ant. OUCH!!! Don't know what it was, I still have a flippin' scar from it! Little bastards!
toodles.
BUGGER! Does it help to know that you've done all the right things, rescue wise? No, didn't think so but it will help later, promise.
ReplyDeleteVery beautiful spider. Perhaps it's was sick of weaving and wanted to learn to knit.
Stopped your heart. I know it would have done mine. I have scanned all the family pictures into the computer. Lot of work. Broke it down my person. Started a memory book for the kids. Only have the 1st year for my daughter. Project on the back burner ie. I'll probably never finish. Now with computer problems I have to remember to back up!
ReplyDeleteLovely spider..now that would have given me a heart attach!!
OH no! Same thing happened to me a couple of years ago - it was a hot night, I left the back cliding doors open, the sprinkler system came on at 7 am, blew one of the drippers off and we had a constant jet of water coming into ... my sewing room. We didn't wake up and realise until 7.30 . ALl my dress making patterns, the sewing machine, pre-cut fabric hexagons, quilting magazines - all absolutely soaked through. Luckily for us it was a really hot day, so we spread everything out on the carpet (that which wasn't soaked) and Scott spent 3 hours ironing my hexagons dry.
ReplyDeleteSorry about your photos. But hopefully the rest of the move will be stress and disaster free!
good lord. photo disaster, moving and a giant spider. what the?!
ReplyDeleteOh, you really didn't need that. I'm glad you could save some of the photos, but what a pain!
ReplyDeleteI had a run-in with our little kitchen huntsman last night. We're used to him stalking around the kitching ceiling, but last night I was lying on the couch and saw movement out of the corner of my eye. I thought one of the dogs had come into the room. But no, the spider had landed on the cushion a centimetre from my head! I put him in a glass and took him outside. He can find his way in again I'm sure.
AAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRGGGGGHHHHH! - I HATE SPIDERS!!!!! I make my husband - do things - to spiders - AAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGHHHHHHH!!!
ReplyDeleteHow awful about your photos - murphy's law strikes again! - Good thing you had the ziplocks!
Nope, nope, nope, nope, nope.
ReplyDeleteHuntsmen and me + yellow pages from high above head, splat onto spider, me jump onto yellow pages and jump and jump and jump.
This came from, one night sleeping soundly in my bed, the biggest huntsmen I had ever seen, and it was fat too, like a passionfruit fat and legs down to there, crawling over my face.
Never, never, never, never again!!!!
Ok, so we do not ever want to live where you live! That's icky, really icky. No, really, really icky. It gives me the twitches just looking at the photo. You are a brave lot down there.
ReplyDeleteWow, that spider is awesome! very pretty and looking somewhat annoyed. As if she's saying, "Just because you want to move doesn't mean everyone wants to move!"
ReplyDeleteI tried to avoid it after your warning but I still saw it. I HATE spiders, they are very boogelly. I have to be brave though as Peri wants to 'play' with them!!
ReplyDeleteWhat terrible watery destruction. I am glad you managed to save most of them.
Oh, I'm so sorry about the photos! You ARE definitely having too much all at once. The spider is cool though - I can't wait to bring my son back to see it! Hope the move went smoothly!
ReplyDeleteOoo that spider is gorgeous, I luv its stripy legs. Our hunstmens here in Melbourne are just plain brown, and we put them outside too when we find one. But they do give you an awful fright, I found one the other day in the linen cupboard, gentle creatures, but I jumped 6ft none the less, hehehe
ReplyDelete