Faux No!

I'm writing a quick post before I take a lovely English Setter boy to a longer term foster situation.  My step-mom is riding with me...her first time.  I've not been able to visit with her much as I've been working on this house on the weekends....and she lives in the opposite direction.  So we'll get to catch up (as my sister and I did while transporting Ollie) during the drive from Richmond to South Hill.

As we continue our progress (which is now taking exponential leaps) on this house rehab, we found out something, err, "interesting".  I have to give my daughter suitable projects which do not in any way involve painting.  She is a workhorse; however, she has some bull in the china shop tendencies (some honest DNA she received from me, but she lacks my many years of refining that proclivity!).  I told her that it was time to scrub the kitchen wall behind the countertop.

The kitchen wall had what we both thought to be a textured, faux application.  It was a bit rough, and I was unsure of the materials, and a blend of greens, yellows and browns.  I did know that it needed to be cleaned, so I set my daughter on the project.  Well, what we soon came to find out was that the application was not a faux application at all.  Rather, it was......grease splatters.

Here's a photo that shows the remainder splotches (which have since been cleaned--this was a photo taken during my daughter's break).  Notice my beautifully painted cabinet on the left.  By the time my daughter finished cleaning that edge between the wall and the cabinet, she managed to scrub off 1/2 inch strip of paint.

The pot you see on the stove is our source of hot water as the water heater had to be pulled out as part of the plumbing redo.  How many years of grease accumulation exists here, I do not know.  This 'faux no!' will be something that we always remember.  I think that a metal or tile backsplash will be in order.  The logistics of why the wall accumulated grease are not going away. 

Our weather has cooled quite a bit here.  Yesterday morning we found a tree frog and a giant dragon fly on an outdoor lamp.  My husband turned the light on to warm up the tree frog who is tucked in.  These pictures are not great, but I'll share them with you anyway.  Thhe first is our tree frog tucked on the outside of the glass. 

This one shows some of the lovely detail of the dragon fly's wings and body.

I'm off now to drive.