I've had better days

It started off well enough. Workout was nice - 15 min racewalking warm-up, then a great weight training session.

Then it went downhill. I noticed the wallpaper was crinkly to the right of Calvin's window. Getting closer, I inspected it. It was damp to the touch and wrinkled. The plaster wall (yes, plaster - we have a 1940 house) was damp from the window over to the next wall. A bit of detective work showed that the plaster is a thin layer over mortar. The mortar is there because our chimney is directly behind the wall (the house is wood frame, not brick, but the chimney is brick). Bummer... the chimney is leaking, and I'm not sure exactly where. I got out the ladder and investigated/took pictures. The gutter seems OK. I think maybe our flashing (the metal sheets around the base of the chimney) is not so great, or there is a crack in one or more roof tiles, or perhaps the mortar in between some of the chimney bricks is cracked. Here are the pictures, if anyone would care to give me some advice. Yay. I love being a homeowner. Actually, I do love having a house, and it has given us less trouble than I thought it would when we bought it 6 years ago. Still, I could live without this little bit of trouble.

Silver lining in the cloud: I was going to strip Calvin's wallpaper anyway because it was maps, from when Loren's office was in there. I just got the new Thomas the Tank Engine borders and curtains and switchplate cover in the mail today, so once the leak is fixed, I've got a head start on the wallpaper stripping job. It's nice that it happened in a room I was going to re-do anyway.