random happenings
I could hear noises on my roof, above the living room, so I sneaked out the back door, sneaked around the house and onto the front lawn. There were two huge black crows on the roof! And I didn't have my camera...dammit!
A customer in shopping yesterday with two small children, bought them each a treat for being good. The treat? Not what you'd expect! She bought each child a junior electric toothbrush. After I'd scanned them, the mum opened the packaging and showed them how to hold them as she turned them on. It was the cutest thing! A little girl giggling with delight as the toothbrush buzzed against her teeth, the slightly older boy inspecting his and asking how did it turn on and off.
Very strong winds here in Adelaide last night and today. Remembering what happened with my antenna earlier this year I listened carefully but didn't hear any of the creaking and groaning heralded the ripping away of the barge board the antenna was attached to. Thank goodness!
I've been given a couple of column heaters by a family member. I have one in the living room (the other is in my bedroom), and I'm very happy with how well it heats the space. So much better than the air conditioner!! With the aircon there is a lot of warm air up around the ceiling while my knees and ankles are freezing so that I have to wrap them in a blanket. With the column heater, in a couple of hours, the whole room is warm.
And I've discovered a new use for newspaper!
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Big gap at top of ill-fitting front door where wind came blowing in.
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Same gap filled with folded newspaper sheets.
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Another big gap at the bottom of the door. Rolled up newspaper makes a great draught stopper.
There's one at the back door too.
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I even have folded newspaper strips along the sides of the door! Back door too.
It makes a huge difference, the rooms get so much warmer without the wind whistling through.
A customer in shopping yesterday with two small children, bought them each a treat for being good. The treat? Not what you'd expect! She bought each child a junior electric toothbrush. After I'd scanned them, the mum opened the packaging and showed them how to hold them as she turned them on. It was the cutest thing! A little girl giggling with delight as the toothbrush buzzed against her teeth, the slightly older boy inspecting his and asking how did it turn on and off.
Very strong winds here in Adelaide last night and today. Remembering what happened with my antenna earlier this year I listened carefully but didn't hear any of the creaking and groaning heralded the ripping away of the barge board the antenna was attached to. Thank goodness!
I've been given a couple of column heaters by a family member. I have one in the living room (the other is in my bedroom), and I'm very happy with how well it heats the space. So much better than the air conditioner!! With the aircon there is a lot of warm air up around the ceiling while my knees and ankles are freezing so that I have to wrap them in a blanket. With the column heater, in a couple of hours, the whole room is warm.
And I've discovered a new use for newspaper!
There's one at the back door too.
It makes a huge difference, the rooms get so much warmer without the wind whistling through.
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will have to try this next winter, those gaps being closed off will make a huge difference and newspaper is a good insulator, great thinking :)
ReplyDeleteIt was along time ago now, but we had a very expensive experience with an electric column heater.
ReplyDeleteWhat every happened to the sawdust filled door sausages you used to be able to buy? We have a couple of very old tired ones but I haven't seen new ones in ages. And yes, it is amazing how a draught can turn a room chilly. Cold even.
ReplyDeleteWe had a couple of those column heaters once and they are very expensive to run, watch out for bill shock on your next electric bill :-).
ReplyDeletehalloweencouple; welcome to drifting. It's amazing how much difference it makes to have the gaps closed off.
ReplyDeleteAndrew; I know they're expensive. I'm trying not to use it too much. Mostly just at night.
EC; those sausages are still available. We have them in Coles for $4. But they're made of corduroy fabric which doesn't roll well on carpet.
Windsmoke; I'm trying not to use them too uch. The bedroom one has only been used once to make sure it still works. The living room one is not on until 5pm or so.
When we first moved in here the doors were a poor fit. Since we rarely used the front door I hung a quilt over it. The back door had a rolled up towel on the floor in front of it. One year it froze to the floor.
ReplyDeleteThankfully we were soon able to replace the doors. What a difference.
toothbrushes as treats!!!I love it!!!
ReplyDeleteGo to Bunnings and get some weather strip, it's self-adhesive and fits around the door frame. Those sausages are useless, they just blow in from the door, you need one filled with sand, or some other heavy material; you could make it yourself. Most household stuff nowadays is flimsy: mops, brooms...most of it made in China and not worth fifty cents.
ReplyDeletemybabyjohn; the front door has been a poor fit since I moved in, but I'm renting, so I won't be replacing it. It really isn't too bad, just in winter when the wind is from the north. The back door gets the south winds, so newspaper strips get stuffed in both.
ReplyDeletepeskypixies; I thought they were a great treat idea too! I've never known anyone to do that for their kids.
R.H. I have weather strip along some of the edges, but it's not as effective as it could be, the door just doesn't fit right. The gap at top and bottom is too big for weather stripping, so rolled and folded newspapers take care of those gaps. The sausages sold in Coles are filled with sand, I've never seen any that aren't.
It's sawdust, not sand. Things that were well-made and durable are rubbish nowadays.
ReplyDeleteComplain to your landlord about the drafts. Weatherstrips vary in thickness, I installed some recently and it's perfect. A life of stuffing and unstuffing newspaper around your doors is pretty nutty. But people living alone do get that way, my old father-in-law had a broken window with a pair of trousers stuffed in the hole. It was that way for years.