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it's all in the plan
Oct. 12th, 2022 09:51 pmThe back garden is brown again! The large square(ish) of lawn has been evened out by filling the dips with soil, and it turns out there were a *lot* of dips. They have been beigified by the addition of grass seed, so once again we are hoping for rain. Which should be happening overnight.
In the interim, I have moved my geraniums and verbenas, and planted some of my mail-ordered plants. The flower bed is half-ish full, but can definitely stand some more. I think I'm going to hit the fancy garden centre tomorrow. *rubs hands gleefully*
Went to the gym this morning to discover that there was *no* water, not even for toilets. (There were some buckets of water, and jugs, for 'flushing'. *shudder*) And the swimming pool was half-empty. Apparently the swimming pool had leaked into the plant room.... all very bizarre. So I did not get to enjoy my regular Wednesday tall skinny latte with extra shot, because as we could not shower, Beast did not take half an hour to get his exhausted self clean. (He does a spin class on Wednesdays, and it's hard work.)
Beast has had three negative Covid tests, but has now developed a cold. At least, since we got back from the gym he has been sneezing mightily and often.
We are experimenting with the heating system. Our electricity tariff is 14p at night and 44p in the daytime for, er, whatever that is a tariff for, in terms of units. Kilowatt hours? It seems like a worthwhile thing to try heating the house overnight—and I must admit it is rather nice to have the chill taken off when we get up in the morning. (I know people who have not yet turned their central heating on. Prices are *high*.) At present, the ground source heat pump is magnificently efficient—one Kw/h of electricity provides about 6 of heat. It has been as great as 10, but that was exceptional. We don't heat the place very much, and the differential in temperature is quite small, so the heat doesn't have to be pushed uphill very far. It's quite a change from using the gas boiler, where one could say, I want it hot at this time, and set the timer accordingly, and add a boost if it got really chilly between regular heating times. This system takes a good while to get the house warm, but probably stays warm relatively easily. We continue to investigate.
In the interim, I have moved my geraniums and verbenas, and planted some of my mail-ordered plants. The flower bed is half-ish full, but can definitely stand some more. I think I'm going to hit the fancy garden centre tomorrow. *rubs hands gleefully*
Went to the gym this morning to discover that there was *no* water, not even for toilets. (There were some buckets of water, and jugs, for 'flushing'. *shudder*) And the swimming pool was half-empty. Apparently the swimming pool had leaked into the plant room.... all very bizarre. So I did not get to enjoy my regular Wednesday tall skinny latte with extra shot, because as we could not shower, Beast did not take half an hour to get his exhausted self clean. (He does a spin class on Wednesdays, and it's hard work.)
Beast has had three negative Covid tests, but has now developed a cold. At least, since we got back from the gym he has been sneezing mightily and often.
We are experimenting with the heating system. Our electricity tariff is 14p at night and 44p in the daytime for, er, whatever that is a tariff for, in terms of units. Kilowatt hours? It seems like a worthwhile thing to try heating the house overnight—and I must admit it is rather nice to have the chill taken off when we get up in the morning. (I know people who have not yet turned their central heating on. Prices are *high*.) At present, the ground source heat pump is magnificently efficient—one Kw/h of electricity provides about 6 of heat. It has been as great as 10, but that was exceptional. We don't heat the place very much, and the differential in temperature is quite small, so the heat doesn't have to be pushed uphill very far. It's quite a change from using the gas boiler, where one could say, I want it hot at this time, and set the timer accordingly, and add a boost if it got really chilly between regular heating times. This system takes a good while to get the house warm, but probably stays warm relatively easily. We continue to investigate.