UnSubRocky wrote on May 19
th, 2018 at 4:22am:
I think I might have mentioned this on this very forum subject. But, I have been buying citronella tea lights and leaving them lit in the toilet room. The toilet room has those old fashion louvers that don't close. So, in recent years, I have been covering the window with a towel to try and hold off the cold from coming in. Then the door gets closed as much as possible. Has kept the house a few degrees warmer during the coldest nights. I bought 120 (4 x 30) citronella tea lights to keep warm and ward off whatever mosquitos are left trying to get into the house (or the toilet water when I am not shutting the lid at night). I am lighting two candles at a time and letting them burn for 4 hours -- which is enough at the moment. Come June, I will be doing 4 per night (2x2) just as an extra way of keeping warm. Dad brought around a rectangular board to put over the window. Seems to be doing a good enough job keeping the mild cold out.
You could try taping some thick plastic over the window. I have an outside loo - a relic from when the house was first built, but the window louvres fell off years ago. Even though it's rarely used - I don't want it destroyed by the weather as the woodwork inside is still good. A heavy duty plastic works well to protect it.
UnSubRocky wrote on May 19
th, 2018 at 4:26am:
My neighbour would laugh at that suggestion. His yard is so immaculate, it is like he has a hobby of keeping it that way. I have a garden at the eastern side of my house that has grass over a metre high, that it seems crazy that I have not just gone through the gap in the barrier and mowed the area. But I figure that the saplings that seem to be growing there just need a chance to NOT get run down by errant mowing.
All my neighbours are like that. I try to keep the little patch of grass at the front of the house fairly neat, but the back is a different story. I have a street - back and front of my house, but I rarely bother about the back nature strip. A few native grasses have sprung up there. I pull out the ugly weeds by hand and leave the grasses to grow how they please - sometimes up to a metre high. I think they look pretty when they blow in the wind. They also attract the birds.