Firstly, a mention for Joy - just to let you know you're in my thoughts today xx
Last night was the worst in terms of heat - it was stiflingly hot, even with the bedroom windows and door open, there was just no air movement at all. Poor Betty didn't know what to do with herself, she was up and down like a yoyo, couldn't settle anywhere for more than a few minutes. She did eventually settle downstairs in the lounge, I gave her another bowl of cold water before going back up to bed, she'd drunk most of it by the time I came downstairs just before 5 am. Think I should have stayed downstairs with her last night....it was certainly cooler down here than the airless oven upstairs. Betty does have a cool mat which she sometimes lays on briefly - I also have a pillow-sized one. They're nice and cold initially, but soon warm up with your body heat after 5 minutes.
It's not going to be much better today, or tomorrow, although the temperature does drop a bit from Friday onwards, with thunderstorms forecast. That'll be interesting in the caravan!
We're making a brief visit to the van this morning.....we need to take a few things over there - lawnmower, strimmer and the new mattress for the single room. We've got rid of the 2 child-size beds in the smaller bedroom and bought a bigger single bed, just the one, the mattress came yesterday, the pine frame is arriving on Friday. Won't be taking Betty, there won't be room in the car! We just need to dismantle the one remaining bed base (the other one the Man and Van took last week) and give the room a clean, so that I can decorate in there when we go back on Thursday, whilst husband finishes papering the bathroom. We're almost finished inside the van now, it's a lovely feeling.
Once the inside is done, we'll make a start on the garden and the outside of the van - it needs a good clean for a start, we may consider touching up some of the exterior paintwork too. It could do with a couple of new outside lights - the ones there do work, surprisingly, but they're rusty and not very nice looking. We're debating what to do about the fenced in garden - the 'lawn', such as it is, is very rough and uneven, ideally it needs re-turfing. Husband thought about getting rid of the grass altogether, levelling the ground and laying artificial grass. I'm not sure about that. We're definitely going to get rid of the invasive shrubs at the front of the van - the jasmine which we cut back heavily, is already starting to shoot up again and cover the windows. Can't be doing with chopping that back every 5 minutes, we're going to lay a few slabs along the front and just have some pots with perennial (small!) flowering shrubs in.
Have to be back home just after lunch today, as I'm having my hair cut this afternoon.
I was pleasantly surprised yesterday (Freedom day) to see that nearly everybody, us included, was still wearing masks when we went shopping for the frozen food. According to the paper which I read online this morning, people in some areas got abused for continuing to wear masks - why? It's personal choice surely, what's it got to do with anyone else? None of us likes wearing a mask, especially in this heat, but if there are lots of people around or we're inside a shop then I will continue to wear one.
Go for the artificial grass, you will love arriving at the van and not having to cut the grass, it always stays nice, and you can bring the wildlife in with flowers and shrubs. As for the overheating, we have had ours for 4 years, our cats are always laying on it, the person who laid ours put a deep level of sand under the grass, so it stays cool.
ReplyDeleteThanks for this Marlene, good to know.
DeleteI hope it's not too hot for you at the caravan. A good idea to lay artificial grass or paving flags. You don't want to have to spend time cutting grass, when you can be relaxing! Most people in Tesco this morning were wearing masks. I think the general population has more sense than BJ when it comes to lifting restrictions! xx
ReplyDeleteArtificial grass can be has hot as the pavement, so is not a great idea for the summer. I love the idea, but it’s not necessarily practical, especially for doggie toes.
ReplyDeleteHere I would have to have a teeny air conditioner unit in my caravan. The weather here never allows for none.
ReplyDeleteMaybe go this first few times with the lawn how it is you spend some time there and see what you feel to do next.