Frankly, I hope we have a good amount of snow this year. Our area is in drought, with nearly 60% less precipitation than normal. I'm trucking water to soak down our trees so they don't winter kill. Deep snow cover will help insulate now, and water in spring.

Standard preparations are underway. Nothing special, though.

Cars are winterized, except for winter tires. These are mounted on rims, and I'll install them when the snow actually comes. I learned the hard way to use a torque wrench when swapping rims on Japanese cars.

I scored several trailer loads of free firewood from a sawmill. About three cords so far, and two more for the taking. That bumps my supply up to two years' normal consumption.

Wood stove needs to be serviced. Clean the chimney and put in a new brick liner and new door gasket. Related project: build a 12VDC fan setup to move warm air downstairs if the power goes off in a bad blizzard. Don't want frozen pipes.

Snow blower needs servicing and shear pins. The usual paths need to be free of debris.

The house is getting some new windows and more insulation in the attic. Ongoing project.

And this year, I need to remember to get the sump pump in place *before* the big spring thaw. You'd think I would know better by now.