We live in an urban environment in Southern Ontario and winter is on the way! We took our fall camping trip this past weekend and it's always a good reminder to everyone about the nasty bone-chilling cold and wet weather we need to prepare for!

After a rainy cold weekend in the bush, all the camping gear has all been checked, tested and repaired. Winter clothes have been checked for size and repair - bigger boots and gear for the little kid again this year, and mom managed to lose a couple sizes so I need new outerwear too. Also, our college kid is living at home now so the BOBs and GHBs have been adjusted to include her.

The driveway has been sealed and the backyard is squared away -outside water off, lawn furniture stored and garden put to bed. Fixing a leaky eves that's causing a leak in the basement is underway. Refilling the BBQ propane tanks is happening this week.

Vehicles are in the midst of winter maintenance. Put a new engine in the truck and new exhaust on the car last week. Wipers, fluids and plugs have been changed and tires are next. Scrapers, shovels, sand and salt are ready to be added too.

Still have to winterize all BOBs and GHBs, to make sure outerwear has been upgraded from fall to winter and all supplies are in tip top shape. Winter coats and snowpants need to go in, and I want to add a pair of those ice-gripper-tread-thingies for the bottom of everyone's boots.

Need to restock the pantry. We're making it a habit to live out of the pantry, rotating and restocking to keep everything fresh. We've fallen a bit behind on restocking what we've used so it's time to catch up. The chest freezer is full and we're good on dry goods but we need to refill canned goods. We didn't do any canning this year so we need to make up those rations. We also used a bunch of our stored water on the weekend so have to replace that too.

We'll change the furnace filter, along with the batteries in all the smoke, CO2 detectors and flashlights in the house when the time changes. Before then we'll need to pick up some more candles and lamp oil for lighting on those dark winter nights.

Heat is always my biggest concern over the winter. Winter storms and power failures are the most likely bug-in scenarios for us. We don't have a wood stove or generator, and our gas furnance needs hydro to work. We've set-up the basement for a potential bug-in situation. We ost power about a month ago and it got pretty chilly. We've got propane heaters, stoves, etc. but ventilation is a major concern so we basically resigned to wool blankets, sweaters and winter wear for warmth. We'd like to invest in a wood or pellet stove but money is tight so that's not likely to happen this year.