Winter Planning: Stars Now

It's hot, too hot. Perfect time for thinking about winterizing and winter planning.

Last year we had big snow - very big snow - and more. After 10 years living here, we've gotten a good sense of what happens and when, and finally, we're able to make winter more routine.

For us, it's things like marking out the driveway and setting up henhouse heaters and more.

Our Winter plan addition this year is BETTER FIREWOOD STORAGE. I usually keep about 4 days of wood in the house, I'm re-arranging things outside and setting up better cover for it, so I'm not pulling wood out of snow and ice when we have a big storm.

What's you're plan? Winter's coming.

Rejoicing!

So far all I've been doing is collecting people's bags of grass cuttings to use as mulch around my plants.

Oh yeah, next Sunday I'm sighting in my deer rifle. Other than that, not a whole lot. Summer is the season you need to prepare for down here.

-Blast

we're city folks so nothing yet.however i did put the E-Tool i got from a yard sale in the trunk of my car.i am watching out for a cheap hand truck to bring in the fig trees and other heavy plantings.i'm not doing anymore of that grunt work by just lift and carry.

what's snow?

What's Snow? Snot-nosed & over-worked!:)

I also sighted in my moose muzzleloader and 2 deer rifles yesterday. Stained the deck last week (almost done, one more gallon to go) and fixed the tent woodstove for the remote moose hunt in late September. Started assembling a new modular Survival Kit, but got sidetracked by work and family commitments.

Mike

Speaking of winter planning...

I need to refill the propane tank 18% left.
Also need to split the wood, and stack the stuff I need to buy...

Lots to do!

have you noticed how many people are in denial about winter?.
i've walked the dogs past lots of homes where all they seem to do is tip the lawn chairs on their sides and turn the birdbath over.

I've invented a new indicator to check if a store with outdoor goodies are worthy of attention: Do they carry wool buffs in summer???

If you run an outdoors store in Scandinavia and don't carry wool buffs... then you haven't really paid attention to the actual needs of your customers (which may differ from what they're actually buying). In the mountains in mid-summer you must expect near freezing night temperatures and even the possibility of snow showers. A wool buff is the most beneficial comfort-per-weight item of extra clothing I know of.

Right now I'm enjoying the summer (not too hot!) and preparing for the fall... Except for the annual upgrade of the kid's skiing gear and clothes (I've told them to grow only every second year, but they won't listen!), all the winter gear is loaded and ready to go.

Two years ago we had an early hard freeze. I had turned off the outside water on schedule, but forgot to disconnect the garden hose from the 'freeze-proof' sillcock. They're not 'freeze-proof' when you do that. The ice split the main pipe right inside the house. I didn't see the split which was up in the basement ceiling, so we had a minor flood in the basement when I turned on the outside water in the spring. Plumber told me that he had replaced 9 other sillcocks that week alone. By my calculations based on his fee, I figure he just paid for a semester of college for his kid.

Not much. What's snow with you? <ducking!>



I grew up in San Diego. Snow is something you drive to, play in for a little bit, then drive home.

I did spend a year in Salt Lake City, though, and found that shoveling the sidewalk and driveway was actually kind of fun, once.

Once.

I don't envy you folks in snow country at all.

How are heating oil prices looking this year?

Amen!

Desert isn't for everyone, but I'm happy to have winter-prep consist of cutting back timer-hours for pool pump/filter and landscape irrigation system.

Snow, the white stuff I spent months shoveling in NH when I lived there. When the mean depth equalled my height (6 ft) I left. Altho it was great to ski to work everyday (xcountry down to and uphill from) I got tired of it quickly.

So after joining the Army I figured I was safe at FT Bragg, til I came off of Xmas leave and was told pack for cold, we are headed to Alaska for a month. COLD was right, -69 degrees our first night out, set a record for a lower 48 unit. That was when my ruck was well over 100 lbs, with a stupid PRC77 in it, and my cold gear. Made a return trip 2 years later, it was much warmer. And my pack was somewhat lighter, not an RTO anymore, lol.

Winter prep down south is put away the lawn mower about October. Find my undershirts about December so I won't have to wear a jacket. Switch to a heavier ball cap in February. It's rough.

What's snow? It's what happens when a series of tropical storms, sort of, drop their moisture in a form that sets up like concrete and gets in your way for the next six months.

It doesn't exactly feel like fall up here yet. The hummingbirds are still around and the barn swallows are incubating a second brood.

But I'm noticing a subtle change in the colour of the light. I'll be switching to fall mode pretty soon.

Winter prep means having a contractor replace some old windows in the house, tidying up the wood pile, cutting up a bunch of dry trees, mowing any tall grass (fall/spring fire hazard), servicing the snowblower and lawn tractor at the same time, moving in a bigger freezer, cleaning up the cold room for potato storage, checking the winter rims for any tires with leaks, digging all those root veggies, making a truckload of compost from garden greenery ... you know, the usual kick-back-and-relax list.

One very chilly winter morning, I had a friend from the south over to the house. I wanted to demonstrate a Northern MN 'parlor' trick, so I poured a cup of hot coffee right from the pot and took it out on the back deck. I threw the coffee into the air and with a 'swoosh' sound, it drifted to the ground as fine brown ice crystals.

You could try this with lemonade, but I still wouldn't eat the yellow snow.