Monday, November 15, 2021

Cleaning up for winter

Up until now, our weather hasn't been too bad, considering it's mid November. A bit of rain here, a dusting of snow there, but most of the time temps are hovering in the 50s.

But tomorrow, things take a dramatic turn – not in terms of precipitation (necessarily), but in temperatures. We plunge 20F between today and tomorrow.

One thing we've learned over the decades we've lived in Idaho is not to leave anything out when it starts snowing in the fall because we're not likely to find it until spring. This can include everything from tools to dog Frisbees. We've been doing bits and bobs of tidying up, but since today was the last warmish day for a while, we pushed through and got it done.

First up, hoses.

I stretched them out...

... then drained and coiled them.

We needed to move the log splitter, but the tire was flat. Out came the portable inflator, which we plugged into the car.

Once the tire was inflated, we rolled the log splitter to the side of the wood pile.

We won't need it until next year, so we tied a tarp around it.

I picked up and raked the side yard.

In one of the cinder blocks...

...was an impressive spider egg case.

I moved the cinder block into a new position and stacked it on its side so the egg case was protected. Hey, spiders are our friends.

More goodies to add to the leaf pen.

The last chore I tackled was this barbecue pit. It was here when we moved in, but so stuffed with ashes – right to the rim – that we never used it.

So Don found a shovel and wheelbarrow, and I started cleaning out the pit. It was easy. What took us so long?

I spread the ashes out in the leaf pen.

With lots of help from Mr. Darcy, I tossed the unburned sticks into the pit. Now we might actually be able to use it.

That's about all we had to do as far as pre-snow cleanup. Let the cold weather come. We're ready.

7 comments:

  1. Do you winterize your equipment like the splitter or do you crank it periodically?

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  2. Thanks for posting these boring chores. When the freeze hit our part of Texas last year, I knew we had to get the water out of the hoses. :)

    Wait, I hate that hose and am looking for an excuse to toss it...

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    Replies
    1. Be sure to get replacements before tossing it. Hoses were hard to find this past year and also went way up because of plastic and demand. Also, I was discarding some and stopped. They cut up great to make low hoop tunnels
      with. Waste not want not! I found some old canopy legs that break down and fit in the ends of the hose that will stick in the ground. The only reason my winter garden is surviving is covers are keeping out critters. All my future raised beds will also be hooped. Also, cutting up pool noodles in good chunks for clips.

      Delete
    2. Be sure to get replacements before tossing it. Hoses were hard to find this past year and also went way up because of plastic and demand. Also, I was discarding some and stopped. They cut up great to make low hoop tunnels
      with. Waste not want not! I found some old canopy legs that break down and fit in the ends of the hose that will stick in the ground. The only reason my winter garden is surviving is covers are keeping out critters. Also, cutting up pool noodles in good chunks for clips.

      Delete
  3. A blogger in Norther Ontario said they had to clean out the yard of everything because they would trip and fall on things in the snow. They had four boys, so there was lots of stuff and lots of people to fall over things.

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  4. This is exactly what I'll be doing in Kansas today.

    Mama J

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  5. Bless you for coiling hoses properly! I have stressed this to my family and no one bothers. It's a sign of a strong mind that you do so.:)

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