Winter prep -- what are your tasks each year (in your region)?

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
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Apartment dweller in the Chicago area:

Normally I’d be replacing the furnace filter but I did that after the Days of Smoke this summer so that’s not as urgent as usual, but it is on the list.

Slid the glass pane up on the screen door.

Checked and where necessary repaired the weather stripping on the screen door and the main door.

Harvest the last of the vegetables from my balcony garden.

Take the balcony furniture and extra fans to the storage unit and swap them for the space heaters.

Get the step stool and pull down the heavy winter blankets from the top of the linen closet.

Get the hats/gloves/scarves/wool socks/heavy sweaters down from the top shelf of the walk in closet, replace with the summer clothes I won’t be wearing for a couple months and put the bin back up on the shelf. Check winter garments to see if any repairs are needed and fix them.

Plastic goes up on the front room and bedroom windows. Also cover the AC.

Get oil changes and battery check on the vehicles. Unfortunately, I’m still paying off medical bills from this summer so I’ll probably do one then the other a month later. Not ideal, but that’s life. Neither need new tires at present, but repair/replace is part of my fall/winter prep. Got new wiper blades on both.

Check emergency supplies for both vehicles. For winter that includes at least one blanket, change of clothes, extra gloves and socks, and a spare pair of boots in addition to all the usual stuff I have in the vehicles.

Make sure I know where the salt and snow shovel are. Yes, the building management does take care of most of that, but I have to leave for work at 4:30 am many days of the week and that’s several hours before they show up to do the work so I need to be able to get myself out onto the road.

42

Of course, I meant fill it with summer clothes.

As for the thermostat, I did look in the manual (it is a Honeywell) and did try the hold feature. Nonetheless, yesterday when the outside high was 4C (about 39) the temperature inside was 77. We had frost overnight and the temperature was still 75. I am bithermal, BTW.

43

You guys are so organized!

We just had our first freeze night before last. I disconnected the drip watering system in the back yard, brought the timer inside and removed its batteries, and drained and coiled all the hoses. I’m waiting until the forecast says high temperatures will be under 60 or so must of the time to take the cushions off the patio furniture. I’m considering putting extra mulch on our newest plants. Really, the worst of it is knowing I’ll need to reconnect everything and water at least two or three times a month if the drought persists through the winter.

The main winterizing task is turning off and draining the water from the evaporative cooler before a hard freeze, but we started calling someone to do that for us a few years ago. Once you get into your late 50’s, the possible consequences of climbing onto the roof start getting more serious.

I should go buy a new snow shovel now that this thread has reminded me. Ours has a broken handle, and I never remember that until it snows, usually in February after the hardware stores are out of them for the season.

44

Order fuzzy socks.

(Done)

45

Ooh, socks - I rarely wear them during the summer, so I should check to see if I have enough. I should also probably wash my sweatshirt; it’s been on the chair in my bedroom since last March.

46

I’m wondering about this too, now.

47

Loki woke me up at 5 am to go out to pee. I took her out wearing just a t-shirt, shorts, and slides. It was chilly. An hour later we woke up and everything is covered in snow!

48

Back when I started investing heavily in lithium ion-run tools, one of the instruction sets said to bring them in for the winter in areas where it gets cold, and store them in a dry place.

It gets below zero here, and very occasionally as much as 10 or more below zero, and apparently that’s enough to possibly damage them, or at least reduce their efficiency. On the other hand, I’m searching the Internet, it’s not clear if this is a long-term degradation, or something short term.

Storing Batteries over Winter | Flymo | Easier by Design.

49

I’ve lived my whole life between San Diego and Santa Barbara. My travels have taken me many times to extreme weather but that’s still not a whole lot of experience. I would be beyond useless where many of you live. So many things would never occur to me. This is such an interesting thread.

50

Northern California – Prep the lawnmower. The rains are about to come and the grass is gonna start growing again.

51

So-Cal. We take down the outdoor/patio umbrellas.

52

ISTM that you’ve misspelled “horrifying”.

53
  • Put on snow tires.
  • Find the scraper and put it back in the car.
  • Make sure emergency pack is still in the car.
  • Buy de-icer for the sidewalks/driveway.
  • Re-up for the snow removal contract.
  • Disconnect hoses.
  • Turn off water inside, open outside taps (note: always in that order!).
  • Find my gloves and toque.
  • Get out winter boots; put away flip-flops.
  • Bring in Hallowe’en stuff; put out Christmas stuff.

That’s about it.

54

Gulf coast of Texas. I only have to cut the grass every couple of weeks now, so I will use the lull in mowing activity to change the oil, fuel filter, clean the air filter, etc. that I always put off until this time of year. Might even get around to replacing the steering shaft on the mower. It started wearing out around mid-summer but hasn’t failed yet.

My pepper plants need to be ripped out - they don’t like cold at all and we just had an unseasonably cold few days with nigh temps in the fifties. I’ll be tending, and looking forward to eating, my winter vegetables. This year I’m trying more varieties - snap peas, lettuce, spinach, Napa cabbage, beets, and parsnips.

If we get a frost (maybe even a freeze) I’ll have to drag the potted plants into the garage for a day or two, but that won’t happen until the day before the low temps are forecast.

The worst part of winter is that I have to wear long sleeves and long pants more often, and mostly have to stop being barefoot in the yard. And socks. I HATE wearing socks, but I hate cold feet more :slight_smile: