Prepared For Winter

Every year we do things to prepare for colder temperatures and winter weather conditions.  This year was no exception.  There are certain things I do each year to make sure we are prepared for whatever the winter season may hand us. 

Food

In late summer I begin to fill our pantry and our chest freezer with staples such as flour, sugar, canned goods and meat.  Enough of the basics so that if we are hit with a snowstorm we won't need to go anywhere and can stay safely at home.

The same goes for our pets.  I make sure we have enough feed, pine shavings, cat food & litter and supplies on hand in our garage to see us all the way to spring.  No one wants to go to the feed store and then have to lug a 50# bag of chicken food inside over an icy driveway.

Fuel

In the fall I make sure our truck has a fresh oil change and a full tank of gas.  During the winter I keep our car topped up as well.  We have extra propane tanks in our garage in case of a power failure so we can cook on our camp stove or BBQ with our grill.  We also have wood stacked in our back yard in case we need to build a fire or use the rocket stove.

Home

Making sure our home is ready for the colder weather is another important thing we do.  Making repairs, clearing debris from the gutters, making sure our snow shovel is in good shape and we have ice melt in the garage, etc.  We do a final mow and trim of the lawn and try to keep up on raking and mulching the leaves so there aren't a lot on the ground when we get the first snow fall.  I do an inspection of our roof, our doors and windows, our siding and such.

This year it was important to me that I get the duct from the old vented range hood sealed off and we managed that last weekend.  I used some insulation a friend had given me to use in my motorhome renovations, if I needed some, and a piece of siding I had saved in my garage.  I wanted to wait until we had a couple of good freezes first to make sure we didn't have any bees or birds nesting inside the duct before I sealed it off.

Heat

We are an all electric household with baseboard heater, an electric fireplace and an infrared supplemental heater.  Each spring I clean the vents and the heating element in the fireplace so it is ready come fall when the temperature starts to drop.  Periodically throughout the year I vacuum the baseboards and wipe them down with a damp cloth to keep them clean and dust free.  In the fall I pull out the infrared heater, vacuum the intake vent and filter, clean the unit and polish the wood.  Once that is done it is ready to go as well.

Each year it seems we pretty much do the same things over and over.  There is usually one or two additional things we need to do each year as well.  This year it was sealing up the old duct.  Last year it was pruning trees and replacing the weatherstripping on our front door.  Next year I am sure it will be something else altogether.  As long as we adequately take care of our home it will be able to take care of us.  Especially when the temperatures plummet and the snow starts to fly.