Prepping...

 
 ...for winter.  I'm not much of an apocalypse prepper.  Right now, I would only be able to finish off a couple hundred zombies :) 

On the other hand, for natural and man-made events, I tend to stay a little more prepared.  I probably keep more consumables, water, batteries, and fuel on hand than most people do.  That preparedness is simply about trying to be a little bit resilient in the face of what's possible.

What I am mostly prepared for at this moment is winter.  All the propane tanks are full.  500 lbs of sand is loaded into the truck, in preparation for plow duty.

The sprinkler lines have been blown clear of water.

The heater that keeps the sprinkler supply line warm is energized.  There is water up to the blue handle valve at the right that cannot be blown out with air.  I keep the body of the backflow preventer warm just in case.

I taped a little plastic bag to the extension cord to keep snow and rain from getting into the connection, and left the bottom open so that if it ever leaks, water will drain out instead of building up inside the bag.

Closed the crawl space vents.

Rolled up the garden hoses, blew them clear of water, and hung them up in the shop.

I also brought in all 10 of the wasp traps, cleaned them out, and disposed of the attractant. 

Mark the stuff I don't want to run over with the snow blower or snow plow.  Below I have marked the path to the shop so I don't wander off into the grass or hit the landscaping bricks with the snow blower.

Below, I've marked the edge of the shop's concrete skirt, so I don't ram into it with the plow.  When you hit something like this, it almost throws you through the windshield.  It's hard on the plow, the truck, on you, and on the concrete.  Better just to mark it, so when it's under the snow, you don't hit it.

Got the trickle charger and the block heater plugged in.  Old truck has been having a hard time starting lately.  It needs ether, because it doesn't crank very fast.  I probably need to look into that, and maybe also replace the glow plugs.  I keep the block heater on a timer.  Every few hours it switches on for an hour to keep some warmth in there.

Stuff yet to do:

• Attach the plow when we get a little closer to having snow
• Turn on the roof gutter heaters.
• Then I will put snow tires on my car and grandma's car.
• One final lawn mowing.  It's mostly stopped growing, but it is a tad long for a dachshund.  Edit:  Did that today (10-27)

It's a fair number of chores, but fortunately they can be spread out a bit.