Winter's Coming...
October 23, 2005
... and we've been preparing, or preparing to prepare as the case may be. Cleaning up and winterizing are two of the fresh new chores that come along with a house, and take up time. But I don't really mind them (except for the sore shoulder/neck I have right now). Today I re-cleaned the gutters and installed wire mesh to keep leaves out (most of which are already down on the tree most relevant to our roof), mowed the grass, and planted some fresh seeds. You're supposed to plant grass in the fall and spring; I just hope this isn't too late in the fall. This week we'll work on "shrink-wrapping" the windows and installing insulation on all the water pipes in the basement. As soon as the hardware store has them back in stock, I'll be buying an H2O heater blanket. Doh! And I forgot to wrap the AC in a tarp today. Must do so soon.
House ownership in St. Paul is much more work-intensive then condo ownership in Chicago. Winter prep for us: 1) make sure all the windows are really closed 2) make sure cats have warm place to sleep & electric blanket is located for the humans and 3) realize that water heater could break down at any time without notice. Everything else involves blaming the condo association.