Winter Prep

[Larry Caldwell]

That is a serious prep list, but you might have missed a few water system details. Did you drain all the outside water faucets and store the garden hoses to keep them from freezing? Also, it is a good time to stabilize the fuel in your lawnmower and other small gas equipment before putting them away for the winter.

Good point about the fuel. I store all small engines dry. Since I have been working on generators, they all have fresh oil in the crank case and empty fuel tanks. The chainsaw, of course, only gets used in the winter, so it has been sitting empty all summer, but I haven't sharpened any chains since last March. It's time to get busy on that.

All my outdoor faucets are freeze proof. I lump garden hoses in with fall yard cleanup, but you reminded me that I have not done yard tool maintenance. I like to give all wooden handles a coat of boiled linseed oil. I will spend the winter doing stuff like sharpening mower blades. Any tool maintenance goes on the winter or early spring list. I do have a bunch of lead-acid batteries that need to be recycled. They are the remnants of a solar storage project for a travel trailer that doesn't live here anymore. I see that more as an unfinished chore than a seasonal project.

The big project for this week is the Christmas lights. Thanksgiving is a week from tomorrow and I like to light up the day after.

 

[Larry Caldwell]

I made a post pounder for the markers out of a ½" pipe, pipe cap and steel dowel.

The dowel is 6" longer than the pipe.

I pound the dowel into the ground until the pipe touches the ground, remove it and put the marker in the hole.
View attachment 4422197

So do you guys pull your markers every year? I have reflector markers along one short section of driveway, and leave them in year round. I should replace a few.

 

[bigtiller]

So do you guys pull your markers every year? I have reflector markers along one short section of driveway, and leave them in year round. I should replace a few.

Yes.
I think most of us pull up and store for the warm months.
If I didn't, they'd probably get ran over or mowed down.