WINTERIZING

It feels rather strange to be winterizing everything here while the weather is so warm and sunny.  It has been great the past week with daytime temperatures up to 15 or 16 and just below freezing at night.  We have been sitting on the back deck in the sun in the late afternoons and we even wore shorts and T-shirts today.  At this rate, it won’t be a big transition to the weather in Arizona.

We have been busy winterizing our place this past week starting with the hot tub on Monday.  We siphoned out most of the water and then used the Wet/Dry Shop Vac to pick up the residue in the bottom of the tub.  We also blew air through the jets and then started draining the pipes underneath.  They were fairly easy to unscrew and we also opened and drained the pumps.  The Shop Vac was great for pulling water out of the lines.  After it was all drained, we secured plywood on top of the hot tub cover to protect it from the rain and snow.  It doesn’t look very attractive but it will do the job.

Since we aren’t familiar with the amount of snow to expect here in the winters, we decided to put covers over the basement window wells so that they don’t fill up with snow.  We screwed them down to the “newly stained” well frames and they will provide added security as you can’t get in or out the windows with the covers in place.

Of course, the motorcycle had to get parked and all the gas operated equipment had fuel stabilizer added and fresh oil put in the pressure washer and lawn mower.  The BBQ was carried off the deck, cleaned and placed in the shop beside the patio furniture.  It sure is great to have enough room to put things away without stacking them up and there is still enough floor space in the shop to park a vehicle.

Yesterday the security company came by to pick up a key and today we had the irrigation system blown out by the local business and the fellow who did our place turned out to be a neighbour that we hadn’t met yet.  Yup, mighty neighbourly around here.  Anyway, he did a good job and it cost less than half the amount it would have in Kamloops.  Good deal.

We still have flowers blooming on both decks as they are close to the house and not getting much frost at night.  They will have to come out of the pots tomorrow and that will be the last of the outdoor winterizing.  We’ve been putting things in the trailer each day and will kick into higher gear to have it all done by Saturday evening.  We are on schedule to leave as planned on Sunday. 

Exciting times ahead for us so watch for more frequent posts.