Fall Chores

It’s that time of the year again when we begin our fall chores.

I put new filters in the furnace, vacuumed out the floor vents (dog and cat hair accumulates in them over the summer), winterized the swamp cooler, removed a window air conditioning unit, put the fans away and took a couple of oil-filled heaters out of storage, started raking and mulching leaves.

Pam began winterizing a few of our windows (that are no longer double paned = plastic inserts) and helped with raking leaves and emptying the RV. (The RV has been moved to its winter location, which is behind a fence in our snow-bird neighbor’s yard. They winter in Arizona.) Pam has done a lot of work on the flower beds, cutting them back and getting them ready for mulching and winter weather. The iris bulbs for the new raised bed outgrew an existing bed; Pam had to dig them up and thin them out before planting them in their new (however temporary) home. This project required a lot of work!

New corner flowerbed already mulched for winter

There is still much to do; I need to finish winterizing the RV and there will be several more days of raking and mulching leaves. What we don’t use on our flower beds gets hauled off to a compost area the town has set up.

Other fall projects are on the docket; I varnished the stake bed sides for the trailer and I have a section of fence to install behind the garage (keeps out skunks – 9 trapped on our end of town this summer). Some firewood for the fire pit, which we keep on the back deck, has been cut but a small pile remains to be processed. After that I will need to put the snow blade on the John Deere garden tractor and make sure it is ready to run when needed. We saw snow on the top of the Mamm Range as we drove home from work yesterday. Winter is coming!

Varnishing the stake bed trailer sides

I upgraded the tires on my Generac generator; this project required me to make an axle. The problem with the old tires (kludged on by the previous owner) was they would not traverse gravel very well. Installation of the new tires, which are pneumatic instead of solid rubber and much larger, make the generator far easier to roll — I am confident the new tires will handle gravel and uneven terrain of The Lot. This will be important, as I plan to move the generator often this coming summer when cutting firewood with the electric saw.

Old wheel (left) and new wheel (right) on generator

All-in-all our weekends are busy with fall chores and winter preparation. The last big project, as mentioned, will be the installation of that skunk fence. After that there will be more raking and mulching as needed. But the bulk of my fall prep will be over, at least until it is time to put up Christmas lights…. 🙂

Our daughter, Felicity, is in England at the moment doing a house-sit. She hooked up with the local ladies singing group, the Crystal Chords, a UK group similar to the US Sweet Adeline chorus that Felicity joined several years ago. The Crystal Chords recently won first place in their division at a regional contest, quite an accomplishment, and Felicity was able to be part of that effort. Here is a photo of Felicity, taken on their return bus trip from the competition, holding the group’s trophy:

Felicity with the Crystal Chord’s trophy

Felicity sent us these You Tube links to videos of the Crystal Chords singing in concert at a local guild hall in Yorkshire.

Happy + Contest Package (All the Way & Let’s Do It) – https://youtu.be/lCfZMoFM-nw

Let’s Do It – https://youtu.be/n11E4HozIsw

Go the Distance – https://youtu.be/ZgvT54hln18

The videos are a bit fuzzy but the sound is pretty good so take a look/listen.

I’m keeping busy and I’m looking forward to a break once the chores have been completed. (Don’t know if that will ever happen; there always seems to be another project on the horizon!)

That’s it for now. Thanks for looking in!

Pam’s Two Cents Worth:

Busy. Yes.

Happy Trails.