The usual preparation for winter

This last week couple of weeks the weather has cooperated so that Gerry and I have been able to do the last minute preparation for winter.  He has put antifreeze in all of the water pipes in the camper.  It was a bit of a project in that he had not done it before and was worried that he would miss one, it would freeze and he would have a burst pipe and another project next spring. Thank goodness for Youtube.

He then winterized all the mowers, the shredder, tillers and who knows what else.  Winterizing them means turning them upside down, scraping off all the accumulated grass and dirt, then washing it with the power washer. He also drained the oil and filled it with new so it is ready to go next spring.

I pushed myself to get the deck and railings stained.  It seems this needs to be done every 2-3 years. I did hire someone to help this year, but it still took several days.

All I need to do yet is plant spring flower bulbs.  But that can be done any time that you can still dig in the ground.

Projects and recollections

It is October when G and I start thinking about what projects need to be completed before it is too cold.  Mine was to stain the deck again.  I looked back on the calendar and it looks like I did it two years ago.  There must be a better way, but this deck is what was here when we bought the house.  It was a two person job (not G and I).  Doing projects like that definitely is not his favorite thing to do. So I power washed it, and applied a brightener which is supposed to open the pores in the wood so the stain goes in better.  Next I hired a 20 year old Amish young man.  He has been doing a lot of yard work this summer.  He spent two days applying the stain on the floor.  I stained the railings for two days and am not finished.  Rain is here so it will have to wait.

G project was to put a sealer on the cracks and joints on the concrete apron in from of the shop.  This took him several days too.  We are bleary eyed but are happy to have done so much.  I did not think to take any pictures.

For G's birthday party I made a board with pictures from his life.  I thought I would include some here. This is him riding a motorcycle to classes at the University of Minnesota.  I can't believe he is smiling.

Another motorcycle pic.  He raced motocross in Oklahoma.  I never could get the red dirt stains out of his clothes.

Ok, this is the last motorcycle picture.  This was a couple years ago when he rode the Continental Divide Route.  Just wanted to show there is a theme here.