As of this past weekend it's officially fall. On top of that, the temperature here in Michigan has finally dropped out of the 80s here, which makes it actually start to feel like fall. That makes me start thinking about the activities that I need to do in preparation for winter. Granted, not everyone has to consider the more extreme cold weather that the northern states get, but I thought I'd start a thread to discuss what you have planned.
My biggest project (as always) will end up being all the leaves that have to be collected here at my house. I have grass-smothering levels of leaves, so please don't preach at me about leaving them there for the critters! My record was around 160 bags of leaves that I put out (from a 1/4 acre lot in the suburbs)! Fortunately, I'm not quite there yet for the leaves and probably won't be for another month or so (they haven't started changing yet here). But there's plenty of other projects to do over the next few months.
Annual fall projects:
- Leaves! (in-process)
- Clean out gutters and any leaves / branches that have collected on the roof (in-process)
- Ensure drain for basement walk-out is clear (every time I collect leaves I do this again)
- Wash windows (hard to do this in the winter, so I like to get it done right before things get really cold)
- Winterize mower and move to storage
- Remove snow blower from storage and perform any maintenance needed
- Winter bags / supplies for both vehicles
- Check Mr Heater Big Buddy heater supplies (fuel, batteries, CO detector)
- Move winter clothing out of storage and purge summer clothes
One-off fall projects this year:
- Repair caulk on exterior windows / doors (in-process)
- Add insulation to attic
- Add insulation around rim joist in basement
Power wash garage, shed, driveway, & sidewalks (done)- (maybe) repaint picket fences
- Replace garage door weatherstripping
Replace broken garage outlet boxes and old outlets (done)Put cover on a/c unit (done)- (maybe) add outlet on outside of garage
- Install drip edge above basement walk-out door
Clean out shed, reorganize, and install solar light inside (done)Install new LED strip lighting in garage (done)
And a few that I've already completed:
- Replace furnace filter
- Renew car insurance
- Repainted exterior trim / address
- Swap smoke/CO alarm batteries
I don't have a fireplace, so no need to stock up on wood, although that might be on a lot of people's lists. My vehicles both have winter-rated tires already and all maintenance is up-to-date, so I should be good there.
What tasks do you all have on your list? Are there any that I missed that should be added?
Updated to mark off the things I've completed and to add a few more.
What note taking app do you use? Your obsessive documentation reminds me of me. Lol! I use Google Keep mainly. And Standard Notes for anything encrypted.
I was never a note taker. I had one LONG notepad file. Lol! Then I discovered Evernote. It got buggy. And then I tried several note taking apps. And settled in the two above.
I'm not sure most realize how important it is to have an action plan. Ones for things you need to do now. And ones for if your leaving. Not to mention things to buy and all your research put into those decisions. Invaluable tool - note taking.
Looks like you have a good plan. :)
Quote from: Moab on September 23, 2024, 07:01:47 PMWhat note taking app do you use? Your obsessive documentation reminds me of me. Lol! I use Google Keep mainly. And Standard Notes for anything encrypted.
I was never a note taker. I had one LONG notepad file. Lol! Then I discovered Evernote. It got buggy. And then I tried several note taking apps. And settled in the two above.
I'm not sure most realize how important it is to have an action plan. Ones for things you need to do now. And ones for if your leaving. Not to mention things to buy and all your research put into those decisions. Invaluable tool - note taking.
Looks like you have a good plan. :)
I've got EverNote, but I don't use it very much. Mainly I use either Word or Excel, plus lots and lots of sticky notes and notepads! One of my never-ending tasks is to try to consolidate all of my lists into a single directory on my computer (and then to print them for my Emergency Prep binder). I've been using Excel since around 1990, when I used to track fundraising sales for our church youth group (as one of the youth - it was before I could even drive), so I'm quite familiar with it!
I also have a lot of stuff that I just keep in my head, and not just preparedness stuff. I have a massive book collection (probably somewhere around 6000 of them) and if you were to ask me where a specific book was, I could probably at least point to the proper book case and sometimes even the shelf and location on the shelf! Even random ones that I haven't gotten to yet and thus don't have anything locked in my memory about them. Basically, I can usually go right to things that I need in my house, unless it's been a really long time since I used / touched them (like oddball kitchen stuff that's shoved into the back of a cabinet). I wish that my brain worked half that well for people's names, because I'm absolutely terrible at those!
The list above was mainly a brain dump of the stuff that I know that I need to do this fall. I'd been thinking about it recently and this post was the result of that. I do have a seasonal task list in my prepping folder on my hard drive, but it's somewhat out of date. However, now that you mention it... *looks up list* ... I missed a few! :D
Additional recurring fall tasks:
- Clean and cover A/C unit
- Fill any empty gas cans and treat with stabilizer
- Shut off and drain outdoor spigots
Other than those, I did pretty good!
There are a few items on the list which don't need to be done anymore, e.g.:
- Winterize motorcycle (which hasn't been working for several years now, so there's no point)
- Flip mattress (I've had a single-sided / non-flippable mattress for about 9 years, which tells you how old the list is)
- Drain hose (I use collapsible hoses now, so they get drained every time I'm done with them)
- Remove vent air deflectors (which I didn't install on my a/c vents this year - my bad!)
So there's your little peek inside EBuff's head!
I wish my memory was as good. If I don't write everything down it can be gone in half a day. Let alone a few moments.
I like taking notes on my phone. Because it's always with me. And I like Keep because it's very simple and quick. I can pull up an existing list or note. Or create a new one in a matter of 2 or 3 clicks. And I'm typing.
Standard Notes requires a password. Unless you leave it open. Which defeats the purpose. So I only keep private banking info and stuff like that in there. But it's good to have just for that.
In Keep you can color code backgrounds which show up when they are visible as a list of notes. But the one thing lacking is you can't search within a note. You can only search within all your notes. Which only brings up a list of notes with that search term in it.
I think you can search within a single notepad or word file. And it will highlight those words you searched. Which an option I really miss in all the note apps I've tried.
But Keep is so fast and simple. I just try to break down things into smaller subjects. Which helps a lot in finding things or finding things to update or add to later.
Along with basic to do's. I keep strategy lists. Which I find crucial. Like what needs to be done if we are leaving in 15 minutes? We of course have BOBs. But there is so much other stuff or things that pull double duty. That can't possibly be left in a BOB 24/7. That I have lists of things to grab where they are located in the house, and where in a big or vehicle they need to go. What's in the garage that needs to go and where. Where my firearms and ammo and mags etc are. Various medications. Dog supplies. Totes pre packed in the garage for vehicle emergencies, cooking supplies, etc etc. I have it broken down in levels. So that once we have the BOBs we can add to them time allowing. Obviously if the house is in fire were just grabbing the BOBs and running. But those have enough to keep us basically alive.
But things that are super crucial but I wouldn't necessarily think of all of them, or where they are and that they need to be packed - is a pretty detailed list. Especially what goes in the vehicle. That's a lot more than just the few extra items that go in the BOBs
I can't afford a double set of everything. So that you can just ditch everything and run with the one good set in my BOB.
Then I have lists of routes to take out of the area. Things to check. Do I have time to top off gas tanks? What sources of info do I want to check before leaving? Which ones do I want to be checking along our route? Rest stops, possible hiding areas, alternative routes...
Once you start really prepping and really planning a bug in or bug out. Using lists and notes is crucial. And it's fundamentally imperative that you have them organized. And in order of importance.
I always admire your updates and reviews. Because I can tell you collect in-depth knowledge from a variety of sources. And keep it well organized.
Good job!
I've made some progress on a few of these. I spent about 11 hrs (total) power washing the garage exterior and then cleaning the driveway and sidewalk using a surface cleaner (https://a.co/d/8XHcYVA). I've also added a few one-off items to the list for garage door weatherstripping, replacing old broken outlet boxes and outlets in the garage (done), and caulking the garage sill plate.
I've also started on repairing the caulk around the windows and doors and got most of the first floor done (one window and one door to go). When the caulk tube ran out, I stopped because I was tired and didn't feel like hauling out the extension ladder to continue with the 2nd floor.
How is it that I'm working on things on the list, but the list is still getting longer?...
I ended up collecting 28 bags of leaves this weekend; the total count is now up to 66 bags. That was 7 hours of work yesterday and another hour this morning. There are still some leaves that haven't fallen, so I'm not done yet, but it's getting closer.
On Friday I installed new lights in my garage (https://ufozs.com/smf/index.php?msg=49054) and did some cleanup. Today I did some additional cleanup and organizing in the garage and finally cleaned out the shed. There were old, rotten pieces of paneling and misc. pieces of wood in there that came along with the house when I bought it 20 years ago! Once it was cleared out, I put up a motion light inside that runs off of a solar panel that I mounted outside. That should make it easier to see, so that I don't need a flashlight! Having a clean shed also let me put the yard equipment back inside in a much more organized fashion.
I'm hoping that I'll be done with leaves next week, after which I can winterize the mower and put it away. When I do that, I'll pull out the snow blowers (big and little) and do the annual prep work on those. I've got some new blades and scraper that need to be put on the small one. The big one needs a new gas cap, which I still need to order.