We are winterized part I

Well mostly.
Gone are the sunny days of our time in California when there was absolutely no thought going into the next chapter of the year. The only thing you needed to plan out there was your strategic route in getting anywhere to avoid the craptastic traffic. Life revolved around getting somewhere in a decent amount of time and finding a parking spot when you arrived.
Connecticut served as a fine transitional state for us with regards to weather. Stuff like bringing in the yard furniture, packing up the water hose, and shutting off the water to the outside were a part of our winter regiment.
Given that we now live in North Country, have animals outside, a vegetable garden, and a large number of perennial flowers, our winter preparedness list has grown exponentially.
Here's a partial list of what has to be done:

• Lawn ornamentation and furniture stored in the barn
• All winter machines such as the evil snow blower made for really tall people, and my fabulous Kubota, are serviced for cold. Oh yeh and our cars as well.
• All machine batteries are charged. (Ranger, snow mobiles)
• 300 feet of hose disconnected and stored neatly in the barn(When you live with a Fountain there is no such thing as tossing stuff around. Everything has a place and proper method of storing)
• Wood stove and furnace serviced
• Transfer cords of wood from barn to wood shed for easier access
• Stockpile ice melt both animal friendly and regular
• Hay and straw ordered, delivered, and stored in barn. (Has to last until the grass grows again in the spring)
• Coop house preparation including: window wrapping, old hay bales stacked for insulation, water dish heater installed, heat lamp installed, draft areas sealed, portable shelter moved to hen entrance. Begin deep-litter bedding (the process of natural mulching of droppings and urine mixing with pine shavings to generate heat; you can imagine the scent is divine by the time January rolls around). Run extension cords out to smaller coop for heat lamp installation.
• Sheep barn prep; Store limited amount of hay and straw bales. Install water trough heater. Begin deep litter-bedding with the existing hay.
• Wrap screened-in porch and gazebo. We do this in order to prevent snow build up on the inside that would result in rotting the wood. I have included pics. Both are covered in plastic. The gazebo has rope wrapped around the plastic to secure it from the inevitable damaging winds that we get. The porch plastic is secured using a series of wood pieces from the inside. Take a look.

You can see the framing wood pieces securing the plastic. Also visible is my cool tie-dyed duct tape used to seal an area that ripped last year. Gotta love duct tape.

And this is the gazebo wrapped. Jim had an idea for next year. Use plastic that is colored and rope that is also colored to give the appearance of a giant gift. Pretty cool. We'll see if any of us remember. :) The plastic we use is easily obtainable at any hardware store and it has lasted 3 yrs. We expect to replace it next year.
In the next post I will cover the prep for the garden and the flowers.