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Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Winter prep



My lovely wife and I have been taking about our winter plans. Last year, we had house sitters lined up to watch the place. We knew for sure we would be on the road in early January. Winter prep only went as long as the end of December. A small pile of wood, a few gallons of heating oil, and we were good to go. The house sitters took care of the house the rest of the winter, and did a fine job of it too.

This year, things are different. There are enough family and other things going on right now that we can’t really set a firm departure date. With that in mind, we’ve decided to prep as if we were spending the whole winter at home. That way, if we do stick around, we won’t freeze in the dark. We decided to stop looking for a larger sailboat. Our money will go into house upgrades instead.

It’s actually a relief to have come to that decision. There’s focus to my actions now. The next few weeks will be busy ones. Today I replaced all the firebrick in the kitchen woodstove. In a more perfect world, I’d have bought a new stove, but I’m looking to pay down debt, not make any more.

My wood hauling trailer is almost ready for the road. Hope to register it on Tuesday. One of my friends has a load of nice dry wood for me. It’s too long for his stove so he’d rather not spend all this time cutting off the ends. Fits mine fine.

One good thing about my lovely wife and I. Should we decide to head south, we can shut down the house, pack our stuff, and head on down the road in less than a day. A few days later we could be sailing off the coast of Florida. We’ve made similar last minute travel decisions in the past. Once we decided to go camping. Twenty minutes later we were packed and headed down the road. That was in summer. Properly shutting down a house in the winter takes a bit of planning.

Unless everything falls apart, we’ll most likely scoot south for a good part of the winter. If we do, our winter preps will have us that much better off for the winter after.

-Sixbears




11 comments:

  1. If you make it down here please don't forget to wear you money dispenser. We locals like it placed in the middle of your back with a red button brightly polished for easy recognition. When we depress the button we'd like twenty dollar bills. Inflation, don't 'ya know...

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    1. Thanks . . . I know.

      Really noticed the money extraction process in St. A. They took away all my free parking spaces and jacked up the rates on the paid parking, then added strick enforcment plus high fines. Unfriendly. That's only one example. Town used to be a bit more laid back.

      Then again, sitting out at anchor I don't spend a thin dime.

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  2. Hope you have a good autumn and winter, whatever option you choose.

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  3. Where ever you decide to stay for the winter, remember to enjoy life to it's fullest!

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    1. Thanks Sandy. I do have my winter play things still.

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  4. Phyllis (N/W Jersey)September 4, 2012 at 8:34 AM

    Rather have too much wood stacked than not enough - we have at least two years worth done for ourselves. Plenty of trees cut and rolled and about 200 left standing. We is set...

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    1. My barter arrangement is coming through. Got some wood coming in a few days.

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  5. Back when I first moved here, I had a wood stove. I cut and stacked a lot of oak firewood, but had trouble keeping it over the summer for the next year. It would rot over the summer, even if covered. The high humidity in the Gulf Coast region does it work on cut and split wood.

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    1. What you need a wood fired air conditioner. Wouldn't that be a great invention?

      Keeping wood is easy when it's frozen solid half the year.

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  6. Better to be prepped for whatever than caught short. Having things in place either way mean you can move smoothly no matter what. Cooperation between you and the wife sure helps!

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    1. My lovely wife and I are always talking about this stuff. Keeps us on the same page.

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