Getting ready for Winter.

OK, I know all you that live up north will laugh at me and my winter preparations, but I will be laughing when you all are froze under feet of snow and temperatures down where they should never be allowed to go.  But I do prepare, even though it takes me less than hour to do so.  The first thing I do is shut off my outside water and drain the pipes.  The water pipe that feeds it goes under the deck to get the spigot outside.  It used to sag some (still does) and it couldn't be completely drained from the spigot.  The shut-off valve for the line is actually lower than the outside spigot and there is no way, even taking the sag out, to be able to drain it from the spigot.  So one year it actually got cold enough to freeze it and of course it split wide open.  When I replaced the pipe, I put a tee with a plug in one branch and located it in the low spot.  When winter comes, all I have to do is turn off the water, open the spigot, and take the plug out of the low spot which drains the pipe run.  I also removed the hose that was hooked up to it and drained, rolled it up, and stored it on the the porch.

The other thing that I did was throw some tarps over my well and pressure tank.  Down here where I live the wells are usually drilled away from the house, since most homes do not have basements.  When I first moved here you couldn't dig a post hole without hitting water, so you know that if basements were dug they would turn into swimming pools, but times have changed and we have been in drought conditions for a couple years.  Some people put the pressure tank inside the home but mine is out beside the well.  That way it can feed both my house and my son's.

There!!! I got my winter preps done and just in time.  It got down into the low 40's last night and suppose to get colder the next few nights before it warms back up to where it should be.  OK, you guys up north, quit laughing now, it will be in the 70's here when you are around zero.  Actually when I lived up north, I enjoyed the cold weather, but I am sure I could not stand it now.  They say your blood thins out in the heat of the south.  If that is so, why do our arteries still clog up down here?  Now, you all keep warm and happy, you hear?