Getting ready for winter-never too soon for Maine

I know that its only August, but when winter lasts most of the year in Maine-you start a bit early! Each winter I write down things that I did not have that would be good for next year and start in the spring in gathering what I need. With each winter, you learn new tips of survival of not only the large amounts of snow but in the frigid temperatures were are faced with.

My first winter up here was the winter of 2003. It was more than a culture shock-it was definitely a test. I had no idea what cold was until I faced it up here. There are weeks on end of temperatures 40-50 degrees below zero! this I have written about in prior blogs and it is certainly hard to understand it unless it happens! As I mentioned the tires in your car freeze when temperatures drop below 25 below zero! That I learned about the hard way!

That first winter I saw how it was too cold to snow on some days and with each week more than a foot of snow would fall each time and just pile up on each other. The snowbanks get so high that it is hard to see past them when leaving your driveway or at the end of streets. I have actually had to roll down my window and listen for cars! We are very rural here and can hear them from a distance. The girls build wind block forts at the end of the driveway while waiting for the bus. I have yet to build a shelter for them. When it gets too cold-I will have them wait in my car with the heat on until the snowbanks are high enough for their forts-which work quite well!

Each year I make sure that I have about six to eight cords of wood stacked in the basement and split for the wood stove. All done by the time that I am writing this. The pieces that are too big are waiting outside for it to get cold enough to split it. I usually rent a splitter and just have a day of it with lots of help. The kids run it all down to the basement in the drop down built for this purpose. I also make sure that the window's without storm windows are covered in plastic. This year I am taping the pipes and wrapping the water heater with insulation. Last year my electric bill shot up drastically when I had to strategically place heaters around the house where the heat from the wood stove did not reach and the electric bill went from $58 a month to $220. So this year the windows and north side of the house will be covered in plastic and the pipes will be taped! I hope that works better! I am always experimenting and learning new things with each year that passes!

I have learned through personal experience that snow tires are a must up here! Unbelievable how much easier it is! I used to get the usual four-season tires. On the treacherous hills up here-well I learned another important lesson!

Also, I have been collecting antique quilts and afghans-because you can never have too many piled on the bed. The girls will get their new thermals and flannels which are a must up here as well. I have barn boots that are out on the porch and not mixed with the other boots(Necessary on a farm to have two separate sets of boots). The girls will be gathering all of the kindling needed for the fall fires in the wood stove and putting it all in the bin on the porch. Many newspapers have been gather for this as well. Extra buckets have been dug out of storage for when the water freezes out in the barn and all ready for their use. I bring in the buckets from the barn and thaw them out by the wood stove to bring back out to the barn. The shovels have all been found-In the spring, they are usually found all over the yard with the lids from the trash bins-once the snow hits-it covers everything if not brought back. I have also found mittens, hats and sleds in the Spring! All of the sweaters had been brought out and washed and hung out to dry on the line as well as the quilts. The extra regridgerator has been cleaned for all of the veggetables from my garden.

There is much to do to get ready here to brace outselves for the winter-so it is never too early to start. I have seen people start as early as the snow thaws. We do that too. Each week I set aside things to do or gather so we are not caught unaware and unprepared.

Already I see piles of wood in people's yards-ready to be thrown in the basement. Each year I am more and more prepared and love how warm and cozy my house is when the wind is howling outside and the snow is piling up. Next week I will be calling to have the chimney cleaned and ordering hay for storage in the garage. I bought a house with a garage thinking that I would store my cars in it! Silly flat-lander that I was! My car has not spent any time at all in it yet! In the summer it is converted into a workshop for fixing my house or working on the wool gathered from my sheep and in the winter it becomes storage for the hay for the animals. I wanted to store my car in it-but the snow piles up so high that at first I could not afford to pay for a plow and had to hand shovel my dooryard (driveway) and thus, I would park my car at the end of it-way too long to shovel it all of the way up with each storm up here-insane to even try! Now I have a plow come in and I tell them to push the snow all of the way-past the actual driveway and when the snow hits I park the car on my yard next to my porch. My driveway becomes a huge ice pit and this leaves less area to get to my car and fall on the ice! I also, always have kitty litter in the trunk of my car for this reason. One day I came home from work after a foot and a half of snow and two inches of ice on top of that. It made a fifteen minute normal commute into a two hour one! I made it all of the way to the front of my house and got stuck in a huge ice pit and could not even get into my driveway. I had to struggle-falling many times to get all of the way to my porch and slide down two buckets of kitty litter to pour all over the place so I could get in my own driveway! So now I always have kitty litter in the trunk of my car and on the porch!

I also put in my emergency kit in the car for winter in case I get stuck somewhere: I have a shovel, blankets, small bundle of firewood, food-granola and beef jerky, flashlight etc. It is easy to end up in an area without cell phone reception up here and that is usually the spot where your car gets snow banked!

So, needless to say, I have learned a lot and each year it gets easier and easier and is spread out more so that it is not too bad. I have learned lots of tricks and take pride in spending less and less money with each year in winterizing and in keeping the home and all of us warm. My home is warmer and cozier than the last and I can sit tight in comfort and warmth for the next winter well content with all that I had done to get there. I love this time of year because it is very busy. Everywhere you look you see more and more people doing the same up here and each evening I can rest with more confidence of a warm home over the winter. Now I look out my windows and I see the first signs of fall-with leaves just starting to turn. So, you see it is never too early to prepare for winter in Maine!