We are now starting to get ready for winter 2009.  I live in Upstate New York and it is very important for us to get ready for this.  I grew up in California and have only been living in Upstate New York for about 15 years now.  We did not have the worries there that we have here.

We first have to close up our camp.   We have a seasonal campsite that our RV is on.  We leave the RV there year round and when we close it up it has to be weatherized.  The process is simple enough but it has to be done correctly or we will be faced with some costly repair jobs in the spring. We have to do more than just draining the water out of the lines.  My husband uses an air compressor and blows the air through to help get as much water out as possible then we pour RV anti-freeze into the pipes.  Of course this all has to be cleaned out in the spring but that is pretty simple to do.  We then put about three 50 gallon barrels on top of the roof and some long 2x4s  across the barrels to help form a pitch to the roof after it is completely covered with a tarp.  This helps the snow to fall off the roof and not build up so much.  We need this at our camp because of the amount of snow they get there which is usulally more than 5 feet.  We also have to take everything out of the RV that can freeze and ruin.  All food, cleaning supplies and anything else that can freeze and burst.

First thing we do to get ready at home is to purchase a ton of wood pellets for our wood pellet stove.  This is what we use for our main source of heat.

I love my wood pellet stove.  It is one of the most efficient stoves out there.  We have a Harmon stove.  Several of our friends have wood pellet stoves now too.  In the last 5 years they have become very popular because of how efficient they are.

My husband has to get the snow plow ready to use and clean up the yard.  We get any where from a foot to a  couple of feet of snow a year.  There are years that we have more snow but not in the last 3 years or more.  We don’t usually get the worst of the weather around our area.  Just 30 minutes away we have family that gets at least 3 times the snowfall we get.  They live in that “snow belt” area.

It is sad to see the season change.  The trees are loosing leaves and the fall foliage color change is in full affect now.  It is beautiful to take a country ride and see the colors but it is a little depressing too.  I think that this summer has gone by so fast and is over all ready.  It is actually time to get ready for the holidays.

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