Prepping for the winter

Tonight the temperature has dropped below 60ºF for the first time since May. It feels quite nice and I am happy to put on my LL Bean warmup jacket for my early morning walk, for certain. It will get up into the 80's again this weekend, but at least the evenings are so very comfortable. This drop in temperature has signaled the need for me to get busy in the garden and around the house, as we get ready for your trip back down to Florida for the winter. I have mixed feelings about heading south, as I like the warmer weather in the winter and Nancy likes to friends and activities she has down there, but I also really like Delaware and our home here. 

I did get the new railing put in, after Nancy took her fall into the flowerpot while taking the dogs out.  The project took a while, with lots of thinking after deciding trying to get a finished product was not going to happen.  So, I looked at a lot of railings, decided to make it out of pressure treated wood and paint it white, as all the railings in our neighborhood are white.  The railing came out ok, sturdy, two feet down in cement, so no jiggles.  

 I will have lots to do at the "cottage" in Florida. Our friends just bought a similar unit 4 doors away and they have been doing lots of "updating", so I will be looking for input as I do the same. I did get a new vinyl planking floor in to the livingroom, but I still need to do the trim along the walls and around the entry doors. I had put that off in the spring as wood prices were out of sight, so I am hoping those prices continue to drop as demand has dropped quite a bit. I will need to do two more floors in the two bedrooms, but I may end up getting carpeting, if Maggie and Ella behave themselves and not pee in those rooms. I also need to replace the sink in the guest bathroom and the kitchen needs a new look for certain. So, I am anticipating some busy work during our winter season at Golden Ponds, one I hope to enjoy. Back home I am in the process of cleaning up the garden. I am not going to till, rather follow the "no till gardening" plan that has become quite popular. Certainly the worms won't mind if I don't come in with the tiller, as they won't get chopped up. No tilling will also do less spreading of weed seeds, and I certainly have plenty of those. I bought a T-post remover from Tractor Supply that makes taking out the T-posts I use for trellises for cucumbers and tomatoes. Those posts go down at least a foot and with the clay soil we have, it is pretty difficult to pull out the T-posts by hand. At my age, I can use all the help I can and the post remover works quite well. I have started some seedling for Nevada lettuce, which I hope will do well down in Florida. I also have a few tomato suckers and cut up tomatoes planted in some good soil, hoping they will take root and I will get a quick start on the growing season down in Florida. Finally, I have to clean out the sump pumps and make certain they will function during the winter months. I installed a fancy switch for the main pump, so that instead of a float going up and down operating a cheap switch, this unit turns on and off as a result of the water level. It worked quite well last winter, cutting down the number of pump starts by 50% as the unit allows almost all the water out of the container before shutting off. With the float, the pump would go off every 2 minutes and run for less than 10 seconds, keeping about 1/4 of the water in the container. We have had some ups and downs this summer, but we did have some nice visits up north to see family and also taking some side trips. I was able to visit with my college roommate and track and field teammate, a friendship that has lasted almost 60 years.