The first snow of the season is coming tomorrow - snow mixed with rain from 7 AM until 9 AM. It shouldn't be a big deal. It's not going to 'stick', and I'm more concerned about the multiple days of rain that are on their way than I am about this little bit of snow.
Nevertheless, I had a plumber out today to install shut off valves on a couple of water hoses that lead to the outside. He's the same guy who did the heating and plumbing when the house was built, and I'm surprised that he didn't put those valves in way back then as common sense should have dictated to a plumber living in this part of the country.
The house has been empty every winter since it was built. There has never been a problem brought on by the cold, but that's because each fall we've had a plumber (the same one) come out and winterize the place. That means that he opened pipes and let them drain or added antifreeze where draining was not possible. Winterized, it couldn't freeze.
This year is different. We will be in the house and the plumbing will be capable of freezing. Since the heat will be on, my only concern is that the lines leading to the outside faucets by way of the garage are vulnerable. That's why I called in the plumber. He added shut off valves in the garage where they emerge from the ceiling, and now I can drain the uninsulated portion of those two lines without draining the rest of the house.
With the plumber coming out to do work in my overcrowded garage, I took the opportunity to empty most of that bay including pulling the snow plow blade out of the garage. That's something I'd been meaning to do anyway. Now I have a better organized and cleaner garage bay.
To my chagrin, what I pulled out isn't a snowplow blade at all, but a scraper blade used to smooth out driveways and spread gravel. It's really the perfect tool for scraping the grass off of an area that I want to garden, but for plowing snow it isn't going to work. The blade is only about 18 inches high.
I do have "another" snowplow blade (a real one) that the tractor owner gave me when he sold me the tractor, but it's in need of repair and is not currently usable. Its condition is such that I have it sitting in the backyard. There's a good chance I'll never have it fixed. It's really rusted (and it was when I got it)and getting worse, so I guess a GOOD snowplow blade for the tractor is the newest thing on my shopping list. $$$$$. My first year of living here hasn't proven to be cheap.
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