Getting Winterized

I decided that I had pushed the weather envelope about as far as I could, and it was time to get everything ready for winter. I banked the house with hay and covered it with plastic; I've been doing this for many years, as it is the only way to reliably prevent frozen pipes. I had been hoping that, once I'm living in the JayBee, I won't have to do this anymore. If this would be the only way to keep the JayBee's water supply and septic pipes from freezing, I guess it wouldn't be so bad to keep doing it.

I also insulated the basement/crawlspace door.

Although I usually keep the JayBee fairly neat, it has become quite messy lately.

I moved all the lumber that is eight feet long or shorter out of the JayBee and into the "shop." I dismantled the water-shield crib I had made, since I don't think I will have another use for it.

I set out another box of wood scraps, and it was taken before today's snowstorm began.

I moved the saws that were in the yard...

inside under cover.

I decided to move some of the lumber piles that have been in the yard for years.

I moved the shorter lumber into the shop and the longer lumber into the JayBee. All of the shingles went inside the JayBee.

I freak out every time I see a snake skin...

but there were so many of them in the lumber pile that I started handling them by hand.

I organized the mess in the shop...

...to accommodate the additional lumber and saws.

I sorted through a huge pile of extra tarps--storing some away, throwing away the others.

During the last rainstorm, a lot of water ended up inside the JayBee. Not through the roof, which is finally, truly weatherproof, but through the door and west end. Turns out that, without the tarps hanging over the roof edges, the tarps that were protecting those sides of the JayBee were no longer up to the task.

So, I added some extra cover to the west end...

...and I raised the tarp over the door. I also removed the concrete-block steps in front of the JayBee, so the plow guy won't have to navigate around them.

I don't usually see good sunsets due to the tree-covered hillside to the west of here, but I did see a crimson sky through the trees last night.

I was so determined to finish all this work yesterday, I worked outside (with a flashlight and headlamp) until 6:30 last night. Didn't work. I still had to spend a few hours this morning finishing everything up. When I put the last things away, snowflakes had started to fall.

Two hours later...