Despite Everything, Life in Minnesota Goes On

The leaves are raked, the deck furniture is put away, the furnace filter has been replaced and hoses are drained and stored. Even the election is over.

It’s time to start our annual hibernation.

It’s always good to get everything buttoned up before Thanksgiving so you at least have one thing to be thankful for. Remember, this is Minnesota where we’re always getting ready for something. In this case it’s winter, the unforgiving season and the hardest season to prepare for.

I removed the screens so the dark days of winter will seem a bit brighter. I cleaned the windows inside and out using microfiber cloths. The windows look so clean and clear – until later when you look out a window backlit by the sun. How can there be streaks? Well, you either polish it some more or avoid looking out backlit windows. Remember, once you batten down the hatches and get ready for months of indoor living, it’s really hard to clean them, especially when its -20.

This Old House

At least I don’t need to replace the screens with storm windows anymore. I had more than 25 on my old house near downtown before I got combination windows. At least that was safer than trying to slide a heavy glass storm window up a ladder to the second floor.

But even with combos, do you know how long it takes to clean all the interior and exterior windowpanes? And, of course, the upper half of the double-hung windows were always unmovable, having been either painted or varnished shut.

The 1910 house had windows that were raised and lowered by hidden counterweights. To get to everything, I had to unscrew and remove a panel so I could swing the window out, unhook the pulley rope, then pull out the other side of the window and unhook its rope. Completely cleaning all the panes of just one window could take a half-hour. I knew I did a good job when I could clearly see the wavy flaws in the ancient glass.

The East Seventh Street house I grew up in was even older. It was actually a farmhouse. It had storm windows we stored in the garage which had been the farm’s barn. It had a dirt floor, so the windows always got dirtier in storage. We eventually got combination windows. I don’t think we ever cleaned any windows again.

The hardest part of fall is timing. You hope and pray that the leaves all drop before it gets really cold and snows. Well, I did my best this year but still have one birch tree that refuses to give its leaves up. It’s waiting to drop them on top of the first snow.

Snowless Winter

I’m not anxious for snow but last winter was almost boring without it. It seemed like a really long fall. I did appreciate being able to ride my bike during much of it. Take a look at photos you took last winter. You probably have many that show little or no snow.

I rode my bike to the top of Memorial Park last January 31 and took some photos from the main lookout over town. There wasn’t a flake of snow anywhere. The high temp at my house that day was 54. Maybe this year I’ll actually get to use the new two-stage electric snowblower I bought last year. At least it doesn’t need gas and an oil change.

One annoyance with our snowfalls is that many of them are small, just a few inches. It’s overkill to use a large snowblower but more than I want to shovel by hand.

My old Toro paddle snowblower is perfect for the job, except that it takes a gas-oil mix and is loud, smoky and smelly. We aren’t supposed to even use them anymore. It’s my last gas-powered tool so I’d like to swap it for an electric version. In our climate, it’s nice to have both types of snowblowers if you can. Plus, Catherine can operate the small one.

The chores of fall can be tough. But once done, it gives immense pleasure to drive around and see homes not yet ready for winter, knowing that you’re ready for that blizzard just around the corner.

There is one thing I’ll never get done early – hanging the outdoor Christmas lights.

For that, Catherine makes me wait until after Thanksgiving when the temperature is near zero.