Every year we have to attend to all the items on our “Fall Preparedness List.” It basically lists all the stuff we should do before the snow falls. Unfortunately, it’s a really long list and as I watch the snow fly outside my window, I’m thinking about how many items are still left on it.
Last weekend for example, we dealt with taking apart the garden. Because we are too cheap to put up a real fence, we have a cheesy chicken wire fence that we use to keep the deer out of my garden when there’s good stuff to eat in there. Because it’s a flimsy fence, there’s no way it would hold up to snow, so every spring we put it up and every fall we take it down. Basically, we try to take it down before the snow does the job for us.
Unfortunately, on October 30, winter weather arrived. Our beautiful fall turned nasty and has stayed there. The endless, torrential rain, sleet, and other sloppy precipitation have been a serious setback to the fall preparedness program. The snow destroyed the (admittedly old) plastic on my hoop greenhouse before we could get it down. Pulling out my nasty frostbitten plants and rolling up cold, muddy, slimy hoses was not much fun.
Of course, I have to confess that this lack of preparedness is really our own fault. We went on vacation and then had houseguests. Knowing all too well that winter can easily arrive in mid-October, we tempted fate and put off a whole lot of stuff we should have done. I still don’t even have my winter tires on my car.
The good news is that the garden is done, the pellets are safely in the garage, my car windshield is fixed, the tractor got its tire repaired, and some wood is in the log holders. Given that there’s a winter storm warning tonight, we may have to just give up on the rest of the stuff on the list.
More proof that if you procrastinate long enough, sometimes things just take care of themselves.