We have winterization in our lexicon, but not the springtime equivalent. Regardless, that’s how I spent part of my Saturday.
I had four more windows replaced a couple weeks ago (both bathrooms, guest room and upstairs hallway – the latter used to funnel cold air directly into my bedroom), so I had no storm windows to put away this year. Now, I’ve replaced all the windows in the living areas of the house. All that remain are the back hallway, basement and front porch, none of which are a huge priority.
Tulips! And daffodils!
I also cleaned out a winter’s worth of detritus from my flower beds and backyard. I filled an entire yard bag with dead leaves and other junk, and was thrilled to find stuff already sprouting underneath. In the front beds, I had seen tulips beginning to grow, but after removing the leaves, I found daffodil sprouts, too. Along the back fence, I found the early shoots that will become June’s tiger lilies.
Inside, I drained and cleaned the humidifiers, and now they’re air drying until I store them for the summer. I dusted and organized.
Still to do:
The missing piece was finally found in the backyard once the snow melted.
Fix the soffit that the blizzard tore off the side of the garage. Though it’s not very high, it requires a ladder, and thus I won’t tackle this quick fix unless I have someone spot me. Especially at the back of the house, I’m wary of doing anything where I could fall and no one would notice.
Close, but not quite latchable
Fix the frost heave/front gate situation. A couple years ago, a frost heave appeared in the middle of my driveway. As soon as the weather warmed, it collapsed back into itself, enabling me to seal it and move on. A couple weeks ago, when I first tried to close the gates, I couldn’t get the gate over the heave. Now, it’s collapsed, so I can close the gates, but they’re misaligned so they don’t meet in the middle and latch. I’m weighing my options: raise up the gates (oh-so-heavy and cumbersome; would require a second and potentially third set of hands) and install new hinges, sand off the bottom of the gate that currently rests on the ground, or just leave hope that the warm weather adjusts the driveway a bit more.
Put away the boots and clean, clean, clean. I’m afraid that putting away my winter boots right now might tempt fate, so I’ll hold off at least another week on this one. I also need to pull out the hose, turn on the water and get ready to plant.
And I can’t wait to drag the patio furniture out for the year.
What do you have to do for spring?
Adventures of the Former Elginista 
We’ve already taken out our garden hose (been using it for a few weeks now to water grass seed & strawberries) and patio furniture. Still have not stowed the boots. This weekend I filled 7 lawn bags which is a small fraction of what needs to be done. I estimate another 20 are needed to remove all of the dried plant matter, sticks & leaves. There is only so much that fits in the composter, and suddenly our 80 gallon composter seems tiny. On my outside list: window washing, planting flower pots & mulching. The planting will have to wait a few weeks until danger of frost is over. There is also the garage soffit which needs help, but that may have to wait. Oh, and we got those foam things to put in the gutters that we need to install. 🙂 If you need a hand or someone to spot you on the ladder, let me know. I’d be glad to help.
Wow, you are so ahead of me! I have the window-washing, planting and mulching on my list, too.
Sounds like we’ll both be busy – but at least it’s outside 🙂
We got 4 bags of yard debris off the yard inside the fence, so next weekend we need to tackle the yard outside the fence. Much harder to do since one person must watch B. Wondering why we thought a big yard was such a good idea…
Also, we need to clean out the garage. Seems like things just pile up and get shoved out of the way when winter means you don’t want to spend any more time out there than necessary. Golly, spring brings a lot of work!!
Ha, I can see B trying to “help” as you’re outside. Can you give him a bucket and shovel and just let him go to town?
And thanks for reminding me about my garage! I bought two shelving units at a post-Christmas sale and put one in the basement, and the other in the garage. It’s been too cold to do anything but create piles in the garage, so I need to build that unit and organize a bit.