Winter is coming. I know it
Tristan Emond here with mindful living Realty, a realtor right here in rapid city, South Dakota. Welcome back to my YouTube channel I talk, everything about moving to rapid city and the wonderful things about rapid city and the black Hills In this video we're going to talk about preparing for winter.
Are you ready. So it's the time of year again, leaves are starting to fall off the trees, temperature getting colder. So now let's talk about the things around the yard you need to do to make sure you're protected from the cold. Now, first of all, it's November 3rd and it's 70 degrees today. I don't have a coat on it.
It's a weird year right now. You don't usually expect a November 3rd to be outside without a coat on. And look, there's still leaves on the trees. Usually all the leaves are gone. So it's pretty typical. South Dakota weather. We've already had two October snow storms. So now we're on what third fall, something like that.
Changing temperatures, changing weather always keeps you on your toes here in South Dakota . So what as you make the transition from August into September, you want to make sure that you keep your eye on the weather. Sometimes we get some really early frost in September, what it looks like it's going to get below freezing at night.
You want to make sure that you take care of your flowers outside, cover them out with a bucket or something. And honestly, if you've got a garden, putting blankets on top of that will help protect your produce from that early freeze. The other thing your going to want to do is make sure you remove your hoses from the outside spigot. Now the spigot itself.
Isn't going to freeze on you. But when you have the hose connected to the spigot and there's water still in the hose, once it gets really cold, that that water expands, and then it can break into that spigot. So make sure you remove your hose so that it's not causing issues later on down the line. The other thing you want to do is make sure that you hire some money to blow out your sprinklers.
If you've got a water sprinkler system in your yard, make sure you get that blown out because obviously water freezing and pipes makes it an explode. And that's a really hard to take care of really hard to fix. If they're, if they explode in the yard. Now, if it's just getting down to 30 degrees for a day or two, and they're bopped up to forties, fifties, you probably not going to be in too bad of a shape, but if it's getting down to the twenties for weeks and weeks on end, that's when you're going to want to make sure that those sprinklers have already been blown out.
The other, the next thing you want to do is make sure that you clean out your gutters as the leaves, fall and little branches fall in collecting the gutters. You want to make sure that you get all that cleaned out. So when the snow comes and then melt as it. There's plenty of room for the water to do its thing down in the gutter and out the downspout.
So let's talk a little bit about your lawn. So in South Dakota, in August, you're mowing once every two, maybe three weeks by the time September rolls around every so often, you're mowing the lawn just to kind of keep down the areas that grow up. But as there gets to be more and more leaves on the. What'd you do, probably what you're gonna do is you're going to grab your rake and your lawn blowers and put them on the pile.
Hopefully you jump in the pile a couple of times and cleaned it all up again before you finally get it done with it and make sure you used your composite compostable bags so that when you put it into the lawn waste area of that, that's all taken care of. But we, what we have done the past couple of years, which is kind of cheating, but it's worked really well is to use our mulching lanwmower.
And just run the lawnmower over everything. It mulches up the leaves really finely and just drops them into the ground. And of course, letting nature do its thing over the winter and in the spring. So is that the right thing to do the wrong thing to do? I don't really know, but I do know it doesn't take hours to do, and it hasn't done bad for our lawn for the past couple of years.
So get you a mulcher mulch up them leaves. Winter's coming. You were born in the long summer. You've never known anything else, but now winter is surely coming. When it comes to snow removal, invest in a good snowblower and a few shovels.
I like using the sand shovel to scrape off hard snow and ice. When it starts melting. Don't forget your bag of ice melter for your sidewalks and driveways. So the next question about the coming winter that often get asked about is about your vehicles. Do you need a fourwheel drive? Do you have to have snow tires in our area?
Generally speaking ? Not, unless you are planning on going off roading or driving up in, you know, lead really get lots of snow quite a bit. If you're just running around the cities, you generally don't need too much on your cars as far as set of tires or chains or anything like that. And then get the streets plowed off enough so that you can drive around in a typical all wheel drive car.
Like I've got behind me, my kids even drive a front wheel drive car, generally speaking, they get around. Okay. Now that being said, we do have a four wheel drive. And when it's particularly snowy outside That's probably the one I'm going to jump in the most important thing that you want to take care of on your vehicle is your tires.
When you buy that car from the dealership, a lot of times you'll have the, just a smooth summer type tires on them. And those are just going to spend, not give you any attraction, go and get a good all season, a little bit aggressive tire and put them on your vehicles. They're good for all year long. And they'll do just fine for you in the winter.
As long as again, you're not trying to climb up slopes or nothing like that. Your Ford Mustangs and muscle cars, just leaving the garage to the winter, pull them out through the summer. Also make sure y'all fit your car with ice scrapers, a roadside emergency kit that includes emergency blankets, emergency water, and other tools you might need along the road.
It's also a great idea to source some gas. So you had it if you need it.
and I didn't wash my car just for this purpose. You can see what your car looks like. After a couple of weeks, one around in the snow. Now, the city does a very good job of plowing and some of the main roads or town, some of the throat divisions, maybe not so much, but I'll get to it. They don't use straight sand or straight salt.
They have a chemical mixture that they put mostly on the crossroads. It's the stoplights, that kind of thing. So certainly not going to rust out your car like it does in Minnesota, but I certainly recommend you get that undercarriage wash a new car every, so once in awhile you can have the chemical form of they use in the roads after driving you in your car.
And there's a tendency to pock out some of your concrete so if you've got a really nice garage,Unlike me Make sure you use an epoxy coating to protect it. Protect himself. Come winter. Now let's talk about driving this. Now I grew up in Minnesota. I moved over to rapid city. I've always been in a snow climate. Of course I learned to drive in a 19 75 40 LTD.
So things are a bit different. Now, the most important thing to consider with driving in winter conditions aside from of course your tires, like I mentioned, is your speed. I don't care how great your tires are. If you're going 55 miles an hour, I expect to stop. Normally you're going to coast right on through that intersection and probably hit somebody along the way.
Keep your speed low. Be patient, make sure that there's plenty of time to get where you need to go. When you get to the intersection, sort of slowing down a long time before, and then start pumping your brakes. That'll help you slow down to the point where you can actually get stopped at the intersection.
When you get to the intersection and want to make a turn, make sure you're going slow enough and then make the turn without your foot on the brake. When you had your foot cramped on the brake, that's what causes you to skid. Of course, when it's really, really Icy, sometimes it doesn't matter what you do.
You just kind of slide all around. Go slow. Take your time, get to where you need to be.
All right. Now it's time to talk about clothing for winter. Now I know all, you know, there's like a, I would get this, but for you southerners, let's talk about winter. In South Dakota and especially winter in rapid city. So we have, as you've learned from me talking about before a vast array of climates, it can start off one day being 60 degrees.
And then by the end of that day, by the time you're going home for work, it's 20 degrees. So you to make sure that you have appropriate clothing with you or in your car or something, to make sure that you're prepared for said weird events. And since some days like today can be 70 degrees. You don't want to wear sweaters every day of your life either.
So layers is the key. Usually I have a t-shirt on underneath, and then I'll have a long sleeve. Of course on top of that. And then the good old fashioned hoodie sweatshirt, then that usually keeps me warm for up to, you know, if we're just the 60 degrees or 40 degrees now on the same token, you're probably going to want to have a bunch of different jackets because he never know.
The first one I have here is a, just a lightweight jacket. Keeps the, keeps the rain off, keeps the chill off. I really like these three in one tight coats. This one actually has. Inserts and I took the insert off and this is kind of. Not terribly cold, but not terribly warm. So we just 30, 40 degrees. We'll wear this out.
We're going walking lately in the mornings. Um, my wife actually has the insert, so she's wearing the insert and I'm wearing the outer coat and it works pretty good for those middle of the road cold days. And of course you want to make sure that you have a heavy coat, not necessarily a parka. You don't need to have.
Whole fuzzy around the head kind of thing. Also, you want to, I mean, had to see your choice, whatever, but I do like these heavy coats. This one actually is a three and one two, but I generally just keep this for my heavier Winter coat for when it gets really cold. I'm not a scarf person. So I liked the ones that have the zip up all the way up to here.
So I smuggled my nose. Right. So make sure you have a variety of coats for whatever the situation is. Okay. Now I also have for ah pants. I have a, these are basically just a warm up type pants that I wear over the top of my jeans. If it's just a little rainy, use a little chili, these work out really good for that.
And they would work out really good if I would remember to pack them. When we went to Ireland last two, two years ago. And of course there's going to be outside in the snow a lot. You probably want some kind of snow pants scenario where you are protected for, with your skiing or snowboarding, or just hanging out in the snow building snowmen with the kids or whatever.
So make sure you've got plenty of different options for your layers so that you can be prepared for no matter what. No, of course you also want to keep your hands and head warm. So same thing, lots of different options. I've got a thin. And then I've got one of these, uh, glove type ones with the fingertips come off, so you can actually do something, uh, but a glove type scenario.
Uh, and then I should have, which I can't find right now, but you know, these ski type gloves, this one, obviously isn't mine, but it's a good example. Yeah. Get one of these. Yeah. So that's what I would recommend. Your gloves. And of course in a standard stocking campus is great. Hopefully you get one that has a better team than the Vikings at the present moment.
Yeah. But we weren't talking about that. Typically, as far as forward concerned, I'm pretty good running around in my tennis shoes. Obviously you wanna make sure that you get your full other ones and not the running shoes where the water just soaks right. In, uh, like the ones I have right now that are soon to be returned.
Uh, other than that, Uh, these boots here, uh, these keep me pretty warm and they've also got this rubber, outer sole here to keep the water out. And then of course you want to make sure you have some kind of bigger, heavier, a wool type sock who was well, make sure your boots are a little bit bigger, so you can put a couple pair of socks on, on underneath.
And there are other things such as a toe warmers and glove warmers that you can just play when your boot, those things were amazing when it's, when you have to be outside for a long time. And it's really, really cold. Yeah. Try those that really. Now, I know there's plenty of other places that have some really, really good winter wear that if you're going to be outside in the winter, in the cold a long time, you ought to make sure that you get those.
So for example, if you be working outside in the, in the cold, you wanna make sure you get the Carhartt brand coveralls and jacket. Those things work really well. And if you're skiing, make sure you get the actual skiing and winter wear that, uh, you know, like Columbia. And Eddie Bauer and RER and some of these other peoples, they have really great winter clothing.
Cause they're saying always is it's not so much. The cold is a matter of just not wearing appropriate clothing. Cause when we went through really comes in and it really gets hits home and you're stuck at home. Or you feel like your second home all the time. It's important to get out and enjoy the winter.
Put on your coat, put on your, your hats, get your boots on. Go take some winter walks, go skiing, do something out in the outside, even just going for a walk. So you don't get that crazy cabin feel right. So be prepared, make sure you get the right clothing for what fits for you and your style.
The other question I get asked a lot is, well, what about when your power goes out? What happens then? So I've lived in rapid city since 1990, and there was never a time when the power went out for a long enough period of time that maybe you actually think about survival and food and warmth until Atlas Atlas was a snowstorm that came by October 3rd.
2013. And we were without power for about a day and a half. I think it might've been, might've been two days, which really wasn't bad compared to some other properties out miles out from town where the power lines were above ground. All of those power lines broke. And so they were out without power for a week.
So after that point, we got to thinking, well, what should we do? Because what we ended up doing was bringing the propane grill. Inside and using that for a little bit of heat, uh, that, that kind of thing. So we live in all electric house. We do not have a fireplace. And so it was a matter of, okay, what can we do if we need to, if we have to provide some warmth, if we're out without power for awhile, what do we, what do we get?
So here's kind of what we put together. And this is just a few items to, for you to get to thinking about what you might want to provide to make sure that you have in your house as well. So we did get these propane bottles. Propane heaters now. Yes, I know the label says, make sure you use these inside and have air flow.
I understand that, but at the time, we're just, we're looking about a little bit of warmth. You know, we can crack open a window, but these things should provide some warmth for all in one room if we need it. And we've got three or four of these laying around, and of course, then we also got a Coleman camping stove so that we can actually cook if we needed to.
And of course, if you have these things, then you need to make sure you have plenty of power of bottles, fulfilling few bottles on hand to power, said things to include. Matches. And these little things are some Firestarter pucks. I'm not sure if we'd ever actually use these in our scenario, but they came with the package.
I think that we bought. And of course you would want to make sure that you have candles, flashlights and different kinds of flashlight. This is a head flashlight. And of course the batteries to power said, flashlights. And you also make sure that you have a way to power your phones. So get some of these emergency power things for your phones as well.
Obviously, first aid kit, obviously it should have some of that. And then we got to thinking about, okay, food. So we've been stocking up on some food, go to Sam's club, get your case of decibels, get some cases of, of meat and that kind of thing. Make sure you have. Some kind of food in the house, so that if you did there for a couple of days, you've got something to eat.
And of course, with that eating, make sure you have something to drink. So we've got a couple of gallons of water downstairs. We also have four or five gallon water containers, uh, that we have also that will store some water if we need to. And then finally, if you want and go and buy eight emergency supplies.
So that you can feed your people. If you could use a kind of like your meals, ready to eat scenario, you do have to use water, sure again, you need more water to use these as well. Now, this isn't going to, this is a 30 day kit for one person. We figured a couple of days for us, four to six people. We should be able to get by.
That's really, all we were looking to do is what's going to take, to get by a couple of days if we need to now. I mean, if there's a, you know, nationwide EMP blasts, it knocks out systems, this isn't, you know, we're all going to be dead anyway. So this isn't real. Concerning that it's just a matter of how can we get by in a couple of days, if we need to, if the power does go out in Atlas, like it did a couple of years ago.
The other question I get last along this note is how come there aren't that many fireplaces ups up there. I think I've seen more fireplaces in Texas homes than I have up here. It's really quite bizarre, but I think a lot of it had to do with the style of building and the affordability of the building, that kind of thing.
And so of course, back in the day when we started talking about energy efficiency and the way the fireplaces. Originally weren't very, very efficient. And so they got replaced with gas fireplaces, which are great, but again, they're fired by electricity as well. Now, if you wanted to add a fireplace to your property, there are some different wood-burning stove options that should work for you.
Even ones that have, and that pipe out beside, uh, outside the side of the house of the side of a wall, instead of going all the way through the roof, there are a couple of fireplace installation centers in town that can help you do the whole. And help you get set up. If you need that fireplace security for you and your family.
I certainly love the ambiance of a fireplace. I love the. But I really don't want to go around and find and cut blood all the time
to answer your questions for you about preparing for winter. Keep watching my channel for more videos of a rapid city. And now there's not gonna be many days like this. So I'm out of here. Love where you live.