Life in Big Canoe, Real Estate in the Mountains

Big Canoe Snow

You better bundle up because Big Canoe is in for some cold weather! Thursday is not supposed to go above 29 degrees, and the low is somewhere between 14 and 18 degrees. (No snow predicted other than flurries so far) This means you need to protect your homes too!  Here are a few quick tips for how to avoid hard freeze problems, and to keep the “green” in your wallet:

• Bring in all potted plants, unless you are like me and have fake ferns (shhhhh it’s a secret!)
• Blow off your driveways and walkways to avoid slipping on wet frozen leaves. Ouch!
• Turn off your outside water and open the spigots. Plumbers have to pay their January bills too, and frozen pipes are a perfect way for them to do it.
• Make sure your car is not low on anti-freeze. A lot has changed since my pea green 1973 Charger days, but even the new cars can give you trouble if you don’t take care of them when it’s cold.
• Pets need to be inside, even if they have to stay in the laundry room. Remember that if the water is frozen, they can’t drink. Plus, vet bills are no fun!
• Close off any rooms you don’t use and shut  the vents. No need to pay for heating a guest room if you have no guests. I shut down the whole terrace level!
• Nothing is better than a fire in the fireplace when it’s 14 degrees. Be sure to buy SEASONED wood that is dryer and will burn better.

For those of you who have second homes up here you may want to ask a neighbor to check on your place.  Anyone out there with Big Canoe homes for sale that are vacant be sure to have them checked also. And on that note I’m off to the grocery store to stock up on some chili ingredients! Even though we have a hard wired generator I like to pretend we are roughing it. Plus the kids think it’s fun too!

PS All you Florida folks, feel free to send me beach pics and tell me how warm it is! Secretly I’m happy to bundle up after all the caloric damage I did over the holidays!