Jan 7 - regular maintenance

I should probably start a list of regular maintenance activities and their suggested frequency for this place. Of course that varies by season. This list is by no means complete ...

Annual Fall:

-- boat motor bottom end, change oil
-- fill outside woodbox

Annual Spring:
-- chlorinate well
-- replace water carbon filter
-- replace water UV light
-- clean filter at hot water heater

Quarterly:
-- check sewage sump alarm
-- vacuum furnace filter (monthly is even better, only takes a few minutes)

Annual septic (Spring):
-- clean sewage sump
-- check septic tank for pumping
-- check effluent pump

Monthly
-- backwash sand filter at tank

Daily:
-- winter, fill inside wood box
-- snowblower, snow shovel as necessary

I don't know that the daily maintenance activities should be on this list ... but I should think about the rest and make the list more comprehensive. A maintenance list actually takes less time if there is a checklist vs random activity when you remember it.

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I wrote that incomplete checklist yesterday, now it's morning again.

I've just backed up my Quicken and Outlook files to take with me when I leave. That is my "standard operating procedure" so that I wouldn't have to recreate anything should there be a fire/flood/whatever. Once I do my backup in preparation for travel, I use Hotmail to access email so that things do not get out of synch. In this case we're returning to the same place so that would not be an issue, per se. Soon I'll be closing blinds, locking doors, turning off fans etc.

Our plan is to leave by 9am. That could be a challenge because I think that I have to clean the driveway and that takes the better part of an hour and it's not something that I can do in the dark. With most airlines, once you are within 24 hours of flight time you are able to print out your boarding pass, but not with Air Canada which uses 12 hours as its cutoff. I don't know why. I've also gone online and printed off the 20% OFF coupon for the parking at Toronto airport -- why do you have to know about this to get this rate ?

We are planning on stopping at Sherway Gardens (a Mall in Toronto) to get my TAG watch fixed. I need a new pin to hold the band in place ... long story. Then we'll go to Stef's and drop off Abby and I'll take a look at some construction that Stef and Aaron are planning on doing before heading to the airport. Our flight is at 6:15 p.m. and with the amount of luggage that we have, we should be there 2 hours before departure.

We are mostly packed. Yesterday we roasted and ground coffee for the trip. I still have my toiletries and computer bags to pack, but they don't take long. It's a chore getting the ski stuff up the stairs and into the car. The bags are heavy and the stairs are slippery.

I have a couple of books to read on the trip and I'll probably do some more book-shopping at the airport. I can usually read two novels on an east-west flight (or vice-versa) although Toronto=>Vancouver is a lot shorter than Philadelphia=>Seattle since Toronto is already a lot further north and west. It will be nice to only have to drive from Vancouver to Whistler, 1.5-2 hours, vs 4-5 hours from Seattle. Hopefully the roads will be OK although they have gotten a lot of snow in the last few days.

I'm bouncing around ... I'll post this and have breakfast.