‘Wintering over’ requires fall work

One of the common questions by summer people of the rest of us goes something like: “How’d you winter over?” ‘Bout like we always do, we reply.

It’s the answer we give to the question at the annual town meeting, asking voters how they wish to raise taxes, and everyone chimes in, as usual; or the stipend for harbor master, same as last year; or the budget committee, keep the ones we have.

By late June, when seasonal folks begin to pop up around here like perennials, we’re used to being asked “how’d we winter,” taking for granted that winter has become a verb and these inquisitors are genuinely interested in our survival during the nine months they’re away … and we’re here.

Well, we wintered well because Mainers prepare for the onslaught the very minute most of the restaurants and shops close, neighbors start target shooting and gathering up hunting gear, the crosswalk signs disappear from Main Street, and the first frost whitens the golf course like May flowers.

This time of year, when the clocks are turned back an hour, and dusk brings down its window shade on the outdoors earlier and earlier, and deer season nears, and kayaking ends and overripe apples fall off the trees. It’s preparation time, and everyone gets into the activity, despite chilly temperatures and drizzly days.

We don’t get ready for spring or summer with the same urgency and intensity as in these late-fall preparations, these pre-Hallowe’en chores checked off with precision year after year. Otherwise, we wouldn’t “winter over” well at all and would have to report thus to anyone who later inquired.

October’s checklist: wood dried, stacked in shed; boat hauled, covered with tarp; boat engine and outside toilet filled with antifreeze; gardens clipped, raked, layered with brush; window boxes dumped, hosed, stored under house; patio furniture stacked in garage; birdbath bowl turned upside down; wheelbarrow rolled behind snowblower; boiler serviced; batteries bought; winter clothes down from attic. The first of many soups is simmering.

From the weather prophecies we’ve learned about, there is ample reason to fall back but rush ahead at the same time because preparing for winter guarantees that we “winter over” without freezing like squash in the cellar or rotting like apples in the mudroom.

American folklore tells us to check the forest and our own gardens for these signs of a harsh winter to come: Trees have an abundance of green leaves in late autumn. Yep. Grass is particularly dark green and lush during the summer. Yep. Heavy moss abounds on trees. Yep. Carrots are deeper orange than normal. Yep. Trees grow more acorns, berries and pine cones than usual. (And the squirrels have taller mounds.) Yep. Leaves drop off the trees while still green. Yep.

Paying attention to these signs plus following a common sense checklist of seasonal chores ensures we Down Easters winter over.

Lest the alternative is wintering under.