bruce, i can hardly imagine you in a skirt!
is it a kilt?

i drained the solar collector...
it circulates water to a tank
when the sun shines on it,
but if the pipes are full of water
when the temp dips below freezing
or even hover just above freezing
the frozen water is strong enough
to burst the pies and they were
hard enough to solder the first
time around!!

for spring and fall I heat water
with a propane tankless H2OT
heater, and in the winter when
the wood stove is on, there is
a heat exchanger loop in the
fire box which heats water in
a storage tank. 3 systems...
3 times as many things to
break and pipes to fix...

i also got up on the roof and
blew the leaves out of the gutters
and now i have to get up there
again and dig out the stubborn'
ones that remain.

the frost sensitive plants
need to be dug up and moved
indoors and some others need
to be cut back. Although it
has rained a small amount,
the burn ban is still in
effect and i cannot light
the brush pile from trimmings
and garden wood waste for
another month or more yet.

the wind has delivered some
kindling and i gather sticks
and pine cones often.