What Kids Say

Scott Mitchell Johnson talked to eighth-graders at Presque Isle Middle School.

“What do you and your family do to get your home ready for winter?” 

Brynn Staples

Age: 13
Teacher: Julie Gardner

    “At my Mom’s, we have a pellet stove downstairs and we spend a lot of time there because there’s a lot of people in and out during the holiday season. We have to buy a lot of pellets and heating oil like everyone else. At my Dad’s, we have a wood stove, so I run the splitter and then we throw it on the back of a truck and it goes to everybody’s house on the farm. Then we get to stack it. This time of year I’m usually pretty busy helping out.”

    “I help my grandfather put plastic around the bottom of the house.We also put plastic on the windows so the breeze doesn’t come in because we live in a big farmhouse. It makes a big difference. Sometimes I help hold the plastic and other times I hammer in the nails. Another thing we do to get our home ready for winter is stock up on oil.”

    “My Dad just installed a brand new heating system all through the house so we would be ready. We have a furnace and vents around the house. The upstairs is pretty warm, but downstairs is where the heating isn’t so great so it’s a little bit colder down there, so we have a bunch of blankets and stuff. Our second living room and my bedroom are down there, too. There’s no heat in my room, so I just leave my door open and have the furnace heat go in.”

    “We put in new windows this summer so we would be better off for winter. Also, we also painted our house this summer for winter, and we put doorstoppers underneath the doors to save energy and heat. We’ll also be putting plastic around some of the windows. I usually help with that. I hold the plastic while my Dad nails it in.Usually our house is pretty comfortable, but the new windows should help, too. We also have to make sure we get oil for our heater.”

    “We get our wood stove ready and get wood in. We keep the wood in the cellar. This will be our second winter using a wood stove. The house was nice and warm last year. My Dad usually cleans the chimney. We also get our garage ready; we take all the summer stuff out of the garage and put it away … things like our canoe, bikes and fishing stuff.  In the fall we also get our snowmobiles ready and our ice fishing gear. We also help my uncle get his camp ready for winter, too.”

    “Usually we split and haul in wood for our wood stove. My Dad will get the wood all cut and we’ll put it in a big pile outside, and then we’ll take it inside, give it to my Dad, and he’ll stack it. We also take in hay for the three cows that we have. We usually do a little bit of cleaning of the toy room so we can get to the furnace if we need to. Sometimes we put plastic up around the windows because they leak during the winter, and after it starts to snow, we push the snow up to the house and bank it.”