It may not feel like it, but autumn is right around the corner. Here are some things you need to get on your honey-do list before it gets cold…

Sure temps are still in the 90’s, but you need to start looking ahead to cooling weather and, gasp, the possibility of colder weather.

Mark these as simple to-do’s on your list of things to do to get ready:

Heating and Cooling. Now is a good time to get your furnace checked out by a professional. They should be contacting you for your winter service if you have a maintenance agreement (and you should have a maintenance agreement). Here are a couple of things you can do yourself to give it a quick once over right now.

Start your furnace and see if you smell any strange smells. You will smell a small burning odor as your furnace burns off the dust, but past that are you smelling anything burning or the smell of gas?

If so get your hvac tech out to repair sooner rather than later.

Swimming Pools. Don't forget to service your pool at least one more time before you cover it for the winter. Leave your pool full of water, unless your pool is so small that you can let the air out and store it in a box. If that is the case, then let the air out and store it in a box.

Also make sure you have an appropriate cover for the pool. Do not leave it uncovered all winter.

Plumbing. Now is a great time to make sure you know where the shut-off valves are located for your outside spigots. If you can't find them have a plumber over to do an inspection of your home and have them show you where they are.

This is important to know so you can shut them off as winter approaches. That way they won’t freeze.

Electrical. A lot you can do here but let's do this right now.

Get some heat tape at the big box store and install it on your crawlspace pipes. You can do this yourself. What you may not be able to do is to make sure you have an outlet handy to plug it into.

Get your electrician out and install a couple new outlets that are handy to plug the tape into.

Roof. Not quite yet, but soon will be the best time to clean your roof of leaves and debris. Leaves and debris, if left unattended, spell trouble for your shingles. A clean roof (and gutters) is a happy roof (and gutters).

Pest Control. While there are a lot of issues here that I will get into next month, let's just focus on one here this month – the dreaded mosquito.

We are in the height of the West Nile virus season, so mosquitoes are still definitely a big issue.

Make sure you empty and/or remove all standing water, every time it rains or there is a heavy dew. Also, use your favorite pest control company’s mosquito prevention treatment for at least another 6-8 weeks.

There. A list to tide you over until the next list.

Get to work…