Allergies, Spring Cleaning and Preventative Maintenance
By: Scott Maynor
May 22, 2026
It’s that time of the year again. Soccer, teeball, coach pitch, baseball, softball, fishing, sore throats, congestion, sneezing, coughing, runny noses and itchy eyes. While it doesn’t affect us all the same, I’m in the first category as many of you that I have seen around town. I try to prepare each allergy season to make it through just like everyone else but it is what it is.
There hasn’t been much rain this year but we did get some at just the right time to knock some of the pollen down. I went fishing with my dad on the Dragon and it looked like a yellow fog covering the entire river as we made our way to our favorite fishing hole. Well it appears that we made it through another pollen season and the flowers are shaping up the best they can with the lack of rain. So much for April showers brings May flowers as there weren’t too many showers this year. Stephanie has been watering her lawn, flowerbeds and raised garden beds each day to supplement the lack of rain so her many shrubs, plants, flowers and trees make it. They do look great except for a couple we tried to move to new locations. I think they liked their original home better than their new home.
Each spring for some odd reason we get an overabundance of stuff that just seems to pile up in the garage. At least that’s when I notice all the stuff the most since I’m just going outside to start getting the lawn mower, weedeater and blower. We used to have an annual garage sale for our spring cleaning when we were younger when our daughter’s, Kailyn and Casey, were still living at home. I don’t know if it’s weird but it’s something that we enjoyed together as a family. It’s not the same now they’re all grown up with their new families. Maybe it’s not as fun since they aren’t around to help out anymore. Anyways, I enjoyed it because we got to clean my garage but most importantly it was fun. I know many of you can relate, garage sales and a clean garage are fun!
Some of our spring cleaning rituals include: changing our HVAC return air filters (we do this every 3 months), softwashing the outside of our home after pollen season, cleaning up the yard, mulching the flowerbeds, cleaning the gutters, getting the boat ready (sore subject around here), and cleaning the outdoor furniture and patio. This year we, as in Stephanie, decided that we would pressure wash our entire paver patio and redo the polymeric sand. Of course I volunteered to help. Wow, what a job that ended up being. About halfway through I thought about throwing in the towel and calling in some reinforcements but it was well worth it in the end to do it ourselves.
We worked from very early that Saturday morning to well after dark that same day to finish. Both of us were sore and neither of us could move very well afterwards but it was definitely worth it that next day as the patio never looked so good since the day it was installed. We had a great cookout the next day with our parents on our new patio and it was a great feeling of accomplishment knowing we had worked hard and it paid off. Some things we tackle ourselves and some things we call in the professionals or at least someone younger to help.
A good idea is to find a heating and air conditioning company that you trust. We have one and they come out twice a year to do preventative maintenance on our equipment. They come right around the time we’re going to switch from the air conditioning cycle to the heating cycle and vice versa. They do things like cleaning the coil, verifying the refrigerant charge in the equipment, making sure the filters have been replaced, reviewing any error codes and making sure everything is running like it should. Stepanie puts it on our calendar when it’s time to change the return air filters and we make sure that we do that every time the calendar notifies us. That’s easy and it helps the equipment's longevity. If you’ve never changed your filters, get someone to show you how and make sure the return air flow arrow is pointed the correct way. One of the things I’ve been putting off is the septic filter. All I have to do is unscrew eight little screws, grab the T-handle on the filter, lift the filter and spray it off but that’s a job I don’t love to say the least. Softwashing your home is not only spring cleaning but it’s also preventative maintenance as it helps prolong the life of your caulking and painting over the long run which ultimately saves you time and money as painting is not cheap, hence the reason why we went with wrapped trim for this home. We had painted exterior trim in our last home and we had to get it painted every 3-5 years even though we were having our home cleaned every year. That’s why we chose to go with aluminum wrapped trim this time around.
This is as good a time as any to check your caulking on the outside of your home around your windows, doors and any penetrations. If you can’t inspect your siding, gutters or roof yourself, call someone that can do it for you. If you don’t know who to call, ask some of your friends, family or co-workers. Make sure to check your smoke and carbon monoxide detectors regularly. They are very important devices when you need them so you want them to be in proper working order. Change the batteries whenever needed to make sure they work when you need them. It’s a great time to look around your home when you’re doing your spring clearing or working in your flower beds. If you see something that doesn’t look right to you, it probably isn’t. Please remember, preventative maintenance goes a long way and can save you money in the long run.
I sometimes ask people that I meet to find out if they have any secrets to slowing down father time and of course I always hear the same answer, “no sorry I do not”. It feels like the seasons quickly fly by like the tides so make sure you slow down, smell the roses this spring and do something fun with your family this summer. Keep dealing with your allergies, doing a little spring cleaning, performing some preventive maintenance but most importantly, enjoying your life each and every day as we are not promised tomorrow but as long as we have breath we have hope! Happy Mother’s Day!
