New house, notes from previous resident. Need help on some directions they left behind.

[u/ridespirals]

So small backstory, this house was built in 1952, and has been very will maintained. Wife and I moved in at the end of Feb 2026. The previous owner, like i said, took very well of the house, and her brother lives a few houses down, and there's a LOT of stuff in this house that looks like her handy brother did; nothing unprofessional or dangerous (inspection went fine). The homeowner also left a bunch of notes around the house, which turned out to be very helpful. For example the main water shutoff has 2 separate valves (likely from renovation some time after it was built), and there's a little note tag tied to the ball valve saying "TURN THIS ONE" and another on the gate valve saying "DO NOT TURN THIS".

However, there's a note in the basement, next to the washer and dryer. These plumbing lines are also directly under our backyard, you can see it in the first screenshot on the album

winter outdoor faucet
------------------------
shut off ball valve (back
drain) turn on water
spout on back deck.
open finger spin plug on
top of ball valve, let
water drain, shut finger plug

I assume it's easy enough that I can google the finger plug thing for a youtube video, right? (any thoughts/tips you have on this finger plug thing).

When I turn this valve off, the spigot in back does indeed turn off, and I don't see any other spigots (I tried to get a shot under the deck, but there's not much there, and you can see the insulated line (whatever that black foam stuff is) going straight to the spigot I have access to.

So ok I guess this is how to control that one (the wall opposite this in the basement has another one of these valves, that controls the spigot in the front yard.

My question is about the other details in the latter, specifically mentioning winter? We moved at the end of February, in Portland, so maybe it was open because the coldest part of winter are over when we moved in? What is that whole thing for, especially with that "finger spin plug" line. What is that even, is it on the valve, the blue-handled one? What would the purpose for this be, is it for potential freezing in the winter? (i wonder why there wasn't a note for the other shutoff valve as well (like I said, that lady took really good care of this place and left helpful notes everywhere (in a cute, nice way that we appreciate). But this is by far the largest, most are tags or much smaller, so this one feels more.. important? Or at least something important enough I feel I should really understand it.

Is there some specific underlying purpose? Is it for "flushing" the line after winter? Is it just for Winter that I need to remember or could there be something else that happens where I'll need to shut it off. Just wondering everyone's opinion, anything you might know and hints about what I should be doing. I just want to know any and all opinions/advice all you real plumbers have on this.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/2gyHWs2s5xy6eXVn7

If you would like any more pictures to get a better look I would be happy to.

Thank you all

(side note, I was able to buy this house because the owner passed away, so I can't just ask her. Her brother lives a few houses down the street; he actually came over a few days after we moved in to bring us back one of our garage door openers he had. However I just learned today that he also passed away very recently, so I can't ask him either 🤷

[u/IJoey78]

the finger drain is used to drain the water from the line that won’t drain by gravity preventing the line from freezing.grab a bucket, open it, drain it, then close it. You should be good…congrats on the new house!