Around the Yard #10: Ike passed by, said to tell you hi! :p~

we expect up to 90 ml of rain tonight. Thats enough that if it all falls in a couple hours it might just blow the manhole covers of the storm sewers in the city…............

the wind is blowing so hard that I have to hold my hat down on my head, even with bib ties.

hard to imagine what the weather must be like much closer to the remnants of Ike

-- but for one rose, love endures

So glad to hear you and your family are okay Scott!!! These storms are really something; hitting a lot of people hard. We’ve just had steady rain all weekend, pretty heavy at times and the wind really picked up today. Thankfully we have our power.

Stay safe … everyone!!!

-- "A beautiful garden is a work of heart" --

we had high winds last night. I’m sure the tarp if off the gazebo but that just forces us to get building that permanent roof.
It’s too dark still to see what mess is left of the trees. We didn’t hear any big crack so I think our Grand Ol’ Lady Maple is still standing.

-- - Debbie, SW Ontario Canada (USDA Hardiness Zone: 5a)

the neighbors trampolin is now on his neighbors fence with both fence and trampoline bent beyond repair…......and yet ours sits where it was put?

-- but for one rose, love endures

We had really heavy rains last night all night long and strong winds.It blew the tarp off my boat and some big limbs off the neighbours tree that hangs over my yard.Thank God they just missed the boat and van.My sun flowers snapped off in the middle of the stems and some lattice in the patio area blew down hill.Our power went off some time during the night but was back on by the time I got up this morning.The temperature dropped 25 degrees over night.Thank God damage here wasn’t too bad at all.My heart goes out to all those who got hit by the hurricane.

-- Bon,Hastings,Ont.....zone 5a....Always room for one more

supposedly we got winds of 65 km/hour and Texas got winds of 120 KM/hour.. (or more).. yah… we got a little breeze!

our “Grand Ol’ Lady Maple” is still ok but there are a couple more dead branches down from another maple. Not much clean up here. That surprised me.

-- - Debbie, SW Ontario Canada (USDA Hardiness Zone: 5a)

Dunno the conversion of km/hr to mph, but we got around 65 mph winds, confirmed.

Here’s some pics. It’s not too bad. Down the road there were several large trees down.. One split down the trunk at an angle, around an 8 foot long crack.. Really odd.. HUGE tree.

So anyway…

Here’s the Pecan tree… It’s a mess under it, with nuts, twigs and branches everywhere.. I’d already cut the limbs that fell into smaller pieces for the burn pile and for making into smoke disks for the grill.

In the words of my son.. “uh brokie swing”

Moving on to the Persimmon tree, which we made a wonderful STRONG batch of jelly out of last night, here’s what was on the ground.. These need to sit for a week or so before they can be used for jelly.

Around to the mine field…errr… front yard, here’s what the chestnut fairy brought us.

Wouldn’t want to step on that, eh? How about all these.. ;)

So, we spent some time gathering those which were opened up and ready to process. While the wife put Donovan down for a nap I processed the basket of nuts.

Here’s the tools of the trade. Keeps a hands off rule to it.

Ah, what fun these are..

All done… Well.. With the few we gathered.

Here’s a basket of husks.. These would make great pillow stuffing—for someone to hate.. :)

Really can’t complain much though.. Damage wasn’t bad and power was only out for half the day.

-- Planting Daylilies in Kentucky, zone 6b

I’m here in SW Ontario and we have had rain for almost 24 hours. It let up for acouple hours yesterday. But at times it really pounded down. My yard was flooded to a depth I was worried that the fish would swim out of their pond. Maybe they did—-I haven’t checked them this AM. Our power went out about midnight last night for at least four hours. I was very concerned that my basement would flood, but the battery-operated back-up pump kicked in (just as it’s suppose to ) and kept the basement dry until the power came back on. Without the sump pump running my basement would flood in no time. When it rains hard the water pours into the sump hole.
The wind got very strong, gusts probably 60-70 kms last night. Put the sun-shade on my front deck to the test but it stood up to the wind. If you are considering a sun-shade for any place on your property in the future, be sure that it is vented at the top. I believe this is what has saved mine this summer as when it fills up with wind, the vent opens and the it just bleeds out the top.
Glad to hear you survived the storm, ok Scott. And everyone else as well. We are so fortunate here in Ontario that we don’t get the extreme storms seen in the more southly areas.

-- 'To plant a Garden is to believe in Tomorrow'

Tell me again———what do you do with all those chesnuts?

-- 'To plant a Garden is to believe in Tomorrow'

I’m glad you said something about the sump backup. I need to set one of those up for mine as well. Debating using either a battery backup, or water jet backup.

As for the chestnuts.. You eat them, silly.. ;)

They’re really… really good.. have a sweet buttery flavor to them. Can make breads, cakes, soups, pies, etc, etc, etc… with them.

-- Planting Daylilies in Kentucky, zone 6b

The back-up pump was my son’s idea——he’s a very smart young man :^)
About the chesnuts——I have tasted roasted chesnuts (at Christmas) but how do you prepare them for pies?—-or for that matter, for soups. Maybe you could give us a recipe.

-- 'To plant a Garden is to believe in Tomorrow'

I picked up and opened a ton of chestnuts last year. We tried roasting them on the open fire but most didn’t like them. Perhaps we didn’t roast them right.

-- - Debbie, SW Ontario Canada (USDA Hardiness Zone: 5a)

We too had awful winds and pouring rain—rained literally all weekend. As I was looking out the sunroom window, this morning, I couldn’t figure out what was missing … but something was. Turns out my shepard’s hood that had two lovely (and quite big) Petunia baskets has bent completely over and is blocking our entrance into the back door … with the baskets still attached mind you—haha!! So guess hubby will have to cut off the pole and dig out the remainder. Never thought the baskets would get that heavy from the rain … should have known better …

Glad to hear everyone has weathered the storm safely … my heart and prayers go out to those less fortunate.

And Scott … chestunuts … YUM!!!!!!!!!!

-- "A beautiful garden is a work of heart" --

Glad to hear Ike took it easy on all of us. 2 days rain is nothing compared to what Galveston and Houston got.

Mmmmmmmmmmm, chestnuts.

-- the day you quit learning is the day you quit living.

Roasting chesunuts on an open fire…... is over rated. Boil them..

Cut an X in the flat with a serrated knife, enough to cut through the shell.. Chuck them in a pot of water and boil for 15 minute.. Drain and remove the meat while hot. If they’re too hot to touch, just run the hot nut under a bit of cold water as you’re working.

Another method is to microwave them.. Do the X again, else they will explode. Then microwave on high for 2 1/2 minutes. This method works great for a handfull of nuts at a time.

You have to get the paper lining off the nut, else it will be bitter.

Also, horse chestnuts and buckeyes are NOT edible, nor true chestnuts. Wrong family.

Chestnuts also do well to sit for a while after shelled, allowing the starches to break down into sugars, which makes them sweeter and less starchy in texture. A week will suffice.

Prep for pies, soups or whatnot depends on what you’re doing. Either chop, or puree. Here’s a good source for recipes.

Since chestnuts are a soft nut meat, they can easily be turned into puree, cut, or even turned into flour.

http://www.chestnutsonline.com/recipes.htm

-- Planting Daylilies in Kentucky, zone 6b

Well I was wrong … hubby took a better look after he got home from work at the sheppard hook (I didn’t venture outside today) ... no bending or breaking, it totally pulled out of the ground and was just laying funky. So other than him almost killing himself this morning as he tripped over “something” in the dark; all is good for the moment. :-)

And Scott, that site has some tasty sounding recipes …

-- "A beautiful garden is a work of heart" --

thanks for the tips!

-- - Debbie, SW Ontario Canada (USDA Hardiness Zone: 5a)