G' luck, Easties. Bomb Cyclone

It just stopped snowing here, about 15".  I'll be shoveling out this afternoon.

It's freeezing here. Have fun over there. 

Just rain. Lots of it. Like the kind that floods the basement....

Snow here in Central Jerseyland all day,  not sticking.  Ground's already saturated from heavy Rain.  Just heard a large Tree limb blow down,  or small tree ??

Think I'll move the vehicles where it's open ground,  just for giggles.  I hate when they get squished 

Good excuse for a Blizzard party with phriends some couch tour mixed in. Blizzard parties with family and friends are cherished memories of my time back east. Skiing off the back of a buddies marine core unit Humvee while roads were shut down during a state of emergency. Swung by our dealers place for a reup since it was a emergency technically. Marines easy to bribe free beer and booze. Good times, Semper Fi

Wind picked up quite a bit,  Snow blowing in sideways from the North,  not sticking to the ground much.

Whatever limb / tree cracked is not across the driveway,  which is nice.

Would hate to be out on the TurnParkway about now,  especially with a trailer or box truck.

Safe travels all.

 buzzword

Snowed here, apparently.  A few patches on the lawn across the creek (which is raging like a mofo).  Raining hard.  My commute's gonna suck.

Here in the Finger Lakes we call it a snowstorm

I'm in my fallout shelter. 

#FingerLakesStrong

All good in my little corner of the jersey shore. Going to have to replace a shingle, but that looks like the extent of the damage.

Seeing that some folks got hammered with snow. I hope no one saw any flooding.

Had a few medium -> large trees fall across the Woods roads near the shack yesterday during the fiendish Winds...

These are  a foot - 1.5 feet across at the base of the trunk.

You can see the muddy Tire tracks which are brown,  not Green.  Those are all Black Locust trees that got blown over.

Fortunately,  no trees squished any vehicles or blocked the driveway to the main Road.  A quick look tells me 2.5 -> 3 cords or 300 ->400 cubic feet of Firewood when it's all cut & split.  No doubt there are many more across the small network of Woods roads.  Those are just the ones near the Shack.

That's another one just to the North or left of the others.  Also Black Locust.  What's really nice is that they are "Easy Pickings"  so near to existing Woods roads.

This morning at 8 - 9 AM large Ice chunks were falling out of higher trees,  with the wind still gusting a bit. I was lucky none hit me on the head.

So although it's sort of a Drag that my Woods road is blocked,  it's too Muddy now anyway,  small ponds across it in the low spots.

Taking Hüsky for a stroll to see what other Bounty & chores the Winds left me.

The Black Locust I mainly hoard,  as it never rots and is chainsaw - unfriendly.  I have to use expen$ive Carbide chain for that.

Maybe some Giant Dead Oak blew over 

Is there a Locust blight up in your neck of the woods?

It's been here in WNC for about a decade.

I didn't know about the Locust blight.  In general they do better dead than alive,  meaning  they will go 30 years or so and show signs of weakness. Many, when cut up and split will have large black ants inside,  and I don't know if the 'Locust Borer' made those tunnels first.  A lot of them have large "shelf mushrooms" in a spot or two.  Maybe Ganoderma sp. ?  Here's a photo:

Photo from here:  http://galleries.northoftheridge.com/galleries/93_Fungi/E_Polypores/

I've noticed that when cut up and split,  those trees with those polypores have significant heartwood rot.  Maybe that is a good food source for the Ants.  Anyway,  it's great firewood being extremely dense,  and it is very rot-resistant,  good for posts.

"...Pests

Locust borer is a serious pest although borer-resistant clones are now being developed. It is also bothered by carpenterworm, locust leaf miner, and scales. Leaf miner is a universal problem, and the trees along the highways in the south can be seen in summer riddled with damage from this pest.

Diseases

Black locust is susceptible to canker, leaf spot, and powdery mildew..."

http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/st570

Power was out in New Hope and half of my town in Lambertville over the bridge in NJ. Lights flickered a couple times. A lot of folks still don’t have power. Crazy lil storm.

So I looked up the Locust shelf-shroom,  it is Phellinus robiniaea or 'Cracked-cap polypore'.  Used to know that and forgot.  Similar species that grow on Mulberry are valuable in Chinese medicine,  but the Locust ones aren't in vogue.

Now I can move forward with other projects.

Night 5 of no power - good thing the Gennie is running strong - looking at 8-16" tonight on top of the 30" we got Friday

you guys playing the repeater...

Mr. Galikanokus

MikePA, wow! And whoa! Good thing you're doing okay.

Sorry to read that, Mike.

The water is very high, my lower dock is submerged. I'm a little concerned about the next high tide