Chestnuts and Stuff

[ If we don’t get the chestnuts, the squirrels do! ]

November 9 – For a week or so, we had a big box in the garage that was just filled with chestnuts. These tasty nuts are both good for you to eat AND enjoy. I hadn’t planned on freezing any because we have been giving them away to so many of our friends who enjoy them.

We were surprised to find that many of them had never seen an edible chestnut before. Some thought they were the same as horse chestnuts. But since the nuts were really filling up the box, we decided to freeze them. After filling about 20 plastic freezer bags with 50 or so nuts in each, we had emptied the big box, but had to shuffle around the freezer contents so all would go in.

I mentioned earlier this week that Dale had said he was going to work in the tomato patch and then use the weed eater to clean up the osage row of tree stumps. Well, I decided I might as well head outside, too. I pulled out the hand mower so I could mow a path along the side of the burning pile where so many volunteer tomatoes were. I left lots of them behind as they were soft and squishy (who could possibly enjoy a squishy tomato?)! Fortunately this was not the case where the plants had been given a chance to grow without a problem.

[ End of season scrawny tomatoes ]

Had to brace myself as I stood because there were so many places I had to bend over to get those tomatoes. Several times, I lost my footing and ended up sitting on the pile! After an hour of clearing out the four sections where the tomatoes were, I decided to see if I could find the place where the Pearlie Pinks had been larger, by far, than the others.

Now the problem was the same as when I had picked weeks ago. Branches and big vines made it almost impossible to reach the tomatoes, but I learned long ago, even as a child, that if you give up, you don’t gain anything. If you do your best maybe you can win the fight! And fight, those tomato vines did their best to keep me from reaching the tomatoes. Just as I reached the middle of the section, my feet sank down in a big hole. Fortunately, I could get out of that mess, and move on. Once finished with the job, I turned around to go back but had to lift a big branch high enough that I could climb underneath, and then jump down to the surface.

[ Outdoor footwear ]

My “work” was not yet over! Sitting out on the porch, I spent over half an hour scraping off the stick-tights that were still “stuck tight” to my slacks and shirt and socks. That is such a slow disgusting process; those bothersome things aren’t the best decorations to be found on outside clothing this time of year!

So here I am, at the end of another lovely day with no strong winds blowing me around, but thankful for the Lord’s care and the unexpected gifts He gives! – CHRIS