It's still windy here but not as bad as it's been these past few days.

It is removing loads of dead limbs from my oak. I keep gathering them up and splintering them over the compost pile.

There is so much Spanish moss lying everywhere! There are so many trees that are covered in it. I was going over to the pond to gather some up, but the yard crew got to me first. Luckily, they've caught on that I'm gathering leaves, so they just blew them all over into my piles. What a mess! I have mountains of Chinquapin leaves now, just waiting for them to rot. I'm going to toss some soil over the piles and start watering them just to keep them at bay.

Make sure you sterilize any Spanish Moss you find on the ground. It is in the grounded stuff that you are most likely to find chiggers. The bits in the trees are usually safer, but I would still sterilize them first. I use the term sterilize broadly, as all I do is submerge the fibers in a bucket of soapy water for a week. The only things I am really worried about are the chiggers and the submerging tends to take care of them.

Actually, it has to be on the ground for quite a while to get chiggers in it. I usually get it right after it falls, use it for mulch,and don't touch it after that. It just dries up and turns brown. As much as I use, the soapy water wouldn't work. I'd have to have a 50-gallon tank!