Nutty

I love the crisp autumn air, lounging around the fire pit during the evening and playing in the leaves with the boys. After the sweltering heat of summer, the shorter days and cooler temperatures are a welcome change. The Fall leaves in Virginia are gorgeous and leave me feeling upbeat and invigorated.  

Of course, the season is not without its own perils. In my neighborhood, Fall also heralds hickory nut season. In case you are not familiar with these hazardous projectiles, hickory nuts are encased in a hard pod when they fall. They can grow to the size of ping pong balls, and fall from heights of 60-80 feet. Our hickory trees are fully loaded and are ready to drop an air assault at the slightest breeze. Let me assure you from experience, hickory nuts hurt when they hit you. 
 
We have a wonderful yard, but right now it is simply too dangerous to play outside. I worry that Timmy would be injured if a nut fell on his head, so we run to the car and escape to the park when we want to play outside. Unfortunately running across a driveway littered with nuts while wearing a prosthesis and carrying a toddler presents its own issues. I feel like I'm navigating a mine field while trying to dodge a bombardment.  
 
Hickory nuts not only keep us inside, but they pose a danger to anything in their path. Over the weekend we left the car parked in the driveway. We woke up on Sunday to discover that a nut had pelted the back window, shattering the glass. Sigh. That was an expensive nut!


I love Fall, but I could definitely do without the nuts. Between worrying about being pelted from the air and slipping on one when I walk, time spent in our yard is anything but relaxing. I thought I was keeping my nutty frustrations to myself, but Timmy has called my bluff by screaming out "damn nut" every time we see another one bounce on the ground.