Nutty

Yesterday was beautiful albeit unseasonably warm. We are in mid-October, and I am still plucking ripe blueberries off our bushes. The leaves are still hanging onto the trees, refusing to budge from their dull green. I want my beautiful autumn, I'm tired of shorts and bugs!

The falling nuts are the only sign that the seasons have changed. I don't remember another year where the hickory nut harvest was so plentiful. We take a snow shovel to the driveway to move the nuts every day, and by the next morning the asphalt is covered again. Have I mentioned how much I hate the hickory nuts?

These aren't regular nuts. Hickory nuts fall like baseballs on our house, encapsulated in a hard green pod ranging from 2-4 inches in diameter. When they land on the driveway (or any other hard surface) the pod splits open and the nut flies out. Our cars, our roof and everything else we own and keep outside has been dented from these nuts. Seriously, if you ever buy a house with a hickory tree close to anything important, cut it down! Unfortunately, we have several hickory trees and cutting them down at their size is cost prohibitive. I wish we had done it when they were younger.

Not only do the nuts damage everything, but they create a hazard minefield through the yard. One step on a nut or a partial pod and an ankle is twisted or I'm thrown off balance. This time of year, I'm on high alert when I simply walk from the driveway to our door. Despite our efforts to clear the nuts, the supply seems endless. 

We are supposed to reach 90 today, but tomorrow storms are going to bring cooler temperatures to our area. I am counting on the storm bringing down the rest of the nuts in a single event, allowing us to sweep them away for good.