We've got two trees in the front yard, and over the weekend, Dan asked me if maybe one day this week, I could get the girls to bag them up as they are wreaking havoc on the whole lawn-mowing thing. On Monday, an older man knocked on the door and asked if he could pick some up, as he likes them. I told him to PLEASE help himself. I saw him before he left, loading two contractor buckets into the trunk of his car. (He came prepared, as he used to pick them up when hte previous owners lived here)

This afternoon, I had the girls pick up what's fallen in the past 48 hours:



And see how many are left?



I don't want to eat them, and I don't want to take that much food away from the squirrels. Argh.

You might be able to work out a trade with Andi for some figs or pears!

Personally, I would have a ball just cracking those suckers with the kids. I guess then you could scatter them in a small space for the birds and squirrels. It'd be like a little squirrel restaurant.

For right now, they're staying on the porch. I really do hate to take food away from the critters. Except rats. Those can starve to death.

We have a fig tree, too, but none of them ever last on the tree long enough to ripen....squirrels!

We had a big walnut tree in our yard in Boston. My mom made me wear my bike helmet to play in the yard when it was time for them to start falling.

A little over protective, maybe, but nothing is cuter than a kid sitting quietly in a sandbox wearing a bicycle helmet. (Well, okay, maybe there are some things that are cuter.)

OMG you are crackin' me up. You MUST be making this up.

"Ta Friggin da"

As the youngest child of two psychologists, I most certainly am not making it up.

Sadly - I do not have any photos of me doing something innocuous while wearing a bicycle helmet, but here's what I got.


This be a shot of our back yard. You can see the monster sized Walnut tree to the left of, and above the sail boat. (It's kind of hard to miss... except when you're 6 years old and on a sled. Then it's not nearly hard enough to miss...)



This is me, circa 1990 I'd guess, wearing my big goofy helmet. Granted - I am sitting on a bike, but lets be honest, is it even possible to wipe out on a big wheel?



I'd say the reason I'm including this picture is because you can see the other big trees in our yard - but the real reason is because it's my favorite picture of my sister, Maggie, and I of all time.


If I do stumble across a picture of me in a bike helmet doing something that doesn't involve a bike (which I'm bound to at some point) I will make a point of getting it up here!

(hugs Syrgot)

"Ta Friggin da"

Me! Me! Me! Me!

I love black walnuts!
We used to gather bucketfulls of them to eat raw or make cinnamon rolls with.

I wish we would have had something like walnuts growing near me when I was growing up. My mom made an awesome walnut cake. We had chestnut trees but, unfortuately, not the kind you can roast and eat. I love those!

Syrgot, you are the cutest thing in your helmet. Safety first

OMG, I love walnuts! I put them in my oatmeal with a little maple syrup.
They are really good for you. Here's a site that lists the health benefits, and ideas to use them in cooking:
http://www.healthcastle.com/walnuts-benefits-heart.shtml