Walnuts Archives

October 17, 2025

It’s Birthday Season

This is the time of year when I’d saddle up the pony to head to Cape Girardeau to celebrate Mother’s Birthday Season that centered around Oct. 17. I always felt guilty because I always wanted to head back to Cape at vacation time. In fact, I don’t think we did more than half a dozen trips as a family that didn’t pass through my hometown.

Sometimes we’d end up at Kentucky Lake with Brother Mark.

Other times, it would be at Christmas

This was our first Christmas after getting married in the spring. I put together this photo book for a class project.

The Last Rose of Summer

I wrote a blog post about the Last Rose of Summer in 2015 after Mother’s death. Friend Shari was over enthusiastic in her pruning of the rose bush, so I’ve had to replace it.

This rose bush next to the mailbox got mowed down by a guy who ran off the road, but it survived that and a near-drought.

Time to whine about walnuts

Birthday Season is also the time for my annual whine about walnuts. We’ve had a bumper crop again this year. The first year I stayed in Cape by myself, I was freaked out by the sounds of the nuts bouncing off the roof.

If you don’t believe me, here are some of my walnut rants.

Tamed jungle

I’ve had some yard guys try to time the jungle on the east side of the house. There are still some limbs down, but it look a whole lot better than it did a couple of years ago.

A Furry Lawn Ornament

Phoebe the Bleeping Cat wasn’t around in the Mother era, but she enjoys playing furry lawn ornament when I let her out.

June 27, 2023

Time to Gripe about Walnuts

When I walked out to the car a couple weeks ago, I saw some marble-sized walnuts on the ground, just about the size that would hurt if you stepped on them with your bare feet.

Saturday, I noticed that a branch had snuck its way under my tarp car cover. When I grabbed the clippers, I saw that we’re going to have an early walnut season this year.

I’m not a big fan of walnuts

Griping about walnuts is a perennial topic for me. See my musings.

October 19, 2020

Woman’s Dominion Over Nature

Mother was a master of the leaf blower

Being as how it would have been Mother’s 99th Birthday Season, it’s appropriate that I dig out these photos Fred Lynch took one day in 2014 when he was driving by the house.

Leaving no leaf unturned

She could get the hurricane-force wind under a pile of leaves, make them look like waves in the air, and send them all the way down the hill in no time.

I always said I could do better with a wide rake, but I couldn’t keep up with her.

Drastic Measures needed

After nearly falling when a leaf-hidden walnut rolled out from under me, and having one of nature’s Legos in the form of a black walnut sans hull leave me limping, I decided drastic measures were needed.

I was either going to have to display a sign like this and abandon the back yard for the duration, or I was going to have to corral the green (and black) monsters.

Plan B didn’t work

I tried my big rake first, but it couldn’t deal with both leaves AND walnuts. That’s when I reached into the closet for Mother’s leaf blower. It would move the leaves, but it didn’t have enough oomph to roll the walnuts (or I was skill deficient).

Plan C

Plan C was the blow away the leaves so I could see the walnuts. Once the surface detritus was gone, I could use the rake to herd the nuts to the edge of the yard.

That allowed me to create safe passage to the bird bath and bird feeders on Sunday night.

Unfortunately, by Monday morning, another crop of nuts had fallen. Maybe the sign idea wasn’t that bad.

October 14, 2020

Who Wants Walnuts?

Phoebe the Bleeping Cat is tired of having to dodge falling walnuts. They also provide an obstacle course that slows her down when she’s trying to catch squirrels who are too tempting.

She blames the walnuts for her lack of success in apprehending the “fuzzy-tailed tree rats,” as Brother Mark calls them.

I’ve complained about them in the past

Every year it seems like I’m posting about the trials and tribulations of walnuts hitting the roof so hard it sounds like somebody breaking in.

These were a few I raked up out of the driveway last year.

Speaking of raking stuff up, here’s my 2014 rant about the green bombers.

My memory must be fading, because I plowed much the same ground in 2018.

I’m serious. Come and get ’em

These things are big enough that I’m going to have to corral them before I can run the mower to mulch the leaves.

Give me a ten-minute warning if you want me to be wearing pants, and I’ll loan you a rake, a five-gallon bucket, and two or three trash bags (you can keep the latter).

There are still plenty more in the trees. With that in mind, I might even loan you a hard hat or my bike helmet.