I looked down at the ground this week and saw something that transported me back to grade school days on the playground at Trinity Lutheran School.
Maple tree seed pods
The little seeds would auto-rotate down like a helicopter whose engine had quit. It was nature’s nifty way to make sure the seeds were distributed over a wide area.
You could get an ear full of them, too
When the seeds had just fallen, and you squeezed them just right, you could sneak up to a buddy and give him an earful of juice.
Before long, the whole playground was full of little squirts giving little squirts to little squirts until a teacher intervened.
I can see sitting in detention when the miscreant next to you whispers, “What are you in for?”
“Assault with a Maple seed.” Not exactly something that earns you playground cred.
Maples and Redbuds Come First
The maple trees and redbuds are the first trees to come alive in the spring. The walnut trees are more conservative: they want to make sure the cold weather is gone for good before they come out of hibernation.
(Speaking of hibernation, I was moving a stack of old walnut logs the other day and disturbed three snakes. They were harmless garter snakes who moved slow until they realized there was a reason the sun was suddenly beating down on them.
