It's Nuts Out There

We arrived home the other day and there were black walnuts everywhere on the ground. We expected that this time of year although it was a little early for the amount on the ground already. However, the real difference was the amount of nuts on Pat's tree next door which overhangs our house. It was loaded and they were coming down. This is the tree that is being taken down once the leaves and nuts are on the ground.

The real difference we soon found out was the number of nuts coming down and hitting the roof of our house. That first night back home was very noisy. We had never remembered so many nuts making so much noise hitting our house in previous years. Never. We had not had many nuts the past couple of years so we expected more this year but this was very different. It was a banner year for nuts on this particular tree but it was also full and leaning over our house more than in previous. The tree had really grown recently. We joked that it knew it was being cut down and was getting revenge. We talked with Pat and she agreed that it had never had so many nuts coming down so fast and furious in all the years that they have lived there.

So we got home on Monday evening and immediately started hearing the nuts hit the house. The next day I started cleaning some of them up by raking in the backyard and clearing out some along the side of the house. They were coming down relentlessly. Mark next door was wearing a bike helmet while working in the backyard. It was a good idea. I got hit on the arm and it really stung for a bit. I found an old bike helmet that belonged to Katie in the shed. I put it on. That first and second day I collected about six bags of nuts. They went out to the street on Wednesday evening for trash pickup on Thursday. They are still there. It looks like the city will do a special leaf and nut bag pickup in the coming week. Lots of neighbors have bags in front of their homes.

The first few days we were back in Buffalo were beautiful Indian summer days and I was trying to keep up with the leaves and nuts coming down but then it got rainy and cold. Windy too. More leaves and nuts have been coming down especially from the tree hanging over our house. The sound of the nuts hitting our roof has been constant and goes on all night. It's been off and on rain since Friday but in-between the showers it has been beautiful. Unfortunately we have not been able to sit out in the backyard since we returned because of the falling nuts. 

Now over the weekend it has been more windy and rainy. The nuts have been coming down and it looks like Pat's tree may be done dropping them. We hope so. The trees in the back still have a lot of nuts but I'm looking forward to not having anymore drop on the house or hit our windows. I just want to clean them up and move on. I really can't estimate yet how many bags of nuts we will have this year. It is not a banner year for the nuts overall. Just Pat's tree. I think I'm about 15 bags now and there will probably be about 20 more. That would be about average. The most bags I collected in any given year was 60. That was a banner year. 

Pat's driveway next door.