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[Gene GeRue <genegerue AT ruralize.com>]

> I was working on the chicken coop and something moving caught my 
> eye.  It was a walking stick, and a large one at that!

We have been enjoying the same here. One is currently dining at our 
kitchen window. It mostly hides by not moving, then moves and snacks.

The big story at Heartwood is nuts. Neighbor-friends have collected 
two trailer loads of our black walnuts, including the fattest any of 
us can recall. One huge tree bore not last year, we speculate on 
whether late frost hurts walnut fruit set as it does peaches. All 
that saved energy resulted in a huge crop of mammoth nuts this year. 
The big butternut tree down by the stream has also dropped a large 
crop. It suffers the canker that has spread across its range so we 
plan for success with personal nurseries, hoping to preserve what 
natives call white walnuts.

Not being outdone by walnuts, white oaks have carpeted the yard with 
their fruit. One meanders from house to outhouse with serious crunch. 
Reminds me of the "nightingale floor," in Kyoto that was designed to 
alert the guard sleeping at his warlord master's bedroom door. An 
intruder here would announce himself to Benny with the first three 
steps. During morning sits, nut knocks on tin roof are many per page. 
Going out barefoot at night to pee is to endure involuntary accupressure.

Squirrels are grinning. Some predict the result of the nut 
supermarket will be a future tick invasion. The theory is that the 
squirrel population will explode and the ticks with it. So many 
acorns should increase turkey population, too. I look forward to 
increased gobble thunder echoing through the hollow.