Acorns

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Let’s talk about acorns…have I mentioned that they are falling around here?! Actually, they are beginning to taper off, so now when they hit the roof they’re even more startling! I rolled up the big awning yesterday, and at least a dozen of them fell. It seems like they’d roll under our feet as we step on them, but they are softer than that, and just break open. The nut doesn’t make a mess, in that they don't squish and track on the bottom of our shoes, but they are everywhere! I don’t think you’d be able to vacuum them up in the lawnmower like you do the leaves, so they must be a hastle to rake up. (But look at us~~do we care?!)

I have a ton of pictures, so I’ll give more info with them.

Oh, on a scary note, the other day the men found a tarantula in the swimming pool at Silver Creek. Bob didn’t tell me about it~~he knew I wouldn’t want to know~~but it came up at lunch. I guess it was about the size of Bob’s palm, and was still alive. Oh this is almost too much... People have told us there are some around, but I didn’t think….well, I guess I didn’t think about it at all. By choice. Now I think about them every time I’m outside. Dave said they saw one crossing the sidewalk in front of the lodge. I’m just hoping hoping hoping that I don’t see one. YUCK...

Acorns…acorns are nice and very interesting. Let’s talk about acorns…

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Photos

Amphitheater
This is at the Silver Spur camp. I enclosed it to show how the nuts are just covering everything. It's especially dangerous to sit on these benches, because the oak trees tower over the area.

Just a look at them on the
ground. There are five kinds of oak trees on the property, so the acorns look very different.

You can see that they're dull
when they are on the ground, but if you rub them, either with a cloth, or just in your hand, they get shiny. Some of them look almost like mahogany, and are very pretty. I have lots of them on the dashboard, and Bob keeps reminding me that we are not keeping them! (He also said that when sea shells were there....and he was right!)

You can see the caps of the acorns
in this shot. Sometimes the caps are still on the nut, but usually not. There aren't nearly as many caps as nuts on the ground, but I don't know whether they stay in the tree indefinitely, or fall later. You can also see that some of the caps are hooked together when they fall.

This one shows some with
their caps still on, as well as some different shapes. The coloring comes from how they're laying on the sun hits them as they're drying out.

This is the little guy that was
sticking them in the holes in the trees~~after he and his friends made the holes! I'm not sure what he's doing here~~he may be storing them in the knothole.

The local squirrels are silver,
almost blue. There are so many people around that the squirrels are fairly tame.

Who do you think has been
around our Jeep?! It's usually parked up the hill a little way, where there aren't any oak trees! But come to think of it, the house where the women are working (we cleaned the house and painted the bedroom in preparation for a new staff member moving in) isn't around an oak tree, and there were acorns on the front porch, so the squirrels are very busy!

I know it's a rerun,
but I really like this picture, and it fits in well here. See the holes, and see the acorns peeking out!

Rerun #2
Keep in mind that there are many trees on the property that look like this. Amazing...

Comments

[margo gross]

nuts to you
I really think you should keep some of those acorns. They will always serve as a reminder of where you have been. See just when you think you have rid yourself of all of the useless collections of crap, I encourage you to start collecting! Besides sometimes instead of telling Bob he is nuts - you could just leave a couple laying in his coffee cup!! Love you, Margo

[Danielson]

Back at ya'
Oh, aren't you the helpful one!!! And don't encourage me to keep anything~~our rule is "If it's not used for something, it's not kept." Sounded like a good rule in May, but I'm not loving it in October!

[Patti]

Rule???
What kind of "useful" are you meaning? Like, mechanical, doing something concrete, emotional, spiritual, mentally??

[Danielson]

Huh?
Oh, I'm so confused.... :)