Dropping Green Walnuts

Posted on August 29, 2008. Filed under: animals, birds, dropping green walnuts, earth, family, Food, friends, gratefulness, Life, light, love, Magical Salt Marshes, music, nature, Salt Marshes, shed, sound, wildlife, Wind | Tags: 50 feet, action, birds, blair witch, busy, catching up, chirping, cold, community, dropping, farmers, gathering, glorious, gray, green, happy, harveting, leaves, light, music, nature, noises, orange, passage, predictors, priviliged, routes, splendor, squirrels, sun, suspended, symphony, tree, vocal, walnuts, weather, western, winter, wonderful |

Dropping Green Walnut

It’s going to be a cold winter, so says the predictors. They say all the old farmers are reading the signs the animals are giving. Cold winter up ahead. Well I’m a sorta old farmer, and what I am seeing or rather hearing is ……
the sound of dropping green walnuts.

Yes, I finally figured that one out! I thought I was perhaps in a wierd re-incarnation of the blair witch, with rather loud distinct sounds coming from mostly the tree areas. Crunching, crashing, creaking, clicking. It turns out that all these sounds come from the green walnuts that the gray squirrels cut down from the walnut trees, leaves and all. If the walnut goes through the tree it’s a crunching and crashing sounds. If it hits the roof of our old shed it’s a clicking, bounce bounce bounce type sound. I’m a curious type so upon hearing these sounds from my writing window quite a few times, I decided to investigate. Er especially in the bright of day. Sure enough the gray squirrels high, so high, 50 feet high in the walnut trees are busy at work. Chewing and gnawing on the branch leaves. Harvesting their sailing walnuts down to the forest floor for gathering in either early morning or early evening. Busy busy busy always so busy. So I’m happy now knowing what those noises were, that went crash in the night. I also feel happy and privileged to see such a work of nature in action.

The Gathering

More noises! But different ones. I investigate, out my side sliding window and onto my wooden porch I step, and immediately my ears pull me upward. Music abounding of the “gathering” birds. It’s the sound of A LOT of birds in the other tall trees. All gathered and speaking to one another. All so vocal that even the crickets are chirping in. What could they be saying? Perhaps discussions on ancient passage routes. Maybe catching up. I think both and possibly a whole lot more. A community a belonging how wonderful. All sitting on the very top branches and catching the setting western light.

The gray squirrels lay resting in Y shaped tree branches. Listening to their evening symphony. It’s late August in fact August 29, 2008. The glorious orange summer sun is still shinning. We are all suspended for a moment of natural splendor.

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