September 20 ~ 2011 walnut tree

(I'm on my still broken laptop... no caps... buttons are broken)

i decided this afternoon that i needed a work out and that i would mow the entire lawn... it is a big lawn.  but first i had to pick up the poop & walnut balls from the back yard.  i tell you if you haven't seen a walnut tree.... this is what it looks like... and our tree is big and hangs over a great portion of our back yard.  it attracts the oddest bugs and squirrels.  oh the squirrels love this tree and next to this tree is a maple tree... and it seems to have some acorns that are delish to the squirrels and birds too... the maple is much less messy... i digress.. let me return to the problem at hand.  the walnut tree grows these green balls that are a bit larger than golf balls all season.  and at this time of year they start to drop & very very quickly turn from hard green to black mess.  so i spent about 20 minutes today just picking up these green balls... some were black, having fallen a few days ago... they smell horrid.  it is a citrusy moldy odd smell.  it is bad. the longer they sit on the lawn, the worse they smell.  it is not a fun task.  so today i filled 3 grocery bags full of nuts and started mowing and bam... there were more dropping... it is discouraging.  i hate this tree.  tomorrow i'll have 3 bags more full....this is a very productive tree... it lasts until the last leaf falls before winter... then i'm in the clear until this time next year... i can pray a storm takes the tree out (and not damage my or the neighbors homes) or that i win the lottery & get the darn thing cut down.  until then...  i will just pick up the little green balls and go about my day...