The other evening, I was sitting out on the front porch and hear something fall in the woods on the other side of the driveway. I looked up in time to see a green ball come shooting out of the woods onto the lawn. Curious. I sat, scanning the trees, and pretty soon another came down. I noticed a quick movement out of the corner of my eye and saw a squirrel darting from branch to branch. Now, I’m pretty good with identifying the fauna on the farm, but I’m not as astute with the flora. I watched to see what tree the squirrel settled in then got up to inspect the green ball. As it turns out, there’s a hickory tree on the bank, and a nice sized one at that. I gathered up a bucket full before I mowed the lawn yesterday and I’ll set them out to dry then take the husks off when they’re dry.

Hickory nuts are really good in cookies. My grandma used to make raisin-filled cookies. I’m not home as I write this but I’ll try to remember to post the recipe one of these days. She would use hickory nuts sometimes. Or black walnuts. We would sit around the table and crack nuts and pick the nut meats out of the shells. You’d have to be pretty careful when you ate those cookies because sometimes you’d bite down on a piece of the shell. Grandma broke her dentures like that once. Scared the bejeebers out of me because I didn’t know about false teeth at the time!

As more and more of the hickory nuts are maturing, the squirrels have gathered in the hickory tree and it actually sounds like rain with all the little bits of hull they are dropping as they denude the nut. Fortunately for me, these little critters lose their grip fairly easily and they drop the whole shebang. I need to get my coveralls and boots on and wade up that hill in the woods and see if I can gather more. Hickory nuts are a precious commodity in these parts. There’s a hickory tree back on the hill near the old Mount Zion Church. It’s alongside the cemetery so I don’t know that the tree actually belongs to someone. But I have seen a sign on it warning folks from picking up those hickory nuts. Testy. This brought me to do a little research. Will there be animals in Heaven? The Bible says there are horses in Heaven to equip the armies so if there are horses, then surely there are others. Dogs MUST got to Heaven…there are humans in those eyes. But what about the squirrel and the possum and the raccoon? I think if horses are in Heaven, and surely dogs are, then others must be as well. I think God made animals for our use and enjoyment. And Heaven is a place for joy!

I saw another oddity yesterday. I came in from mowing and went to the kitchen to get a cold drink. I heard something really loud buzzing on the back porch. It turned out to be a locust that was getting attacked and stung by what looked to be a sand hornet. They were rolling over and over all over the back porch and every time they landed up against my metal cabinet, the sound was amplified tenfold. It was pretty impressive.

We’re off on a road trip again today! TOW-Wanda is fixed so we’re running over to pick her up and camp for a couple of nights. Someone told Mr. FixIt the repair could cost $4,000 but it’s about a fourth of that. I have to tell you, Camping World in Richmond, Indiana is AWESOME! I would highly recommend their service department. Tell Matt Green I sent you! See you on the road! ❤️

“For what happens to the children of man and what happens to the beasts is the same; as one dies, so dies the other. They all have the same breath, and man has no advantage over the beasts, for all is vanity. All go to one place. All are from the dust, and to dust all return. Who knows whether the spirit of man goes upward and the spirit of the beast goes down into the earth?”
‭‭Ecclesiastes‬ ‭3:19-21‬ ‭ESV‬‬

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