We are LOADED with hickory trees. We have some actually on our property, but the fence line with the neighbors is a virtual hickory ‘orchard’. When we lost our power suddenly a couple of months ago (lone outage - no one else!), the crew drove up the driveway & right around back like they knew where they were going ..... they did! The older guy, as he came around the truck said “you’ve got a squirrel that tripped the transformer .... happens all the time here .... about a year ago, I was making almost weekly trips!” Wut??
It turned out not to be a squirrel but a crow who had fried itself by landing on the wrong part of the transformer - there was a black pile of feathers at the base of the pole & I saw the guys lifting off the transformer what looked like a wing & pair of legs (yuck)!
After the crew finished, I went out to talk to them & the older guy told me that the previous owner was having issues almost every week. Evidently, there were some hickory trees near the pole attracting the squirrels. Those trees were taken down and he said he “put something on the pole” and that kept the squirrels off for over a year, at least as long as we’ve owned the place.
While mowing about 10 days ago, I was coming along the fence and “BONG”, something nailed me in the forehead - it hurt! When I looked around to see what it was, it was a cluster of hickory nuts (3). They had gotten large and heavy enough to cause the branch to be lower than usual. With the brim of my hat & focusing on where I was going, I ran right into the nuts. On the return trip, I was breaking branches with nut clusters & tossing them over the fence so I didn’t have to worry about getting knocked in the head again!
So the hickory trees are loaded with nuts, but the chestnut trees (2 left, biggest one has died) have very few nuts this year. They bloomed up a storm, but didn’t set nuts. The squirrels will be disappointed - they beat me to every nut last year, but they’ll have plenty of hickory nuts. I don’t mind no chestnuts because they are super ‘prickly’ and getting a spine in your foot (I wear flip flops a lot) is quite painful.
After a week of gray days, the sun is out today & it’s a gorgeous, cool morning. Dew is shining like diamonds on the field across the road. The birds are singing up a storm. Clouds will come back later this afternoon & maybe a stray shower, highs mid-80’s and ‘slightly humid’. I have a few light tasks I’m doing this morning & then I’m watching Little League Baseball this afternoon. Mom and I have been catching the 7:00 pm games (games have been at 1, 3, 5 & 7 most of the week) and we’re ‘hooked’. The International & US Championship games are today & the winners will play for the World Championship tomorrow. The kids are mostly 12 years old & they can really play - the games have been pretty exciting. Lots of ‘life lessons’ being learned, including the “thrill of victory & the agony of defeat”. We also watched Little League Softball World Series (girls) a couple of weeks ago which I enjoy as much if not more than the baseball.
They are few and far between in Wisconsin, and our southern region seems to be the only place they grow. They're not crazy about our winters, but will thrive if in full sun. Which make no sense because the one I found, while in a clearing, was still pretty shaded by other hardwood trees. I had Beau remove a few scrappy trees so our little 'Lone Hickory' had a better chance of surviving.
