Out the Back Window | Walnut Husks

by Jim and Melanie

Our walking path passes under Black Walnut trees at several locations. Many of the green fruit have dropped and turned brown. Some fell on our path. Squirrels came to open them for the nut. They left behind piles of dark pieces. Rain showers leave streaks of dark stain on the concrete. Twenty two years ago, we lived at the top of a hill in our town. The street sloped steeply down for 3 blocks. We would gather some walnuts from the back yard with our son who was 2 or 3 and roll them down the hill.

The exceedingly dry July and August in eastern Iowa is causing some early color change to some leaves. These greens and yellows were attractive. It won’t be long before they will start to fall. The real ‘fall’ will come when we get a freezing night. The next morning, as the temperature climbs to 32˚, the leaves on some trees like the Mulberry, will start dropping all at once. The shedding of leaves is called abscission.

Another yellow caught our eye by the path. Inside was the little cucumber beetle. It looks like it has been busy working on those petals.

On previous walks, we have seen interesting characters at this feeder. These two mourning doves guarding it didn’t mind as we passed about 15′ away.

There is a nice small pond along the path. We always look around to see if something is new or different. This time we spotted a great blue heron on a branch at the other side. My little camera doesn’t have much telephoto power. It flew off gracefully looking very prehistoric.

Returning to the house from the trail, we passed our only pet. This stone horse sits directly below our big bird feeder. Every few weeks, I get a notion to rearrange the stones into a different creature. So far, no passing deer have bumped this one to knock it over.

Please add some comments of your own about your backyard and observations about events there.

Have a great day.

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