Tuesday, June 30

Quotes of Note + Nuts Galore

"Money doesn't buy you happiness. But it buys you a big enough yacht to sail right up to it."

Johnny Depp, in the July 2009 issue of Vanity Fair Magazine. He was referring to his island in the Bahamas.

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Evil is like a shadow - it has no real substance of its own, it is simply a lack of light. You cannot cause a shadow to disappear by trying to fight it, stamp on it, by railing against it, or any other form of emotional or physical resistance. In order to cause a shadow to disappear, you must shine light on it.


Shakti Gawain, teacher and author (b. 1948)

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A belief which leaves no place for doubt is not a belief; it is a superstition.

Jose Bergamin, author (1895-1983)

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If you wish to be loved, show more of your faults than your virtues.

Edward Bulwer-Lytton, author (1803-1873)


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Have you heard the old saying that in years when trees produce an abundance of seed pods or nuts it means we'll have a cold winter? If that is true, according to my hickory trees - we are in for it later this year!! (The variety I have is called carya glabra or pignut hickory.)

We have 2-3 hickory trees just outside the deck fence (back where the foxes used to play) and another set of them hanging over the driveway in the front of the house. Even in sparse years, such as when we were in the worst drought conditions, the nuts dropping are a problem. This year - they are a menace!! Every morning I have to go out and pick them up off the deck, scoop them out of the pool and clean them out of the skimmer. If I leave them on the deck, squirrels come and break them open and leave the shell fragments on the deck and concrete pool surround. If you ever stepped on one, you'd know why I have to pick them up. The fragments are as hard and sharp as broken glass and almost as damaging to your foot.

So far this year, I find at least 15 of them on the deck every morning and more in the skimmer. I think that bending over to pick them up and throwing them into the woods is good exercise for me - so there's that silver lining. In previous years, I'd find maybe 4-5. I don't know what to attribute the excessive amount to this year; perhaps the fact that we've come out of the drought we were in for almost five years has something to do with it. At any rate, I'll be watching the acorn crop this year, as well as the woolly bear caterpillars, to see what they predict.






13 comments:

Darlene said...

Well, you did find the silver lining in your morning chore. By summer's end you will have a svelte waist.

Your quotes are just wonderful. Thank you.

Grannymar said...

You find wonderful quotes and I hope you are wrong about the winter.

Evil Twin's Wife said...

I hope you're wrong about winter too. Great quotes. :-)

srp said...

Just be careful that the squirrels don't get up there and throw the nuts at you! You cannot trust a squirrel! LOL

Travelin'Oma said...

I'm happy, but a yacht and an island wouldn't make me any less happy. I'd like a chance to prove it!

OldLady Of The Hills said...

It is amazing that you have so many of these nuts....I LOVE that you have found the Silver Lining in it all though...lol!

Have the Foxes gone away? You may have told us and I missed it....!

Pat said...

Great as usual!
Shakti: what if my battery is flat?

Edward bulwer- Lytton: this is true especially with one's kids.

And Judy we are ALWAYS in for it later in the year. That's life:)

Arkansas Patti said...

I found one quote I liked and wanted to comment on it, then the next one replaced it and so on. So I will just say, loved them all.
Thanks for the warning about winter. Guess I will add another 100 gallons to my propane prepay just in case. Those old farmers are usually right.

Nancy said...

Judy,

Here is one way to predict the Winter Weather.....

The Indians asked their Chief in autumn, if the winter was going to be cold or not. Not really knowing an answer, the chief replies that the winter was going to be cold and that the members of the village were to collect wood to be prepared.

Being a good leader, he then went to the next phone booth and called the National Weather Service and asked, "Is this winter to be cold?"

The man on the phone responded, "This winter is going to be quite cold indeed."

So the Chief went back to speed up his people to collect even more wood to be prepared. A week later he called the National Weather Service again,"Is it going to be a very cold winter?"

"Yes" the man replied, It's going to be a very cold winter."

So the Chief goes back to his people and orders them to go and find every scrap of wood they can find.

Two weeks later he called the National Weather Service again: "Are you absolutely sure, that the winter is going to be very cold?"

"Absolutely,Yes", the man replies, The Indians are collecting wood like crazy!"

tiff said...

Where's Euell Gibbons when you need him?

Nancy said...

Well, Tiff, you sent me scurrying to Wiki to help dredge up just who Euell Gibbons was.

I knew I had heard of him but really couldn't remember anything about him.

Now, after reading his bio, I remember him as a natural food writer and the guy who asked the burning question "DID YOU EVER EAT A PINE TREE?" His claim was that a great deal of the pine tree was edible.

Thanks for bringing up his name;I love being reminded of an interesting character like Euell
Gibbons.

Must go now. I have just ordered Euell's book "Stalking The Wild Asparagus" from Amazon and can't wait to read it...Plus, I have to soak the pine cones for dinner...

rosemary said...

Hum....we have two new fruit trees both of them have dropped all of their fruit....but the gardening center guy said that meant they were growing roots rather than wasting energy on fruit this year.....that trees are smart that way.

kenju said...

Grannymar, I can't take credit for finding the quotes.I have a daily subscription to a word site, and I steal the ones that I like.