Them's good eatin'

We are in the midst of a record breaking drought. Our spring was exceptionally dry, and the fall is proving to be just as parched. There are few benefits to being this dehydrated. The most notable of which is a bumper pecan crop. Growers are expecting a banner harvest.

Uncultivated pecan trees grow all around Macon, including one in our back yard. Thanks to some recent tree pruning, we have been able to collect a three gallon bucket full of nuts (pictured above). They are smaller than cultivated varierties, but the flavor is just as good. Craig and I plan to spend a lot of time this weekend shelling the nuts and stocking our freezer. Given the amount we have collected, I may also need to roast some of the whole nuts to preserve them without refrigeration.

We aren't the only ones to benefit from the pecans. We have a pair of squirrels who have stocked their larder with nuts from our tree. Unfortunately, said larder was in our attic. For the last two months, we have been battling this couple. And they are formidable. The tree pruning I mentioned above was done to prevent them from accessing the house. It took the squirrels three days to find an alternate route to the roof; a route that required them to leap over seven feet from a mulberry tree at the back of the house.

My mild mannered husband was nearly apoplectic over the squirrels. I wasn't too thrilled either; their incessant gnawing was annoying and frustrating (all I could think about was the damage being done to the roofline). We tried driving them out with a combination of critter ridder and loud music in the attic (turns out they like NPR at full blast). We then resorted to having eight limbs trimmed from our trees (not the cheapest option, but we thought it would be effective). Finally, when Craig observed squirrels making the leap from the mulberry, he took out a hack saw and went to work. I was ready for him to cut the mulberry down completely, but each spring it fills with Cedar Waxwings on their migration north.

We have spent a total of 420 dollars doing battle with them, and up until last night, the squirrels were winnning. What they hadn't counted on was the lengths to which Craig will go when he's a little mad. After trimming the mulberry, it was clear that we had trapped one of the squirrels in the house. Given Craig's vocation he has access to things like live animal traps, and this is where the squirrels met their downfall.

Last night as I prepared dinner, I heard a thud; it was the trap falling from the roof onto our back porch. I looked out the window onto the porch, and there inside the trap was a very scared squirrel. She should have been scared. Back porch kitty was already circling. I yelled to Craig "we have a live one!" He was THRILLED, absolutely thrilled. I'm not sure what this says about him, but I think I should post a warning to all other nuisance animals: beware! anatomist on premises.

As Craig retrieved the trap, our back yard neighbor, Amanda, yelled to him: "Whatchya gonna do with that squirrel?"

Craig: "I'm going to take it into work and deal with it there."
[again, he's an anatomist, I'm sure you know what he means by that.]

Amanda: "Well, them's good eatin."

They may be good eatin', but I'm going to stick to pecans.