The pecan crop is in!

We knew that we were going to have a lot of pecans this year because limbs kept breaking off from the weight of the pecans as they got bigger. Big limbs. And sure enough, this has been a bumper crop - certainly the biggest crop since we planted the tree. Julie, I don't know if you remember but I used you as the measuring stick for how deep the hole needed to be to plant the tree. I would stand you in the hole, and if you could see out, it wasn't deep enough. Before anyone objects, it was not that deep a hole, and you thought it was great fun!

The way the tree is situated, a third or more of the nuts fall directly on the driveway. When we back out or drive in, it sounds like fireworks with all the pecans going pop! pop! pop! when they are overrun. The birds love it, because they feast on pecan hash with no effort on their part; we'll drive up and a great flock of birds of all descriptions will flap off into the sky. For the past few weeks, I've gone out and swept the driveway clean from time to time just to keep from hearing all the pop! pop! pops! from under the wheels (not to mention avoiding the mess).

Last night Fall came to Austin. A big cold front came blowing through and mighty was the wind thereof. I was up during the night and it sounded like hail from all the pecans being blown on the roof of the house. When we got up this morning, the driveway was covered - literally covered in pecans. I regret not getting a picture of that, but Mom counted and said there were at least a thousand pecans. Well, she said she counted.

It was still raining when she left this morning, so no one had been out to sweep the driveway, and it sounded like the 4th of July when she left. Especially since she had to pull forward again to negotiate her way around another fallen limb in the driveway. I swept the lower part later, but the wind was (still is) blowing and they were falling faster than I could sweep them away. Plus, I kept getting bonked on the noggin by falling pecans!

The lawn guys came this afternoon and they were so excited when we told them they could pick up pecans; they took the majority of what was swept up by the driveway, but you can't walk across the lawn without the danger of twisting your ankle, so there are plenty more out there. And within just a few minutes after they blew the driveway clean, the new crop began to accumulate again. We just came back from Chuy's and it was pop! pop! pop! all the way into the garage.

Now, who wants pecan pie? Just a minute - I'll go drive over some freshly fallen pecans.