yellowroom

one of our cats uses the kitchen sink to pee in if she's in a huff with us. dont mind the idea in principle, but in practice makes the kitchen smell of cat wee as she doesn't flush by turning on the tap, so not encouraged.

livinginnyc

Did I really kill this thread from pulling it back on topic from Pizza?

Anyhoo, new pet peeve...

Local news stations (NBC NY being prime candidate), doing morning 'BREAKING NEWS' Alerts with red signage, serious music to report.... a car broke down. Or a traffic jam on a bridge. It's not breaking news, its not even news worthy - it's a traffic alert.

lizzyq

Acorns. Acorns that fall onto the roof and the car with such a bang it makes me jump out of my skin. Of course the squirrels may be throwing them on purpose too

Pulaski

If acorns are your biggest problem then be thankful you don't have hickory trees. Hickory nuts are a whole lot larger and heavier, especially in their husk.

We used to have a massive hickory tree - 87ft tall and as wide, or wider (hurricane Jeanne in 2004 finally toppled what was left of it ), and the squirrels would go up there in their dozens looking for the nuts. It only took a squirrel one bite to decide if it was good to eat, but if it was bad, or perhaps it had a maggot in it, down it would come. For a couple of months in the autumn that tree was raining hickory nuts!

SultanOfSwing

We have a Shagbark Hickory in our front yard, not as big as yours was (maybe 15-20' if that) but it doesn't seem to produce any nuts, or if it does, the birds get them before I see them.

As far as problems go, don't get me started on the bloody Mulberries.

Nutek

If there had been a contest on BE for who would have something called a "Shagbark" in their yard, I would have picked you.

Pulaski

I doubt that your hickory is going to produce nuts for a number of years. We also have a shagbark hickory (we probably have several, but I know of one close to our house) that is around 60ft tall and with an 8" trunk, that I would guess is around 40 years old, and that only started producing nuts in the past few years. One of a similar size on neighbouring property has started producing nuts in the past couple of years too.

If yours isn't overshadowed by other trees it is possible that you might not have to wait as long for it to produce nuts.

In any case I can't think of any bird other than a parrot that would have a beak capable of cracking a hickory nut, but the squirrels love 'em!

Rete

Thankfully we don't have nut trees on the property. Hubby hates squirrels. Secretly think he is Ray's brother The old man shoots them through the patio screening with his bb gun. And yes, the screening is being replaced today actually. So no more squirrel gunning.

SultanOfSwing

Especially when we're talking about nuts ...

When you actually see the bark, the name does make sense, of course.

I do think it's a young tree. The house has only been there for 16 years as it is and I'm not sure this has even been there that long, though Hickories are slow growing, apparently, so maybe it has. Unrelated, but for contrast my wife's uncle planted a bunch of 2" Honeylocust on his property 10 years ago when he bought it and they're huge now.

As far as other trees go, it's pretty much isolated at the end of our drive. On the other side of the driveway we have a massive Colorado Spruce, but they don't compete for light. The rest of the trees, including the ever-annoying Mulberries, are along the side of the house and round the back and the neighbour only has some low profile shrubs at that and of their yard.

Maybe a woodpecker could have a go at it, but we do get a ton of squirrels as well, so they'd definitely nab any nuts that were produced.

WEBlue

Here in my part of New England, we have a much smaller crop of acorns falling down this autumn. Last year they were *massive* and could sound like gunshots when they hit metal surfaces like a car. Many/most were a full inch long. This year they seem a lot smaller and fewer. I don't freeze any more when they sound like what they are, small bouncy nuts....

Nutek

GIS changes this to "small bouncy balls".

/helpful

WEBlue

Is it apt that you answered this, Mr. N.?

Nutek

I'm slightly distressed at the direction this thread has taken.

lizzyq

I don't think I believe you, it was your ulterior motive all along.

Nutek

It's just a complete balls up now.