Both the Black Walnuts and the cold-hardy Carpathian ones (variety of the English type) now have yellow leaves.
The photo here (Star Nursery, NV) shows the husk splitting just before the leaves yellow and the nut falls. The Black Walnuts do not naturally open like this. They are a pain both to de-husk and to get the nut-meat out. It is fall and the nuts are falling.
The new bird-feeding station is complete. About 25 years ago I cobbled one together quickly. It has slowly succumbed to weather and gravity – a metaphor for those of us born in the 1940s. The new one is more sturdy and built of better material.
The deceased one had a flat top and was on posts sufficiently high I could not see the top and it accumulated snow, so brushing it off was an issue. The 2×4 wire is meant to allow smaller birds while preventing large birds (Eurasian Collared Doves & Black-billed Magpies) from scarfing the sunflower seeds.
This station has a sloping top with a metal ridge cap. The width is 40 inches and the hammer is for scale. The hammer is placed over an opening that can be covered. I can remove the piece and reach in to get to the small boxes that hold the seeds.
I had to buy a packet of 10 small sheet metal screws ($1.48) to hold the ridge cap down. Other than that, all parts are things that I scrounged from “stuff” accumulated from prior projects. The blue paint is that used on the house siding done three years ago. I now have to mount the station on posts where I can see it from the house. New, battery powered tools have helped much in this project.
I came late to battery powered tools – mine are the Milwaukee M18 brand. The local lumberyard and hardware store has a “Milwaukee Day” with sales and company folks to answer questions, so that’s my source.
Related:
I noticed I had used “flat head square drive” wood screws to hold a 2×4 on a garden post. This would have been before I had the battery tool. So, I would have had to use extension cords to reach the spot about 100 feet from the nearest outlet. I would have used two of the 50 foot type. Black & Decker introduced a cordless electric drill in 1961 – my high school graduation year. I bought my first one in 2020.
One of my two circular saws has worn out. My other one is a hand-off from a retired geographer that moved to an apartment. It, too, is old. Maybe there is a new one in my future.
Keeping Track
on the Naneum Fan
John