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BROOKLINE, Mass., Sept. 26 (UPI) -- Massachusetts residents say they are under siege from this year's large crop of acorns as the hard nuts have been falling from trees like rain.
"Greg Roberson and Neil McIsaac of Brookline, Mass., said they routinely encounter the nuts as they fall from area oak trees, creating safety hazards while in the air and once on the ground, The Boston Globe reported Saturday."
Holy Global Warming Batman! If all the Acorn workers are falling out of trees, can you imagine the hospital bills? We have to do something to protect those poor nuts from people, I mean those poor people from nuts. Can you imagine all the safety hazards in the air from falling Boston Acorn nutcases? Poor little squirrels getting squished and calling out "Help! I've fallen and I can't get up!" Lawyers having to work overtime both prosecuting and defending nuts. Prostetutes and pimps no longer having any access to Federal aid. Acorn suing for defamation because people are photographing their nuts in the act of being nutty. We have a disaster of epic proportions here!
I remember a time out in the mountains in Western MD during the 80's when a similar acorn event was happening. It sounded like rain as you walked through the woods. That along with high pitched squeaking which turned out to be an equal abundance of chipmunks, perhaps celebrating their bounty. I know bears like fresh acorns, but luckily we didn't encounter any of the black bears common to that area
Oaks typically don't start producing acorns until they're around 15-20 years old and their production increases with growth and age. Some oaks produce more acorns than others and the acorns from the red oak family take a lot longer to ripen/mature than those in the white oak group.
Their production varies year to year and on every so many years they'll produce a "bumper crop". It could be there are a bunch of trees up there producing large crops at the same time or just producing more as they age.
We have a red oak in our back yard and I've seen a wide range of acorn production cycles out of it over the years. Three years ago we had minor production, then two years ago we had the largest production out of it I've ever seen and last year it was nonexistent. This year it's been dropping a pretty fair amount of them but nothing out of the ordinary.
I have a chipper/shredder/vac that I McGuyvered a hose set up for and use that when there are too many to hassle with. A lot easier than trying to rake or blow them through the grass.
Pigs! Pigs LOVE acorns! Think of the happy pigs! Bring in pigs!
Seriously, this sounds like we are going to have a vicious winter - which is what I've been predicting for several months. When the acorns are bountiful, it usually means a bad winter. Our local climate here has been VERY unusual as well - we had several 65 deg days in June and July, and several late frosts, as well as HIGHLY unusual amounts of rain. People have been harvesting 3 and 4 times their normal hay quotient in the fields. To me, these are signs of a serious fluctuation.
Pigs! Pigs LOVE acorns! Think of the happy pigs! Bring in pigs!
Seriously, this sounds like we are going to have a vicious winter - which is what I've been predicting for several months. When the acorns are bountiful, it usually means a bad winter. Our local climate here has been VERY unusual as well - we had several 65 deg days in June and July, and several late frosts, as well as HIGHLY unusual amounts of rain. People have been harvesting 3 and 4 times their normal hay quotient in the fields. To me, these are signs of a serious fluctuation.
I agree. Here the early migrating ducks are earlier and I'm seeing more migratory geese earlier.
Yep, all the signs of a cold winter this year. We didn't have much of a summer either for that matter. I won't mind though, I like winter.
As for the acorns...it'll be good for the wildlife. Just watch out when you're under an oak tree.
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