A Bag of Trouble for the Squirrels

I can't say I am unhappy, that we won't have many walnuts this year. I have six black walnut trees, which provide wonderful shade in the summer and more walnuts than you can count.  This time last year, the ground was covered, with more dropping each week. 

I tried to keep up with the walnut rolling, last year, so I could walk through the yard and play ball with the dogs, without tripping on nuts. I waited and waited for someone to ask again, if they could pick up our walnuts presumably, to sell them  They came the year before, and I gratefully let them pick them up.   When they didn't come back, last year, I saw it as a sign the economy was getting better.

I don't sell them or shell any, as I don't care for black walnuts and I am not sure where to take them. OK, I could google it, but I didn't want to!  So when winter arrived, the squirrels stayed and feasted.  By Spring there was not a walnut to be found, only the black hulls and shells, in piles around the yard. The varmints in the neighborhood. were very fat indeed. I figured if no one wants them, the squirrels will.

This summer, we had a huge bagworm infestation, in our town and surrounding area. 
Indeed every nut tree...in fact most trees of any kind, had the pests. They apparently, won't kill the tree,,,,but they will destroy the leaves and hinder the growth of the nuts. The leaves of the walnut trees won't turn the lovely yellow this year, looking so mellow in the afternoon light of Fall, this year. 

When we returned from our trip, the trees had very few leaves left and I could skip through the yard, if I wanted, without turning an ankle. Maybe, there are an eighth of the walnuts we would expect.  So my squirrels may have to go further afield, to eat this winter.  While I am not unhappy to lose the walnuts and the work involved in clearing them the squirrels will miss them. They will be looking for a different food source.....and I will have to keep them out of my bird feeders, or simply look the other way.