Falling nuts in Georgia

For the last few weeks, I've felt like I've been in a bad episode of Dora the Explorer. There's one where Dora and Boots have to run through a forest with falling nuts, and that's exactly what is happening now in Georgia.

We have a few oak trees in our yard... actually we have about 50, and every autumn just before turning brilliant fall colors, they torture us by dropping acorns. To those who have never experienced this, if you can imagine the sound of thousands of 1" diameter rocks pelting your roof and aluminum gutters at random intervals day and night for weeks at a time, you've gotten the gist.

Some years the trees produce fewer and other years they produce more acorns. This year is one of the worst I can remember. The picture showing these acorns wasn't staged--it's an accurate reflection of how dense these things are falling and what most of the front and back yard looks like. Of course the basket was staged, but that's what my toddler was using to try and help my wife pick these up so we can avoid having a forest of miniature oak trees sprouting up in the yard.

I think one of my projects for the spring may be to take down a few trees whose branches are now hanging over the house.