Those Blasted Black Walnuts

I didn't realize it had been a year since I wrote about the black walnuts and my stained fingers, but time has a way of ticking on by.  No, on second thought, it seems like much longer than a year ago when I found the black walnuts in the street and on the grass in an undeveloped lot in our neighborhood.  My son and I collected them and after a lot of mess I had some black walnuts that needed drying and then cracking.

A year later, I have dried black walnuts in a bag that still need to be cracked.  Black walnuts are hard to crack.  I've watch videos online and I've got the tips on how to do it, but no one says it's easy.  Every now and then I get annoyed at the big bag of un-shelled walnuts in the pantry and decided that this time, I'm going to get them all done.

Twenty minutes later, my neck and back killing me from sitting in a position that's uncomfortable for me, but necessary for hitting walnuts on the concrete with a hammer, I give up.  But each time, I get a few more cracked.

Is it worth it?  I suppose so.  I love the flavor of the black walnuts; it's like no other nut.  By now, the empty lot has a house on it with neighbors living there.  The pile of nuts keeps dwindling and soon, maybe in another six months, I'll have them all shelled.

The Big Boy Update:  I told him, "it's time to put the trains away," to which he replied, "never!"

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  She's been doing this thing where she wants to close the door on the toilet room and hang out on the potty with the light on or even off.  She gets on and off the potty several times and I thought she was just messing around.  Today, I had time and I let her spend time in the bathroom and guess what, she pooped in the potty.  Could it be that she'd just wanted some private time all along?

Fitness Update:  6.75 miles this afternoon.  Unexpected run that happened at the last minute.  Yesterday, I went to the fitness room and found out I could still do the arm exercises, which means my shoulder is better.  The elbow though is another story for another day and I'm not worrying about that until after the marathon.  Less than a month away!