Black Walnut Tree & Fluff

Today is a nice, sunny, yet simple, summer day.  My flowers are blooming and my garden is full of vegetables ready to be picked.  I love being outside in the early mornings and today was no exception.  I said hello to my Dahlias and was busy admiring their new blooms when I heard our squirrel in one of my favorite trees on our property.  It's a black walnut tree and it's lovely to relax under in our lawn chairs.  I have white twinkle lights strung around some of the branches so in the evenings I can turn them on and enjoy the beauty of the tree and my front yard as a whole. 
Our walnut tree is a favorite "snack shack" for a local squirrel.  Let's call him, "Fluff", in honor of his tail!
Every year Fluff works hard gathering our walnuts.  There are a few ways he lets us know he's visiting our tree.  Sometimes we'll notice the branches moving around, sometimes it's simply the drop of a walnut onto the ground & sometimes you'll hear him talking.  I often find myself chatting with him when I know he's in our tree.  He will chatter back. I'm not sure what he's saying but hopefully it's nice!  I truly love listening to his noises. It's so darn cute!  Our walnut tree is such a lucky tree.  Almost every walnut it produces is nicely picked by Fluff and carried off to his home.  A few do fall to the ground but not many.  He harvests the bountiful blessings and by the end of the season there are only a handful of walnuts on the ground.  Maybe those are the "bad" nuts that didn't pass his inspection, you never know!  Fluff brings us a lot of entertainment and joy.  Every season we look forward to his time with us.  I feel so lucky to have our black walnut tree.