New Years Eve Day 2010

New Years Eve day started out with a "first" for our family. This was the first time we ever picked Pecans. My cousin Em's husband (Matt) is from Hurricane. His dad had a bunch of Pecan trees that needed pickin' and invited our family along for the event. Depending on the amount of trees you have, you can hire someone to come and shake the trees. This does have a cost attached, so Matt opted for the next best thing, using a good ol' fashioned rope with a weight on the end.



You through the rope over a branch, catch the end then shake like crazy. The pecans fall to the tarp we layed under the tree.

Sometimes Matt missed the branch he was aiming for.

And sometimes he'd pull so hard that the rope would come loose and he'd land on his backside.

Ter was a spectator for the first half, he was content to see Matt sprawl on the ground.

Eventually Ter gave it a go. He said it was a little harder than it looked to get the rope over the branch.

Meg, not having any fun. It had snowed for several day prior to our picking and it was bitter cold. She eventually sat in the car with numb feet.

Towards the end of the morning the rope decided it had had enough work and broke in half. So we used this long pull with a shepherds hook on the end to snag the lower branches.

It wasn't really difficult work, it's just that it was cold. If the kids had worked a little faster they would have warmed right up.

Thanks Em and Matt for the invitation and willingness to share.

Look at that happy face!

After three hours, everyone except me and Em wanted to call it quits. We're from Johnson stock and just can't stand things going to waste. Here's our stash. Now we have to shell them.

Now that I know what a Pecan tree looks like, I've gone around our neighborhood and located a couple. I plan to ask if they are going to use them. If not, I'll take 'em.

That evening Em and family came over to ring in the New Year. We had lots of eats, the kids watched tons of t.v. and great conversation was had by the adults.

We watched a 10 min fireworks show from the window then toasted in the New Year with Sparkling Cider and Grape juice.

Happy New Year to "The Carr's"

Happy New Year to "The Whites"

Happy New Year "Mustard" (that's what we call Brev)