Just need to talk to my friends (217)

The thumbnail grew back, after turning black and falling off. You have to strike a black walnut shell pretty firmly, or you're just smoothing out the little ridges on the shell.

The Hammond company in Stockton MO buys walnuts in several locations during the month of October, and people bring them in by the truckload. You'll see signs advertising the sale sites around mid-September.

Hammond employees run the nuts through a huller, weigh them, and pay by the pound. They have a factory in Stockton where machines crack the nuts and women sit all day with nut picks digging the meat from the shells. You can also buy tools for picking up the nuts without bending. The tools work kind of like the old non-electric sweepers, a rolling wire cage picks up the nuts as it rolls. I picked up nuts to sell when I was a boy. A lot of people just want them out of their yard and are glad for someone to pick them up. It was another income source at the end of lawn mowing season.

I learned about the walnut shell polishing medium from friends who reload fired rifle and pistol cartridges. Instead of cleaning the used brass with steel wool, they toss it into a tumbler with a polishing medium, such as crushed walnut hulls or crushed corncobs. The tumbler turns slowly for hours, and the brass looks like new.

My grandfather had a dining room table and chairs, plus some other items, made from black walnut wood from his trees. Simply beautiful!

Black walnut is beautiful. It is a slow-growing, dense, figured wood and is highly prized for furniture, gunstocks, and the like. A black walnut tree is worth a lot of money, just for the wood.

Hello everyone!

I haven't been able to post because we've been on the go all day, and then my phone ran out of charge. I can only charge back at the hotel where I can use my adapter overnight.

HB, that olive oil can might have had Italian on the opposite side. Many signs and labels are printed in at least four languages: Italian. French, German and English. I've also seen Spanish, Russian and Chinese signs. I believe Italy is the second most visited country, so there are a LOT of tourists from all over the world.

Are these the shoes you like to wear? I saw them in a window.

Yesterday we visited Florence it was fascinating. I'll have to report more when I get a chance. I have to get to bed now, we leave early tomorrow morning for another location.

Good night.

Iris

Lorita, That sounds delicious and I am always looking for a new way to use the walnuts.

@harshedbuzz …..Over the time I had it, I had to replace 2 windshields and a side window in that old Cherokee. Ice off a semi on the turnpike destroyed the windshield which was terrifying and a tech at the tire store had a tire iron slip out of his hand than through my passenger window. I think the car was cursed.

I recently had a dealership shatter the rear window in my VW Beetle. They were replacing the hydrologic cylinder that keeps the back hatch open and the tech (used to be a mechanic in the good ole days) let the window crash down on a tool he was using and the window shattered. Sounds like we had the same tech. 😅

All safe here! We had several tornados in Iowa last night; I haven't heard damage reports. Not sure if there was much damage. I guess they assess that when it's daylight. There were tornado warnings across much of the state so we were down in the basement watching the tv for a couple of hours. We received 0.7" of rain.

Hello! The weather here in Italy is perfect—clear blue skies, 70's temp, and no smog.

Two days ago we had a walking tour of Florence, learning about its history from an small village to the cradle of the Renaissance. In the beginning we were treated to a fashion show of fine Florentine leather and a 18K gold jewelry show.

Church of St Michael.

Ponte Vecchio—The Old Bridge—originally this was a place of slaughterhouse and leather tanneries—later, the Medicis, the ruling family, made the bridge into an area of goldsmithing and jewelry making.

Republic Square

The third largest church in the world--I can't remember the names of all the historic churches we saw.

We visited the Accademia Gallery, where we were entranced by the marble statue of David, carrying his slingshot and a rock, contemplating his plan of attack. I took several photos of David au natural, so I feel reluctant to post.

David was sculpted by Michelangelo and took three years to complete.

One of the ladies wanted a shot glass from the Hard Rock Café, so we searched for it and found the shot glass.

We had dinner at a fine dining restaurant next to our hotel.

Table setting

My antipasto—shrimp with strawberries—I had ordered beef stew for my second course, but had to settle for a seafood platter. Otherwise I would not have ordered a seafood appetizer.

Grilled fish, prawns and squid

The fish was good. The prawns as you can see are burned and have the feet and shells on. I would have expected a fine dining establishment to shell the shrimp. The squid tasted like glue. Maybe that's how it's supposed to taste.

Octopus—did not taste like chicken.

White Beans--I paid 50 euro for this dinner.

I have been surprised about the level of the food on this trip. Some has been great, some not so great, in my humble opinion.

This trip has been adventurous. So far, two ladies missed their flights for two days, one lady got off the boat at the wrong stop, two travelers got left behind because they didn't get back to the bus on time, one lady fell on the stairs and dislocated her shoulder and fractured her arm, another lady twisted her ankle, and another lady got sick on the bus. But we're all together now, and the misadventures are behind us.

Iris

Yesterday we had several excursions. First, we visited the American Cemetery in Italy where our World War II soldiers who made the ultimate sacrifice are buried.

The Tuscan countryside

Then we drove to San Geminiano, a walled city, famous for its church.

Street with bell tower in background

A chocolate fountain—most of these shops are now tourist shops, selling treats and other souvenirs. Mostly tourists are here, although a few hundred people do live here.

This area is the home of Chianti wine.

This is the Museum of Torture. The little that I saw at the entrance was gruesome. Apparently these methods were used during the Inquisition.

Wild boar is one of their sandwiches.

Making the sandwich—I did not try this.

The whole animal

Iris

Good afternoon

i am ok Lorita, thank you for checking.

I don't think i will raise any tomatoes this year. Not going to do a lot of flowers either. Gardening is taking a back seat. Have other activities that I enjoy now so gardening is being shoved side some for them. My body prefers it that way. Can’t do and don't have desire to do all that work anymore.

Heard there was a lot of bad tornadoes in Oklahoma last night. Think I heard Enid mentioned.

Iris, the churches and other buildings are stunning! What a glorious trip you are on!

Judith, I don't have any photos of the black walnut pieces my grandfather had made. The dining room table seated 8 but the table legs were in such positions that some persons were straddling them when we ate. Since we do often have dinner for 8 (kids and grands), we eventually retired that table (donated) and bought another.

It's a beautiful day here after the storms. I still haven't heard damage reports; maybe they'll talk about it on the 4 o'clock news.

Time to mow. The grass has greened up nicely.

Beth

weather here is fine.

The Thunder. Everyone in Nichols Hills has a sign or a flag or some basketballs in their yards!!!

Got an IPhone 17. It is a big upgrade for me.

The snake was probably just gettig some sun to get its' body warmed up. I have removed snakes but never killed one. They are an important part of our echo system.

Stew for lunch with a slice of sourdough and good Irish butter. Popsicyle for dessert.

Then heading out to the mailing store…2 returns and 2 gifts. It is a nice store within my 1 mile radius and there is always a dog!