Here in the fall season when the pecans are dropping the deer and humans get to join in to gather their share of what the squirrels have already been hoarding for weeks.
I no longer harvest any pecans from my two trees in the yard as I prefer to let the animals do as nature intended. I will even kick some to the flat rock walkways to step on and crush so the birds can join in.
In the city park just above the river near the dam area there is a huge pecan tree that holds precious memories of time spent with the love of my life before we were married.
Those conversations we had back then would involve breakups and makeups along with planning our future. I can still feel the pain of some heartbreaks as well as the joy of sharing love with someone I never imagined I would ever have to live without.
Located about a quarter mile downstream from the dam there was a huge native pecan tree where I went to gather pecans to sell with the Evans boys, John, Gordon and Tommy.
John was the only one who could throw sticks to the top of that tree to thrash the pecans. I have often wondered if that tree had survived all the floods I have witnessed on the river during my lifetime.
The big pecan tree that John fell out of and broke his leg is still standing along the river just below where their house once stood.
That was one of several occasions I remember my mom using our old truck to provide ambulance service to Dr. Meador’s office.
There remains an old cistern and a few pieces of the tin roof at the intersection of 6th and Pecan as a reminder of what once was home to my childhood friends before fire consumed it many years ago.
It’s funny how that tree doesn’t look quite as big now as it once did. Maybe it has lost more limbs over the years like it did when John was climbing up one to shake some pecans loose.
Or maybe things just look different now through the eyes of an old man.
On the old Kindla property in town where I was raised at 8th and Pecan while Growing Up In Bandera there is a pecan tree that used to produce five different types of nuts thanks to the grafting skills of Raymond “Doc” Adamietz.
I haven’t gathered any nuts off that tree in years but it has lost some limbs over time so the chance of getting a few paper shell pecans might be in jeopardy. Hopefully trespassing won’t come into play if I go investigate since my niece now owns the property.
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