Acorn Alert!

[Mfamom]

Have 6 oaks in my backyard.  several on side yard and several in front yard. blackwalnut tree on property behind us and the walnuts fall in my yard.  Never had a problemwith anything other than the pollen aggravating my ds.

[SilverLining]

said the young trees on property

You would think they would have had the sense to plant a different tree.   

But I would say there is no reason to plant a different tree. 

Considering most schools here have peanut/nut bans, it was only a matter of time before someone made this request.

I think it's crazy to request the trees be removed.  My son has allergies to insects.  His first school had a no-mow area.  No way would I have suggested they get rid of that...I told my son to stay away from that area.  His first and second schools had apple trees.  In the fall, the apples fall off and the bees/wasps are REALLY bad in the area.  Again, I would not suggest they remove the trees.  I told my son to stay away from the apple trees at that time of year.  (And for the record...acorns don't usually jump up and bite you on the @$$ --- bugs do.)

[hedgehog]

We have lots of oak in our yard, as well as beech, which shed even more nuts (or maybe it seems like more because they are bigger?).  Anyway, never a problem. 

[becca]

I love watching the squirrels in our backyard.  We have black squirrels too, which are my favorite.

I thought I liked watching them, and I do, but they began to get very aggressive in their search for food.  Launching themselves onto my slider screen, right by where I sit here in the kitchen.  Scaling my house, knocking down the bird feeder attached to my kitchen window, etc...

[twinturbo]

^Those are the type of squirrels I have. They've even taking to not leaving our stoop when we start out the front door giving me warning chirps as the kids and I walk to the car. It's like Walking Dead... but squirrels.

[maeve]

I had squirrels like that at my old house and there was a huge oak tree that overhung our patio.  The squirrels chewed through Rubbermaid storage containers to get to a plastic container that held bird food (and they chewed through that too).  There was one squirrel who would lay on its tummy on the top of our fence just outside out kitchen window and watch us.  The squirrels would also attack our pumpkins every year.  One day I came outside on to our front steps and found a squirrel with all four legs wrapped around our pumpkin (hugging it in essence) while it gorged itself on pumpkin.  We took to having to keep our pumpkins inside until Halloween night.

This year we kept the pumpkins in the backyard until Halloween but that was because teenagers were stealing and smashing pumpkins on our street.

[AllergyMum]

People like that makes all of us alllergy folks seem like a bunch of crazies.

[Linden]

Although I disagree with Ms. Giustizia that the acorns would pose a threat, I can see how she would come to that (erroneous in my opinion) conclusion.  I've seen more than one instance in which someone was reassured by their allergist or doctor that a particular situation didn't pose a threat and then surprise - they got to learn the hard way the experts were wrong.

 

[CMdeux]

That's a really good point, Linden.

We've very definitely had that happen to us-- more than once, in fact.

[twinturbo]

http://m.thestar.com/opinion/editorialopinion/article/1291147--food-allergies-in-canada-teach-children-to-be-careful-not-fearful

[maeve]

That's a great editorial. 

[SilverLining]

quote from twinturbo's link.

Since the inception of Sabrina's Law in Ontario, not a single child in the province has died due to an allergic reaction at school. Now that is a sensational story.

I wasn't aware of that, but Laurie Harad would know.