The squirrels here used to eat into the pears just to get the seeds.....dumb buggers...If they'd waited a little while they could have eaten the whole pear ! No troubles with the squirrels eating fruit now...I think so many of them starved to death after the year when there was a glut of them that all fruit is safe....Before they all died out just about they were eating the green pine cones right off the tree ! We've lived here over 20 years and had never seen that....Now days we rarely even see a squirrel....Don't know if they are 'cutting' on the hard head hickory nut at the edge of the wood or not.....but haven't seen a single fruit tree with damage. They used to run out on a limb, eat off any apples they could reach, and just leave the apple on the tree for future picnics......Deer sometimes come up in the yard to eat windfalls, but no sign of them this year...GOOD! They bring deer ticks into the yard.... Because bad places may be anywhere in the apple I always cut them up and 'fry' them in a little water, butter and sugar.....I think they might be far enough along to start drying, too.....Jeannie T ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ On Tue, 26 Aug 2008 07:28:57 -0500 "Bobby Hatfield" <bobhat2@gmail.com> writes: > Them apples falling off the trees before they get ripe are really > good when > you wash, core and fill up the little holes with brown sugar and > cinnimon > and nuke them in the microwave for 4 or 5 minutes. I been eatin all > the fallen ones that ain't been eat on too bad by birds and > squirrles. > Something I ain't never seen is the squirrles is chewing up the > pears and > spittin them out, I guess to get the seeds, looks like its rained > chewed up > pears under my tree. They done eat up all my hickory nuts and now > gonna get > the pears I guess. Bobby > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > ____________________________________________________________ Click for free home mortgage rates from top companies. http://thirdpartyoffers.juno.com/TGL2141/fc/Ioyw6i3m36j56TmnOkSozXgMSouqGEAQKh3NrQh2Tf56mIScQJM6r6/