An abundance of fruit

This summer wreaked havoc on many of the plants in my garden and trees in our woods. We were able to help the vegetables along by using well water but I watched in despair as many of our maple trees started dropping leaves in July, when temperatures reached over 100 degrees and we went for months with no rain.  It's too soon to know if those trees will make it  but one tree in the yard defied all odds.  The huge pear tree on the side of the house not only survived, it has thrived!  This fall the tree is covered, from top to bottom, with pears.

The pears are not very big, and since I don't spray, they can be spotty and wormy.  But evidently the deer, or the squirrels, like to eat them because each morning there are a dozen pears on the ground with chunks of the juicy pear meat gone. Even Dozer, our rescued Golden, has been known to eat one.  But there are always a few pears each day that survived the fall from the tree intact.  I've taken to picking them up and collecting them in my pink plastic bucket.  Last week I had so many pears, I had to share them.  So I put the bucket, full of pears, at the end of my driveway.  If you stop by my house, be sure to help yourself.