¡Peras, sí! / Pears, yes!

Encontré la manera de gozar las peras de nuestros árboles de pera este año. Realmente, fue por accidente. Un día estaba sentada afuera leyendo cuando de repente apareció de la nada una ardilla corriendo por el laberinto cerca de los árboles de pera. La vi empezar a subir el tronco de uno de los árboles. Entonces, le grité. Primero dejó de subir y se quedó inmovil en el tronco. Le grité otra vez.

--¡Ni lo pienses, ardillita, sácate de allí!—y pegué el brazo de la silla donde estaba sentada con la mano. Se echó a correr en seguida por el bosque y desapareció. –Eso es,--me dije y en ese momento me puse a trabajar. Metí un casete en mi grabadora pequeña y comencé a crear la cinta de “anti-ardillas.” Por cuarenta y cinco minutos grabé mi voz gritando: --VETE DE AQUI, ARDILLA, NO TE SUBAS A ESE ARBOL, NO QUEREMOS ARDILLAS AQUI, NO, NO, NO, NI LO PIENSES, VOY POR MI ESCOPETA, ARDILLA, VAS A VER—y cosas por el estilo. También pegaba a la pequeña mesa de fierro que tenemos afuera (hecho en México, a propósito) con un palo. Se pueden imaginar. “¡PAS, PAS, PAS, VETE DE AQUI, ARDILLA, PAS, PAS, PAS!”

Ay, ojalá mis vecinos no me oyeran haciendo tanto escándalo.

En una silla cerca de los árboles, puse mi tocacintas con una extensión y todos los días “allá estoy gritando” para que las ardillas no vayan a acercarse a las peras. Así podrían madurarse en las ramas.

Pasó el tiempo. ¿Y el resultado? Un plato grande lleno de peras de nuestros árboles que Teo y yo estamos comiendo a diario.

Ummmmmm…..¡qué delicia!


Pears, yes!

I found the way to enjoy the pears from our pear trees this year. It was quite by accident too. On day I was sitting outside reading when all of a sudden out of nowhere a squirrel appeared running through the labyrinth near the pear trees. I saw him start to climb up the trunk of one. I yelled. At first he stopped dead in his tracks. I yelled again. “Don’t even think about it, squirrely, get out of here!” I banged on the arm of my chair. He took off running toward the woods. That’s it, I said to myself and right then and there I started to work. I dropped a cassette tape into my small tape recorder and began to create the “anti-squirrel” tape. For the next forty-five minutes I recorded my voice shouting, “GET OUT OF HERE, SQUIRRELY, DON’T YOU GO UP THAT TREE, WE DON’T WANT SQUIRRELS HERE, NO, NO, NO, DON’T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT, I’M GONNA GET MY BB GUN, SQUIRRELY,” and things of that nature. I also banged on an iron table we have outside (made in Mexico, by the way), with a stick. You can imagine. “Bang, bang, bang! Get out of here, squirrel! Bang, bang, bang!

Oh, I hope my neighbors didn’t hear me making such a racket.

I put my tape player on a chair near the pear trees with an extension cord and every day “there I am yelling so the squirrels don’t go near the pear trees.” That way they would have time to mature on the trees.

Time passed. The result? A big plate of pears that Ted and I are eating every day.

Ummmmmmm…how yummy!


Soy Lorena.
9/24/08

Two Pear Trees, One Pear

Hard as I try, I am not without frustrations and disappointments. As much as I love Nature, she is sometimes very cruel and I suffer from her cruelty. I try not to suffer, I try to avoid it, but come on, life is not fair...yes, I know it is not fair, I understand it but still that doesn't make it any easier to bear when unfair things happen.

Okay, here's the scene. We have two pear trees in our yard, down next to the labyrinth. They flower about every two years and produce pears, two different varieties, lovely small red ones and larger green ones. This year the red pear tree flowered beautifully and before I knew it was full of darling little red pears ripening on all the branches. There must have been fifty of them. I was so excited. The green pear tree blossomed too and produced several green pears. How wonderful to have our own organic pears to enjoy this fall, how special, how privileged we are.

Time passed and one day I was dancing in the labyrinth when I decided to check on the pears. They were gone! Every single pear was gone from the red pear tree! There were two pears left on the green pear tree. I couldn't believe it, didn't want to believe it. It was then I knew that the squirrels had taken them. That's what they do, they steal fruit, tomatoes even and bury them somewhere in the ground where they rot and completely go to waste. Not even the squirrels can use them. Why do they do this? I was devastated...all those beautiful pears...gone.

I waited, hoped and prayed the last two pears on the green pear tree would be allowed to ripen. I watched them every day, and then one day, there was only one pear left. That's when I I picked it, even though it was not ready to be picked. I picked it in order to save it from being wasted totally and brought it inside, placed it on a plate and hope that somehow it will ripen and we can eat it.

So that's why we have two pear trees and one pear. Well, I'm sorry, but it makes me sad.

(Mañana español)

Soy Lorena.
8/15/07