Too Many Pears!

   Pears.  Lots of pears.  Too many pears.  About 12 years ago, I planted two pear trees...one on either side of the back steps.  My thinking was that being near the small back deck would make picking the fruit easier.  (Sometimes, I do have brilliant thoughts and this was one of them!)  Happily, the trees have done extremely well and have always produced plenty of fruit for us despite the fact that every critter around here seems to think the trees are their personal diners.  About half of the pears are eaten before they are allowed to ripen.  This, however, is probably not a bad thing as the trees are always overloaded.

  This year, despite hundreds (literally) of pears being eaten by critters, there were far too many on the tree.  The branches drooped pathetically under the weight of the heavy fruits and then...crack!...one limb snapped.  Two days later, another broke.  I called for an "emergency" thinning of the pears and Son came to my rescue.  Bucket after bucket of pears were handed down from the ladder then the rooftop.  So many pears!!!

  Now that about a third of the pears have been picked, the trees look a lot happier but my kitchen does not.  Something will have to be done with the fruit and I am not relishing the hot job of canning.  It seems that nobody wishes to be donated a bunch of pears.  Have pears become that proverbial hard-to-give-away zucchini?   I guess canning will be my chore for the next couple of days then again when another batch are picked.  Too many pears!!!!  Way too many pears!