Of Importance...Praying Mantis Egg Case

  The weather has been plenty warm enough to plant the spring/summer gardens.  Mark has been building several raised gardens to go along with our in-ground plots.  These are being filled with mulch from the downed leaves (winter storm) and compost from our bins started last year.  There will be no need to buy the chemical-laden stuff this year which makes me elated.  So far, squash, potatoes, bell peppers and tomatoes have been planted with hopes of digging rows for green beans coming this weekend.   It is a lot of work but the rewards are great...fresh veggies without the high cost, getting a workout without a gym membership and lots of sunshine just to lift the spirits.  I guess all of the elation comes from memories of growing up on a small farm and the happy times as a kid.

 In one of the veggie plots there is a pear tree right smack in the middle.  When it was planted, I had no idea that my gardens were going to expand to this area.  The tree does not present a problem and actually provides a bit of cooling shade to some of the plants.  As I was looking at the pear blossoms, I noticed a bump on one of the small limbs.  Yep, there was a praying mantis egg case!  Yay!  I am excited!  I am in hopes that every last one of the eggs in this case would hatch to be a healthy critter.  That would mean that up to 200 praying mantids would roam the garden devouring all of the pests that intended to devour my plants!  After admiring the case for a few moments, I started to work again.

  On the west side of this same garden, there is a small persimmon tree that has seen better days.  In fact, I do believe it has met its demise so I started to remove it.  While examining the small tree for any life, I found yet another praying mantis egg case!  Whoa! That could mean up to 400 mantids!  My gardens would definitely benefit from this.  Needless to say, the persimmon tree (even though quite dead) will stay put for the time being.  That egg case is valuable if only to a gardener.

Lurking on the dark path

   When your hike takes you along some dark paths at daybreak, everything seems to loom larger, stay darker and appear to be downright scary at times.  The same path during the bright daylight hours is totally different.  This morning, my hike down by the wild persimmon trees was only lit by the ambient light of the morning sunrise and that was dimming quickly due to thick, dark clouds.  Not one to be afraid of the dark, I pressed forward choosing my steps carefully.  Back here, there are still some places that hold Hurricane Zeta debris from several years ago.  I figured there was no need to let some random, rusty nail pierce my soft moccasins and, thus, my foot.  So, I stepped lightly while also keeping a sharp eye for any impending "danger" that may lurk in the shadows.  Coyotes and bobcats are known to roam freely here during the night.

  Just as I made a bend in the path, I paused.  The bare treetops were clearly outlined against the clouded sky.  A huge "blob" was huddled in the top of one of the persimmon trees.  Coon?  My first thought was a raccoon had sought the tree as a place to settle in for a nap.  Something seemed off, however.  I stood quietly in the shadows waiting...waiting for movement that would identify my critter before I moved onward.  The figure shifted positions.  Still...not identifiable but, at least, not threatening.

  A few more minutes led to a fit of giggles!  My mystery critter was Bat!  My goofy cat had scooted down the path before me and climbed the tree.  When I rounded the corner, all I could see was a dark outline of a critter.  Like I said earlier...things seem to loom a lot larger than in real life. Bat is a huge cat but he sure seemed to be a lot fatter while huddled up in the tree.  My silly, sweet cat was now winding around my legs wondering why was laughing.  Oh, Bat!  You are something else!

The Persimmon Tree Fort!

  Every now and again, you just have to hide.  It was easy during childhood.  Pulling the covers over your head so the bedtime monsters wouldn't get you solved so many problems.  During adulthood, we are told to face our problems headlong.  That is all fine and dandy but so is hiding if it makes things better.  I did, today.  I hid.  In fact, I hid beneath the persimmon tree.  Its long, graceful branches dipped low to the ground and formed a perfect canopy over me.  I hid.  I did not hide from the worries of the world but, instead, from some critters of the Bayou!

  This all started with an early morning hike to take the old dog. Mr. PJ, out to do his business.  He and I meandered down the hillside then he decided that it was time to rest.  Resting near the marsh is not a good idea.  While it did not seem to bother him, the constant barrage of yellow flies and deer flies was irritating to me.  I tried to hurry him along but he was not having it.  He sat and I waited all the while being attacked by the biting flies.  Something had to give!

  I eased my way under the tent like branches and immediately found relief.  The flies stayed on the outside!  Even though there was plenty of open spaces that would have allowed the flies to enter, they seemed to prefer landing on the outer portions of the leaves.  I stayed safely hidden in my new "tree fort"!

  It appears that we have an unusual number of both types of flies this summer.  It is actually not too safe to hike the paths especially if you are allergic to their bites.  I, fortunately, am not but Darling Daughter is.  Let her receive just one bite and her body reacts violently with extreme swelling.  The bites are just highly irritating to me!  The swarms of flies need to leave!

Way Up There

  My hikes around the hillside during late October and early November always follow a path along the east side near the marsh.  It is there that I can grab a snack to enjoy along the way.  A small grove of wild persimmon trees has sprouted up in the past ten years or so.  Years ago, there was only one tiny tree but discarded seeds has turned the area into a regular orchard!  The quarter-sized fruit are divine!  It is my habit to grab a handful of fruits to enjoy while I hike. Yep, I eat them straight from the tree...without washing...probably not the smartest idea but it is the tastiest way to eat them.  The large penny-sized seeds are spit out along the path which is how this grove came to be in the first place.

  This afternoon was a bit distressing, however.  My snack consisted of only four persimmons.  The coons, possums and I have cleaned the lower limbs of the tree.  I would need to carry a tall ladder if I wish to harvest any more of the golden droplets of sweet goodness.  I cringed as I saw that the only remaining persimmons dangled a good twenty feet above my head.  They were well out of reach but were gleaming in the beams of the setting sun.  What a disappointment!

  My despair was short lived, however as I found a new snack vendor along the path!  November sees the ripening of the satsumas so by taking a few twists and turns, I am assured another quick, healthy snack.  The old dog is not complaining of this change of scenery either.  Mr. PJ is always interested in new sights and smells!

They Are At It Again!

  Those silly raccoons are at it again.  I have to give it to them...they are resourceful rascals.  Eating out of the compost, bird feeders and cat's bowl is not enough.  Obviously, the coons are still hungry after filling their bellies with handouts so they have to raid the fruit trees.  Nary a pear hangs on the four trees now.  For two nights in a row, the varmints climbed the trees and gnawed on pears.  Now, I have none.  Perhaps I need to get better at defending my trees against these marauders but I am just not sure how to go about it.  Perhaps the rascals need to stop being so cute then I would not hesitate to set traps.  Nah...probably would not even then.  At least, they have no more pears to eat this year!

  This morning, however, I found that the raiding rascals found another food source.  The wild persimmon trees took a massive hit last night.  I have seen two baby raccoons running around the yard lately but this looks more like the work of the entire family!  Persimmons littered the ground and most were already covered in ants.  Only a few remain in the trees and those are far too green for me to eat.  I guess the raccoons will feast upon those as well.

  Of those on the ground, I did manage to rescue three persimmons to use in my winter weather forecasting.  Once these ripen to golden mushiness, I will savor the fruit and slice the seeds.  So far, the seeds have done a rather good job at predicting our winters and it would be great to know what is in store with the forthcoming season.  Thanks to the coons clumsiness, I have three....three chances at seeing how much firewood will be needed to heat the Little Bayou House.  Thanks for being so generous, Silly Coons!

Attack of the Worms!

  A quick dash outside in a break in the thunderstorms found me face to face with some unsavory characters.  While I was picking tomatoes, a white fluttering caught my eye.  Hmm, that appears to be something in the persimmon tree down near the marsh edge.  Despite getting thoroughly soaked by a mist that was rapidly turning into a sprinkle, a hurried hike to the tree was in order.  Oh, my!  I almost wish I had not seen this.  There, in the persimmon tree (probably twenty five feet up), was a huge mess of tent caterpillars or web worms, as folks call them.  Just what I needed!  Those things are messy and eat just about anything and everything in sight.  The web was getting soaked with the overnight rains so the caterpillars were hastily retreating onto the limbs of the tree.  Perhaps they figured since there was obviously a "leak" in their tent, they needed to seek higher ground.  

  Hurrying back inside, I thought to study the critters as best I could.  Do they really do the major damage that I had always been told?  Or perhaps, was the lore connected with the critter just a bunch of nonsense?  As long as I can remember, the thought was to kill each and every one of the critters.  So..I researched.  Yep, sure enough, the tent caterpillars do indeed munch a bunch but it seems that what aggravates folks the most is the "unsightly" webs that adorn the trees.  No one wants huge webs strung about their well-manicured lawns. Persnickety bunch of folks, huh?  That explains the current thought but why did farmers from days past fret so over the caterpillars?  Seems that it had more to do with the mass migration of worms as they search for a protected place to pupate. If there were many webs in an orchard, the worms would literally take over the place.  Fences, woodpiles, sides of barns, roadways or anything in the path of the caterpillars was covered by tens of thousands of two inch critters. I guess seeing that many critters on the move would be pretty unnerving.  So, folks took action against the critters.

  For a while, chemicals were the way to go.  Spray everything in sight with harmful chemicals and let other critters (humans included) beware!  Recently, however, things have gone "green".  More "natural" and "organic" sprays have been developed that deter the critters.  That is good news!  Pop, his generation and even, I am sure, previous ones had a more direct method of dealing with the tent caterpillars.  FIRE!  Yep, they would burn those boogers right out of their tent homes!  A long cane pole was rigged with an oily rag to make a torch.  Add a bit of turpentine and strike a match.  Poof!  The web was singed right along with its residents.  Of course, occasionally, a few tree limbs were accidentally scorched, black smoke filled the fields and, occasionally, the torch-bearer would receive a burn during the process.  The torch method was used back on the farm as far back as I remember.  In the later years, however, Pop (being the innovative fellow he was) rigged a blow torch on a long cane.  This worked well but still had its pitfalls.  While the smoke was alleviated, the torch still singed tree limbs and the weight on the end of the cane pole made it unwieldy.  

  After thinking about the alternatives of reaching the extreme height of the webs, my method is "leave them be".  I may learn to regret this but, since this is a once a year occurrence, I will ponder it again next year. My mindset may be changed by then.  Until then, I can only hope that the torrential rains will wash the critters from their tents and allow the birds to feast upon them.  Ahh, I like that thought!

A Little Bit of Autumn!

  While most of the country is basking in the glory of fall colors, here on the Bayou, we have to be content with what we get.  That is very little in the way of brilliant foliage.  Usually by the time the leaves change from their summer greenery, they are already dropping from the tree limbs.  I find more color on the ground than waving from the treetops.  This is probably due to our lack of cool air and our copious amounts of rainfall. Factor in the high humidity that tends to make mush out of just about everything and you will understand why I am thrilled to find any bit of orange on the hillside.  Later on, the hickory trees usually give us a bit of gold and the stray maple may just pop a bit of red but while everyone else is oohing and ahhing, I am wandering about hunting anything reminiscent of fall.  While I love winter, I am in hopes of a least a bit of autumn to grace the area.

  My hike was short today.  Since Ms. Ez, the Bayou Dog, is not longer with us, I just cannot get the "feel" of a good hike.  I am taking baby steps to adjust to her absence.  I did wander down to the persimmon tree to grab a snack before the possums eat all of the fruit.  Here, I found my tiny sliver of the season.  What leaves were left on the tree were golden...sort of...maybe?  These leaves would just have to do.  I was satisfied that autumn had made an appearance at least.

  Speaking of persimmons, the "weather-forecasting" seeds predict an unusually cold winter ahead for us.  Knives and spoons were seen inside with the images of knives being dominant.  I guess I should prepare for a "stabbing cold" few months.  To be sure, I did compare my findings with the "Old Farmer's Almanac" and, sure enough, they agreed that Son and I had better start laying in a supply of firewood.  Perhaps this winter will be a good time to catch up on crafts, reading and baking.  Brrr!

Just an idea!

  The Blue Jays were stirring up a ruckus this afternoon just before sunset.  I figured that a snake had made its way up into the old oak tree and was trying to catch a nap but could find no peace.  I pulled on my shoes and headed down to the Bayou's edge to take a gander.  Sure enough, a chicken snake was slipping along the rough limbs of the live oak and the jays were not happy, to say the least.  I watched for a few moments and then decided to let the snake fend for itself.  Since it was a nice large one of about five feet in length, is should have no problem dealing with the irritating birds.  My attention had been pulled in another direction.

  Just past the snaky tree, the wild persimmon trees were loaded with the slightly ripening fruit.  Dozens of the pale orange blobs had been knocked to the ground by the marauding coons and possums.  None were quite ripe enough to eat but it would not be long before I can have a snack while hiking!  At least, I can if the critters leave me any!  

  A thought occurred while I was peering at the persimmons.  These are the tiny, wild persimmons and I have not done much with them other than sneaking a handful now and again.  What if I picked them now before the critters ate them all?  Would they ripen like their larger cousins?  The large cultivated persimmons will ripen on a sunny window ledge, will these?  I figure that I need to try.  I miss having the large persimmons from the farm and then later from my Aunt and Uncle's place.  I miss persimmon jam and jelly.  I miss persimmon shortcake.  I miss persimmon cookies.  

  Yep, I think Son and I will head down tomorrow and harvest a bucketful of the little gold nuggets and give this a try!  Free food is always good and wild persimmons are just that...free food...deliciously sweet, free food!

Early Evening Raid

  Way down near the marsh edge sits a small persimmon tree.  This is not one of the cultivated trees that makes the nice, plump fruit but rather a wild one that has tiny, marble-sized fruit.  This is fine by me as I prefer the tiny pleasantly-sweet persimmons over the large, mushy, almost sickening-sweet things.  In fact, I like these things so much that I encouraged Son to leave the many seedlings that have sprouted where seeds have dropped.  I know we will have to thin the little saplings at some point but for now they grow.  I do so enjoy the first ripe persimmon and cannot wait until a night's frost changes the tart fruit into sugary, yet tangy, pieces of yumminess!

  There are also a few of the denizens of the Bayou that prefer my persimmons over their normal meals.  Possums and coons seek out the tree and start swiping the fruits even before they turn orange.  Today when I sent Ms. Ez down the hill to do her business, she got side-tracked at the persimmon tree.  That old dog stood staring up into the branches and that could only mean one thing.  She spied some culprit eating my fruit!  I made my way down to see what the old dog treed. Sure enough, a small raccoon was perched up in the branches.  Under the tree were the remains of a dozen or so unripe persimmons.  How is this little guy eating green persimmons?  Those things will pucker up your mouth until it feels as if it is being turned inside out! He must have been really hungry to tackle this meal!

  I watched the raccoon for a bit as he watched us.  It was sort of a standoff to see who would cede to the other.  Ms. Ez started jumping up and down trying to reach the little fellow but he was a bit too high for her.  As long as he stayed still, he would be safe from the old dog. He did and he was. She and I headed back to the Little Bayou House and left him in peace. By morning, dozens of half-eaten persimmons will litter the ground beneath the tree.  He will drop most as he searches for that one elusive sweet one.  Good luck, Little Fellow. I don't think you will be finding any sweetness in the tree tonight!

Finding Fall!

  I fully enjoy looking at photographs of the lovely colors of fall.  I admire the bright colors of the leaves, frost covering hayfields and even the dried grasses.  I do enjoy the photographs.  That is about the only way I can view these things.  (Frost makes an appearance in winter but not fall.)  Here it is a rare occurrence to find bright red, orange and yellow leaves.  Popcorn trees or maples try their best and the Black Gums do occasionally pop a few red leaves just for show but most trees never even attempt the feat.  We have to be satisfied with whatever few colors we get.

  Today, however, I found fall!  While most folks are well on their way to winter, I found the Deep South's version of fall leaves.  I took Ms. Ez and her hurt foot out for a leisurely stroll about the hillside.  The old dog is getting stiff from being lazy so I figured a walk would do her good.  We wandered down along the marsh edge and then to the wild persimmon tree.  I ALWAYS have to meander past this tree!  As I grabbed a dozen or so of the little orange blobs, a bit of yellow caught my eye!  FALL LEAVES!  Yep, the young persimmon saplings that I have been saving, presented me with a lovely show!  Sure, it is only yellow but at least they are pretty! From where I stood, the six or seven young trees were framed by two oak trees.  The path to the trees looked so inviting that Ms. Ez and I immediately decided to change course and head that way.  What a peaceful little nook this was!  These particular trees, although only about a hundred feet from the house, were completely blocked from view.  I would have never seen them had it not been for my hankering for the tasty persimmons.

  According to the weather reports, we are going to jump right into winter here in a few weeks.  The Bayou is to be on the tail end of a cold front that is going to sweep down from our neighbors to the north.  I will be spending the rest of this week and the first part of next preparing the garden and greenhouse for the cold snap.  A stockpile of firewood is ready with more on the way.  It should be interesting to have cooler nights this early in the year.  Ponder..ponder...could those persimmon seeds be right?  Are their weather predictions holding true for a cold, wet (aka snowy) winter?  Regardless, I did get a sighting of fall thanks to the persimmon trees!

 

Persimmon Delight

   I know that not a lot of folks are fond of the wild persimmons but, personally, I find them delightful.  It is my findings that the cultivated type are sometimes a bit, errr, slimy.  Don't get me wrong.  I eat them!  I like them but it is my choice to have the little wild type.  The suit my tastes just fine!  I grew up eating the huge, delightfully sweet Japanese Persimmons.  Pop had five trees growing just outside the back door of the old farm house.  As kids, we would climb up in those trees and find the persimmon of perfect ripeness.  We, also, conned many of our unsuspecting friends into sampling one of the green, unripe persimmons and would giggle at their skewed up faces!  

   Imagine my delight when I found six more persimmon trees that are large enough to bear fruit.  I have been planting dozens of seeds about the hillside and, today during a hike, I noticed that six more of the young trees are loaded with little persimmons.  Hopefully, I will be able to pick enough of the little fruits to make more jam this year.  The possums and coons eat more than their share of my persimmons!  I have been hoarding the last jar of jam made from persimmons that I picked two years ago.  Those persimmons were from my aunt and uncle's place and were so sweet that I hardly had to add any sugar to the jam.  (I will make a trek over to their old place and see if the tree is still bearing fruit.  Maybe I will be able to add those to the jam-making!)

  I must remember to cut open a few seeds to check our weather forecast for this winter.  Remember? The inside of the seed supposedly can tell the severity of a winter's weather.  Last October, I cut open seven seeds and the majority of them had "spoon" shapes inside.  That called for a snowy winter.  Well, I suppose we had as close to snow as we can get down this far south with our two ice storms.  I called the prediction pretty accurate.  When slicing the seeds this year, I will take note of the shapes I find and then compare with our weather.  This should be quite interesting!  At least now I have lots of trees to give me a forecast...and some yummy fruit!  Come first frost, you will find me raiding the wild persimmon trees!

  

Another Puzzle or Attack of the Tree-hackers!

  Sometimes things on the Bayou can be quite confusing to say the least.  I find strange things that I just cannot explain.  Others with far more knowledge may look at my enigma and snicker at my ignorance but I am in the dark.  Today while out for on a hike, my attention turned solely to my little persimmon tree.  About six feet up from the ground two rather sizely cut marks had appeared in the bark.  This distressed not only my poor tree but also me!  I like my persimmons but I adore this small tree.  It is strange, I admit, to feel this way about a tree especially since there are many, many more persimmon trees on the hillside. You see, this little tree has become sort of a emblem of endurance for me.  It grows maybe thirty feet from the marsh line so every hurricane, tropical storm and even strangely high tides will cause its roots to be sogged by saltwater. Hurricane and tropical storm winds bend it this way and that. The leaves are stripped bare and the limbs receive quite a thrashing.  Debris will tear at the tree almost like a battering ram.  Yet, my little persimmon tree survives.  How?  The only answer I have is that the tree is resilient.  Through all of this, I have become encouraged by the tree.  It is my answer to hard times.  It gives me hope in tough times.  It survives.

  Now some unknown entity is lashing out at the little tree and I have no sure answer as to how to help it. Will these two scars cause untold damage whereas hurricane scrapes have not?  I placed my hands on the open wounds and almost felt the pain of the tree.  If it could only tell me what did this. Yeah, I know that sounds weird but I am grasping at thin air for answers.

  I headed back inside the Little Bayou House to research the problem.  If I could find out just what was causing the cuts, then perhaps I could prevent any future damage to my fruit trees.  Last month I was alarmed at the rate of rabbit gnawings on the mimosa tree saplings.  If this had been near the ground and soft wood, I might have easily blamed the bunnies.  The fact that this was six feet up on the trunk and on hard, seasoned wood, left me without that option.  Also, the gouges looked to be hacked into the wood, not gnawed or chewed.  Deer will munch on tree limbs but that, too, is on soft wood.  I have never heard of nor could I find any information on anything that will eat the side of a tree!  So my searching for an answer came to a swift, screeching halt.  I will keep watch on this and other trees about the hillside to see if this was a one time incident or if it continues to be a problem.

  Since my search gave no leads to the culprit, I will have to go with what my imagination conjured up as the perpetrator!  A new enemy has come to the Bayou and is at odds with the Wood Sprites that live in the trees here.  This new band of mythical beings are ruthless and have waged war on the friendly (albeit mischievous!) Wood Sprites.  With sharp battleaxes, these fiery Tree-hackers are attacking the Wood Sprites as they flit about the trees.  The sprites, being far more agile and speedy than the evil Tree-hackers, are able to avoid being chopped to pieces leaving the trees to catch the brunt of the blow.  This torments the Wood Sprites to no end!  They have vowed to defeat the Tree-hackers but have never learned the art of war. How will this saga end?  Will the Wood Sprites be able to defend not only themselves but the trees that give them shelter?  Will my imagination let this run and become some wild tale that demands attention?  A better question is...what can I do to help my little persimmon tree?

Prolific Persimmons!

I hopped out of bed this morning with the good idea of getting a lot accomplished.  I threw sheets in the washer, cleaned the laundry room and fed the dogs...I was heading outside!  It was a beautiful, sunny morning with the temps in the fifties so I felt it was the perfect time to cut the grass. This chore had been put off for one reason or another for the past two weeks and now the hillside was beginning to look a mite shabby.  After plowing my way through the ankle-deep grass at the top of the hill, I headed down near the marsh edge.  There, it seemed as if every tree in the county had dropped seeds and they all sprouted.  I had two-foot tall oaks, pines, mimosas and Sweet Bays lining the lower portion of the area.  Time to cut!

As I made my way around the east corner where the Bayou meets the creek, I noticed that the small trees were different.  I stopped the mower long enough to take a gander...these were persimmon trees!  Knowing that I now had a use for these trees other than just eating the fruit, I was careful to avoid cutting them.  Later this coming winter, I will transplant the seedling persimmon trees in some semblance of order.  A row or organized garden would make it much easier to cut the grass beneath them and make the orchard appear neater.  I was going to create a persimmon orchard!  This past year, I nearly stripped the one mature persimmon tree of its leaves to use in making tea.  Every leaf that I could reach was picked, washed and hung to dry.  After several days, the leaves were crumbled and stored in airtight jars.  All winter, I made tea by combining these leaves with other goodies like Hibiscus flowers, Star Anise pods or dried mint.  I have just a small amount of the dried leaves left in the jar and need to start replenishing my stock.

Speaking of the one mature tree, I did notice small fruit already setting on the limbs.  There does not seem to be quite as many as last year but with all the new trees, I should have no worry about gathering enough to eat in years to come!  Some of these small seedlings will hopefully be grafted with limbs from a cultivated persimmon tree.  This grafting is something that Pop tried to teach me years and years ago but I do believe that I have forgotten the fine points.  Since I now have so many saplings on which to practice, I might just give it a go!  I guess I need to go dig out his old agriculture book from high school!  Hmmm..there is a thought..why in the world do they not teach these fine trades in schools nowadays? That bit of knowledge could come in quite handy some day!  Now where is that book?.....

At it again!

This morning, I sadly had to escort dear, old Ezzy to her pen. She did not want to be cooped up but out of necessity, it was for her own good. While I was making a run to the Post Office to ship a few gourds out of state, she would be much safer than if left to roam. I always have feelings of guilt whenever I have to leave her for any length of time but this was just to be for less than an hour. Into the pen she went and off I went to post my packages! Less than an hour later, I returned to see her standing on the steps barking like a crazy dog! Two things crossed my mind in a flash...one: just what had her so upset...and the big two: how in the world did she get out of her pen???? The second one became apparent first! The gate to the dog pen was wide open! I admit that I just looped the rope latch over the fence post but my, goodness!...this dog was smart! Obviously, she had tugged on the rope enough to loosen the latch and free herself.

The first thought took a bit more of pondering. After much coaxing on my part, she finally dropped her baseball and headed down toward the marsh edge. Ahhh..the little wild persimmon tree again! She stood looking skyward but was no longer barking in a maniacal frenzy. Actually, she appeared to be gazing lovingly at the treetop! I knew that stare had nothing to do with my tiny wild persimmons but wondered just what had her so enamored. Ok...I was hooked..down to the Bayou edge I hobbled. I grumbled something about putting more stress on an already sore knee but curiosity got the best of me.

I stared at the top of the tree just to see two eyes staring right back at me! There in the top of the little tree was a very small raccoon. The little fellow had no fear of the big galoot of a dog and the lame, little old lady. The appearance of such an unlikely pair seemed to be a tad entertaining to the coon as it kept shifting positions to get a better view of us!

The little critter would grab a persimmon, lumber to better position and then settle in to watching us. Hey..the couch potato of the raccoon world! I guess the sideshow being staged by a dog and its owner was as good as any television show! This was a reality show at its best with the focus being on the "real" part! Ezzy and I watched for a while as the raccoon ate about two dozen of my sweet fruits but there was not a lot I could do about shooing it from the treetop. Not to mention, that I probably would have just let it eat anyway!

Poke Salad

I am usually one that is game to try just about anything that is deemed edible. There are very few things that I won't try at least once. It has to be pretty disgusting before I decline on a taste test especially when it is a plant. I do draw the line on Pokeweed, though. The plant is poisonous! What are you people talking about?? There is a way of cooking it that is called Poke Salad..why "salad" when it is cooked, I do not know. (Anyone recall a song called "Poke Salad Annie"?) It is said that the leaves are edible if..and that is a BIG If..the leaves have not started turning the least bit red and..IF..you boil it three times and discard the water each time and starting anew with fresh water. Sounds "iffy" to me! The whole plant is poisonous enough to make you wish you had never tasted it. The most toxic part is said to be the roots and then it works its way up the stem and then to the leaves and finally the berries. Sounds like one bad plant to me! It can cause anything from severe stomach cramping, vomiting, diarrhea, weakness, convulsions and death. Wait! Death? And they have Poke Salad Festivals? I think I will refrain from trying this..I am not so sure Pokeweed is edible no matter how many times I boil it!

I do however keep a few in the garden just for appearance. They have a habit of coming up randomly wherever birds happen to drop the seeds and yes, birds do eat the berries. I just happen to like the looks of this odd plant. The stem is a very bright reddish purple and the berries are almost black making it quite the standout in the garden this time of year. Most of the other blooms in my Fall gardens are either purple or yellow/orange.

I was extremely happy today on a walk in the woods near the creek. I found another wild persimmon tree that was loaded with the bright orange fruit. They were just out of this short person's reach so I shall head back in the morning with a step stool to gather a nice colander full. It sort of surprises me that the raccoons or the 'possums have not already scavenged this tree, too. Perhaps this is tree is supposed to be "my" tree! Then again, by the time I get back there in the morning, it might be stripped bare. I will also meander over to my uncle's old place to see if his tree has any fruit left hanging on the branches. He is supposed to come for a visit soon so perhaps I can save a few for him!

Caught Red-handed!

Several weeks ago, I told you that I was patiently watching the wild persimmons hoping that I would be able to pick some before the animals or birds ate them all. The fruit was just starting to get their telltale red mushiness which pointed to them soon being eat worthy! Nothing better than to trot down to the marsh edge and grab a handful directly from the tree to have as a snack. I could hardly wait! Well, this afternoon as I was enjoying the shade in my favorite chair, Mutt Ezzy raced down the hill to the persimmon tree. She was all in a tizzy..jumping up against the tree and then racing back to me. What did this crazy dog tree now??? She had definitely seen something go up that tree and was not about to let it come back down. Up out of my chair and down the hill I went to find whether there were squirrels or 'possums in my tree. No, No, No!! Whatever it was it cannot have all my persimmons! Too late! Up in the very tiptop of that tree.. granted it is a small tree..was a young raccoon. He stared down at the dog and me as I stood and stared up at him. His masked face looked innocent enough but I knew what his intentions were! He wanted to dine upon my persimmons! Again.....too late! Why you little rascal, you have already just about decimated my persimmon crop! There was only a handful of the fruit left hanging on the limbs and the evidence of earlier mealtimes was littered on the ground beneath the limbs. Obviously, this was not his first visit and obviously he was not too frightened that he lost his appetite. As I stood watching and as Ezzy bounced crazily against the tree trunk, the raccoon proceeded to eat fruit after fruit. Nothing I could do about it now..so I let him enjoy his supper. Goodbye, persimmons!

Before

the

persimmon incident, I was up and on the pier in

time for a beautiful sunrise. There was a bit of cool breeze before dawn making this the perfect time to savor my first cup of coffee. The sun peeping through the trees set the most stunning display. I slowly sipped the steaming cup of coffee, just relishing the peace and quiet of a Bayou morning. The only sounds I could hear were the occasional splash of a fish jumping in the water and the unending chorus of birds chirping their "good mornings" to the world. I truly felt that this sunrise was unquestionably mine and mine alone. It is times like these that make me appreciate life on the Bayou and just life in general.