Drat. Winter just got harder for neighborhood wild critters like birds and squirrels.

Once upon a time, there were five Bartlett Pear trees on my block, including ours (which was by far the youngest and smallest of the lot). They are covered with lovely white flowers in the Spring, and those blossoms go on to become tiny, ornamental (but edible) pears. The fruit is bigger than a cherry stone, but smaller than a cherry.

I have witnessed squirrels and birds in the branches in the Fall and Winter. While I have not witnessed them actually eating the pears or carrying them away, there is never any fruit to be found on the tree by the time January/February arrive. So SOMEbody is making use of the fruit. That's fine by me. I kind of like giving something to help the local critters make it through the Winter.

In 2010, there was an enormous storm that brought down trees all over SE PA and South NJ. The destruction was astonishing. Though we were TOLD it was straight-lline winds at least 75 MPH in speed, I remain unconvinced that it wasn't a small tornado. It might as well have been a small twister, for the level of widespread damage it caused.

But no matter what shape the winds took, the long and short of it is that two of those five pear trees were storm victims. One suffered a broken trunk (which to my untrained eye, appeared to be twisted apart); the other one came right out of the ground, root system and all. OUR tree only suffered a broken branch, thank goodness, but the fact remained where there had once been five pear trees on the block, now there were three. I hated to see that, as they were big trees that produced huge numbers of pears that birds and squirrels could've eaten.

Today, I was walking the dog, and was supremely disappointed to see that our neighbors down the street had cut down one of the remaining pear trees. I can't imagine why, as it was perfectly healthy. Even more disappointing is that at this time of year, it was chock full of pears. I know this, because OUR tree is also full of pears, which appear to be ripe and ready for animals to eat.

So, now there are only two pear trees left on our street. I feel that much sorrier for the birds and squirrels, who have fewer resources to draw upon to survive the Winter.

I know the neighborhood civic association Strongly Frowns Upon putting bird feeders up, as they attract pigeons. But unlike a HOA (Homeowners Association), a civic association does not have authority to enforce any restrictions on bird feeders. If we have another shockingly terrible Winter like we had last year, we are going to HAVE to put something up. We can take it down when the weather breaks in the Spring and Summer, but I don't want to see our neighborhood wild critters come to grief through no fault of their own.

Ironically, the same 2010 storm that wrecked so many trees also blew down and destroyed our old bird feeder. It fell and broke on the concrete, and we haven't had one in place since. Looks like I might be bird-feeder shopping before long.

P.S. Wait until the neighbors who cut down the tree, see how HOT their sidewalk and porch get in the summer. That was something I noticed immediately when those two storm-damaged trees came down. I walk the dog around the block, and whenever I reached that corner where the downed trees had been, it was easy to discern how much hotter the area was, without the big trees providing shade and cooling the air.

Maybe they'll re-think their decision and put a new tree in, once they see what summer feels like with a treeless sidewalk.

What part of New Jersey were/are you in? I lived in NJ at one time and lived in Moorestown, Merchantville, and Medford. ALso hung around Ft Dix (used to play piano for dancing strippers), and of course Red Bank, and the oranges, and lastly, lived in Lambertville for a while , and then Princeton. Spent a lot of time out in the The Wharton Tract and the Pine Barrens. About 100+ years ago, my family (Leeds) owned most of the Jersey Shore, until my great uncle William Bateman Leeds, sold the Jersey shore and ran off to Paris with
Xenia Georgevich Romanova (who was his 5th or 6th cousin)


As for tall the cold, we are having a "Little Ice Age"...no kidding...Look it up. We have them every now and then.

Caiyros

Caiyros Arlen wrote:What part of New Jersey were/are you in? I lived in NJ at one time and lived in Moorestown, Merchantville, and Medford. ALso hung around Ft Dix (used to play piano for dancing strippers), and of course Red Bank, and the oranges, and lastly, lived in Lambertville for a while , and then Princeton. Spent a lot of time out in the The Wharton Tract and the Pine Barrens.

Caiyros

This is actually South Philly, not far from the Sports Complex, but it's a part of the city that has little bitty lawns in front of the houses. I'm talking "could cover them with a good-sized tablecloth" lawns. Still, the grass helps cool things down, compared to the neighborhoods that are pretty much concrete-only. And while not everyone has trees in front of their house, there are more of them here than in the neighborhood where I grew up (which was all concrete), where my parents still live.

I've been to Moorestown. IIRC, it was in or near their mall where I got my rollerblades. I have family in Pennsauken, and in Brigantine. And we're a stone's throw from the bridge, so we head to NJ sometimes for a restaurant or to go to a mall. My dad was stationed in Ft. Dix for a year, before he and my mom were married. He'd been stationed in GA, but then his dad's health took a major turn for the worse. It was peacetime, after the Korean War but before the Vietnam War, so it was easier to arrange things like a compassionate transfer to someplace closer to home. That's when he got moved to Fort Dix. And the good news is, my grandfather survived those multiple health crises (a stroke AND a heart attack), and lived to see his son married and have a baby, me.

It also definitely makes sense if there's a larger pattern going on, with the unseasonsbly cold Winter last year (ridiculously, unseasonably cold!) and the FAR-cooler-than-normal Summer. I think I can count on my fingers how many days we exceeded 90 degrees.

I'd love to have EVERY Summer like that! But unfortunately, I fear the tradeoff will be a winter full of Polar Vortex events. Arrrrrgh.

Well, at least I have gotten insulated dog booties for my dog this year, so his little feet will be protected. I used my head and bought them in August this year, since by the time the cold weather arrived last year, the insulated booties were all sold out. We had to make do with little rain booties last year, to keep his feet off the freezing ground during those days when the temperatures were in single digits.

Likes2Read wrote:

Caiyros Arlen wrote:What part of New Jersey were/are you in? I lived in NJ at one time and lived in Moorestown, Merchantville, and Medford. ALso hung around Ft Dix (used to play piano for dancing strippers), and of course Red Bank, and the oranges, and lastly, lived in Lambertville for a while , and then Princeton. Spent a lot of time out in the The Wharton Tract and the Pine Barrens.

Caiyros

This is actually South Philly, not far from the Sports Complex, but it's a part of the city that has little bitty lawns in front of the houses. I'm talking "could cover them with a good-sized tablecloth" lawns. Still, the grass helps cool things down, compared to the neighborhoods that are pretty much concrete-only. And while not everyone has trees in front of their house, there are more of them here than in the neighborhood where I grew up (which was all concrete), where my parents still live.

I've been to Moorestown. IIRC, it was in or near their mall where I got my rollerblades. I have family in Pennsauken, and in Brigantine. And we're a stone's throw from the bridge, so we head to NJ sometimes for a restaurant or to go to a mall. My dad was stationed in Ft. Dix for a year, before he and my mom were married. He'd been stationed in GA, but then his dad's health took a major turn for the worse. It was peacetime, after the Korean War but before the Vietnam War, so it was easier to arrange things like a compassionate transfer to someplace closer to home. That's when he got moved to Fort Dix. And the good news is, my grandfather survived those multiple health crises (a stroke AND a heart attack), and lived to see his son married and have a baby, me.

When I was living in Philly, I lived at 20th & Locust,; and 12th St & Manning, and down on the Waterfront, just off of Lombard. Oh, also, lived briefly, the Powelton Village Apartments, that later were blown up during the "takeover" of this apartment by "Move" and it was bombed and blew up some of the block.

Caiyros Arlen wrote:

Likes2Read wrote:

Caiyros Arlen wrote:What part of New Jersey were/are you in? I lived in NJ at one time and lived in Moorestown, Merchantville, and Medford. ALso hung around Ft Dix (used to play piano for dancing strippers), and of course Red Bank, and the oranges, and lastly, lived in Lambertville for a while , and then Princeton. Spent a lot of time out in the The Wharton Tract and the Pine Barrens.

Caiyros

This is actually South Philly, not far from the Sports Complex, but it's a part of the city that has little bitty lawns in front of the houses. I'm talking "could cover them with a good-sized tablecloth" lawns. Still, the grass helps cool things down, compared to the neighborhoods that are pretty much concrete-only. And while not everyone has trees in front of their house, there are more of them here than in the neighborhood where I grew up (which was all concrete), where my parents still live.

I've been to Moorestown. IIRC, it was in or near their mall where I got my rollerblades. I have family in Pennsauken, and in Brigantine. And we're a stone's throw from the bridge, so we head to NJ sometimes for a restaurant or to go to a mall. My dad was stationed in Ft. Dix for a year, before he and my mom were married. He'd been stationed in GA, but then his dad's health took a major turn for the worse. It was peacetime, after the Korean War but before the Vietnam War, so it was easier to arrange things like a compassionate transfer to someplace closer to home. That's when he got moved to Fort Dix. And the good news is, my grandfather survived those multiple health crises (a stroke AND a heart attack), and lived to see his son married and have a baby, me.

When I was living in Philly, I lived at 20th & Locust,; and 12th St & Manning, and down on the Waterfront, just off of Lombard. Oh, also, lived briefly, the Powelton Village Apartments, that later were blown up during the "takeover" of this apartment by "Move" and it was bombed and blew up some of the block.

How cool is that -- the vet where I take my cats is on 20th, between Locust and Walnut. But it's a cats-only hospital, so I have to take the dog to a different vet. I'd love to sneak him in there with a cat costume on; I love those vets.

Both the MOVE confrontations were disastrous. I was in HS when the Powelton Village confrontation happened, and I was days away from graduating Temple when the Osage Avenue catastrophe happened. I've heard positive things about Powelton VIllage being a diverse neighborhood where residents get along well (outside of the terrible events with MOVE).

Have you ever thought of building a small structure for squirrels? Maybe buy one of those dog igloo things and putting it in your back yard for them? They could build a nest in it and stay warmer.

Huffette wrote:Have you ever thought of building a small structure for squirrels? Maybe buy one of those dog igloo things and putting it in your back yard for them? They could build a nest in it and stay warmer.

I think they have a nest in my pear tree. When the leaves drop, sometimes it reveals a surprise like a bird's nest in the branches. Last year, I thought, "what an oddly-shaped nest! What kind of bird makes that?"

But in the Spring, before the tree blossomed and hid the nest again, I spotted a squirrel climbing on and around the nest. Aha. Maybe it wasn't a BIRD'S nest after all. That would explain the large size and odd shape.

And that's another reason I hate to see the neighbor remove their tree: now there are fewer nesting options. Drat. What in heck were they thinking?