This is where the wild things are

The morning was very cool and dry.

On Wednesday morning the dog decided we would walk down to the Pig Farm.   The morning was beautiful with temperatures in the mid 40's and low humidity.  When we arrived at the farm I noticed that some type of animal has made an opening in the dead and dying Kudzu and Air potato plants.

Wild animals live in there, I think.

 I walked over and poked my head in the openings to have a look.  It was difficult for me to discern what had been walking around there in the area under the canopy created by the dead vines.  The ground has been trampled and all of the green plants have been eaten up to about 3 feet off the ground.

The floor of the forest has been trampled

 I would say that a family of pigs is most likely living here at some point during the day or night. The farm is at the end of the road and it is very dark and quiet there at night.  The pigs are probably enjoying this quiet little enclosure before venturing out in the early morning hours to forage.

The Air Potato is sort of ugly.

 I saw a couple of the Air Potatoes hanging on the  Air Potato vine nearby so the pigs maybe eating those where they can reach them.  I would like to go and spend the night in the woods one weekend and see exactly what is that is moving around down there.

 We walked back up to the house and I went around to my sad looking garden.  All the vegetables are gone now and I have almost decided that I am not going to plant a winter garden this year.  If I skip it this year it will be the first time in nearly ten years I have not had a garden growing in my yard.  I want to let the ground lay fallow for a while then I may put in some organic material for next year.

the squash beetle is clashing.

 I saw a squash beetle walking around on a volunteer Cosmos flower that was looking very orange.  The beetle is probably a late arrival that emerged from the ground recently.  It will be surprised when the next cold snap hits in a few days

The tomatoes are nearly ready. 

.
 I also have some nice cherry tomatoes growing now.  If the temperatures stay warm they should get far enough along that I can take them off and bring them in to ripen the rest of the way.  The dog likes them ripe or green so they wont go to waste.  Thanks for reading my blog today.   Bye.

Yes we have some bananas, We have some bananas today.

The sky is so blue it hurts your eyes. 

Tuesday morning the dog and I walked out into a beautiful morning.  The temperature was in the low 60's and the humidity was around 80 percent.    High up in the blue sky the cirrus clouds were rushing past once again adding their dynamic character to an otherwise clear sky.   We headed to the west end of the dirt road to survey our domain and visit with the local residents.   I have enjoyed my walks so much more since the weather has gotten cooler.  Although it has only been cold in the morning a couple of times so far this fall, I know that the weather is fickle and change is likely in our future.

The Smilax berries are pretty.

As we walked I found that the Smilax Sarsaparilla has produced it's orange berries in a small bunch along it's vine.  The Smilax is a plant which produces a root structure that looks similar to a ginger root only larger.  The root is very aromatic and can be eaten when it is small though I don't know why you would want to. The tips of the Smilax springtime vines can be clipped and cooked as wild asparagus.   Consult eattheweeds.com for a description of the plant as it is easily confused with virginia creeper which is poisonous.

First green, then yellow, then brown, then delicious.

When we arrived home I walked into the garage and snapped a photo of a bunch of bananas that I cut down on Monday evening.   I hung them in the garage to allow them to ripen slowly.   I have done this before and the bananas were spectacular.  I am hoping to repeat those results again this year.   I will document their change until they are ripe so we will have a record of the time required for them to reach ripeness.  Thanks for reading my blog today.  Bye.

We're Rainy Day people

"Rainy day people all know there's no sorrow they can't rise above".

Monday morning the dog and I walked out into rainy and drizzly weather.  The temperature was in the 60's and the humidity was obviously 100 percent.   I decided to walk down into the woods behind the unoccupied home.  The dog was loving the wet conditions and ran on ahead into the woods.  I find rainy days in the woods ,when there is no wind ,  particularly peaceful and quiet.   The constant white noise of the rain on the leaves of the trees seems to muffle all other sounds in the woods.  We were out fairly early and the cloudiness and lack of sunlight made to woods very dark.   I had to go to work to a little early so we shortened our walk and headed for home.

I have seen him find a stick like this over a thousand times.

Of course the dog found his souvenir stick which he wanted to play with  as soon as he found it but I had to discourage this due my tight schedule.  I have read in the past that a very intelligent dog may require at least a couple of hours per day of walking, playing and interaction to keep him from being bored or frustrated.  That is the reason I get up each morning and go out into the rain and sometimes ugly weather to walk and play with the dog.   It  helps with my own mental and physical health as well.  Routine is good.   Thanks for coming by today.  Stay dry.  Bye.

When the temperature comes down and the Fire ants come up

When fire ants ruled the world, oh yeah I forgot, that's now. 

Sunday morning I stepped out into a day which simply could not make up it's mind about the weather.  It was cloudy and damp but not raining. The dog and I walked through the front gate and turned to the east on the paved road.  Not far along in our walk we came upon the scourge of Grand Bay.  Fire Ants.  At this time of year they build mounds high above the surrounding ground in sunny places to try and keep their larvae warm.   You have to be really careful when you are near these mounds so as not to disturb them.  When disturbed thousands of ants will disgorge from the nest running in all directions biting anything they consider intruders.  There is no getting rid of these ants you can only move them out of an area for a while.  There are so many nests in the fields and woods and under the earth that we have simply come to terms with them and leave them be.  The dog knows them well and I only need say "Ants!" to him and he immediately begins to look for them on the ground.

Squirrel nests look like trash in the top of a tree.

We walked on up the road where I spotted a squirrel's winter nest in a Sycamore tree on the side of the road.  The nests look like piles of leaves caught in the tops of trees and become conspicuous when the leaves fall from the trees.

Zig-Zag can't be bothered.

Further along the road we saw Zig-Zag the lonely bull munching quietly under the trees in his field.  He took only a minute or two to look at the dog and I as we walked by then he returned to his grass.  Zig-Zag was only a calf when he arrived but now he has reached adulthood and is a formidable bull.  Except for an emergency I would never enter his field.

 My dog the naturalist. 

As we returned to the house the dog found a turtle again.  This turtle was pretty small.  It was also a different species from the box turtles I normally find here.   After I retrieved the turtle from the dog I noticed it shell was rounded at the sides and did not flip up like the turtles the dog has found in the past.  Sometimes I think my dog may want to be famous for finding a new turtle species in Grand Bay.  A dog can dream, A dog can dream.  Thanks for reading my blog today.  Bye.

A mist opportunity

Visibility is limited to about a quarter of a mile on misty days like this.

Saturday morning the dog and I walked up to the west end of the dirt road.   The weather was lowering and misty.   I felt the the temperature was quite comfortable at around 65 degrees.  The mist gave the day a peaceful start as no wind was blowing.  The dog was pouting because the temperature has risen back to the where it seems hot to him.  I had to coax him out of the yard and down the road.  Grand Bay receives around 69 inches of rain per year and walking in the rain is something you just have to get used to.  When it is a misty day like Saturday was you have to put on a rain coat or take an umbrella or just get wet and bear it.  I did the latter of the three.

The Camphor leaves hold lots of water.

  It is a good idea to stay on the road during this type of weather as the bushes are dripping wet and will soak your clothing even if it isn't raining.  We made it to the end of the road and turned to head home when I found something trying to hide in the pine straw.

Grand Daddy spiders hide well so look
close if you want to see it.

 It was a daddy long legs or Grand Daddy spider.  They come out at this time of year which seems strange to me because the weather is getting cold.  These spiders can get some pretty long legs but they weigh almost nothing.  You can pick them up and hold them in your hand and they don't seem to care.  I have noticed that they can produce a sweet smell which is probably designed to make them distasteful to predators.  I believe this time of year may be a mating season for the spiders because they sometimes congregate in groups of 5 to 10.   I have played with the Grand Daddy spider all my life and never had a bad experience with them.  They like many of the bugs, animals and plants of the fields and woods became our entertainment on the seemingly never ending days of our youth.  Thanks for stopping in to read my blog.  Bye.

When it comes to weather, boring is good

I know it looks somber but at least it is not cold.

The dog and I walked down to the Pig Farm on Friday morning.  The weather was overcast with mild temperatures in the upper 60's.  When we arrived at the farm I noticed that the building looked particularly austere in the drab light of this gray morning.  The once green grass field in front of the buildings has been transformed by the frost and is now a golden yellow color.

The Pig Farm's golden field. 

  The frosts we have in Grand Bay seem to cause more damage than they do in the rest of Mobile county.  Numerous people I have talked to in Grand Bay agree with me that we most likely live in a micro climate situation.  The micro climate may be the result of our location between the Mobile Bay, the Grand Bay and the Gulf of Mexico as well as our relative high elevation (100+ feet) in close proximity to the see level areas around us.   At any rate in the 13 years I have been here it has often been much colder, hotter, drier and rainier than the surrounding towns of Mobile county.

The dog decided to take the foot ball
on the road. 

After looking at the farm for a few minute I turned to go and found the dog standing in front of me with his foot ball ready for me to throw it.  Sometimes he likes to take his toys on the road with him and play with them along the way.  We walked back home through the pecan orchard where the foundation of the new home there is now under construction.

How can so little water get me so wet?

The cogangrass in the orchard is coming back up after being cut a while back.   The grass blades are capable of holding on to large drops of  dew and rain water which can soak your clothing and shoes from the knees down.  I prefer to walk on the road but the dog loves the cool wet grass.

 It appears we have now arrived at the time of the year when fronts will pass through on an approximately weekly basis.  The fronts will cause the weather to rotate through several stages over the 7 to 10 day period going from  clear breezy cool and dry days to warmer and very humid cloudy days followed by the passage of rain storms with their cold rainy days.  Then everything starts over.  Boring and repetitive yes but, let us hope and pray that the pattern holds steady until spring.  Any large variations can turn this place into a desert or a flood plain.  Thanks for reading my blog today.  Bye.

Fall's first frost

The colors of fall are showing up here and there now. 

Thursday morning the temperature was moderate and bearable at 37 degrees.  The wind which was howling on Wednesday had calmed at last.  The dog and I set out to walk up to the east end of the paved road.  The sky was very blue and clear with just a few of the high cirrus clouds that had been so prevalent on Wednesday.

Our first frost was a light one. 

Frost on this leaf was melting as I watched. 

As we walked by my neighbor's fields I noticed that frost had formed during the night. This is the much anticipated first frost that will kick off our cold season.    I like to take a close look at the ice crystals formed by the frost on the plants along the road side. The patterns the ice sometimes forms can be fascinating.   We continued on until we were near the end of the road where the dog stopped. He did not want to go any further as he is still scared of the electric fence.   The surrounding country side on this end of the road is very pretty as it takes on the colors of fall.  I noticed also that the birds are filling the brush along the road sides taking advantage of the bounty of wild flower seeds they are finding there.   I saw quite a few finches and wrens as well as a few cardinals on the fence lines.  As we turned and headed back I decided to stop and take a look at the Soybean field.

The soybean field is empty now,
with the exception of the dog.

  The owner of the field has harvested his crop in the last few days and nothing remains of the beans but plant stalks and bean shells.  I am not sure if there are any animals that will be scavenging the lost soybeans that are laying on various parts of the field.  It seems that surely there would be something that would want to use all that protein.  I personally have never seen any birds or animals looking for the lost beans in the harvested soybean fields.  That is have not seen them at any time I was walking by during daylight.   Maybe they come at night or maybe they know something about soybeans that we don't .   We left the field and walked on toward the house and as we passed the field where we saw the frost earlier I noticed that  the frost was gone.  Frost is very fleeting.  You have to observe it while it is there because if you turn your back for a moment it will be gone.  There's a lesson in there somewhere I think.  Thanks for reading my blog today.  Get out and enjoy the sun if you can.  Bye.    

Low speed walk under high speed clouds

It looks normal but it was windy and cold.   

Wednesday morning I walked out of my door and 34 degree air slapped me in the face.  I have not experienced air this cold in nearly 9 months.  The dog was ready for anything though now that nature's air conditioner was running full blast.  We started walking up to the west end of the dirt road fighting a a cold north wind along the way.

The high clouds were
on their way to somewhere.

As we went  I could not help but be in awe of the beautiful cloud patterns that were drifting over head.  The very high cirrus clouds were being swept along to the east by the wind at amazing speeds. To me it appeared as though the clouds were being stretched out over vast distances by the wind.  It was striking against such a blue sky.  When the cold air arrives it causes me to loose my easy going gait.  I have a tendency to walk quicker and I feel like I just want to get the walk over with.  Fortunately the dog is there to slow me down and he helps me to stop and notice things I might otherwise miss.

Spider or Catipillar ?
You make the call.

 Today when I stopped to play tug with a stick he was chewing on I noticed a leaf rolling insect has made a cocoon from a bent oak leaf.  I could not tell if this was a spider or a Caterpillar so it could be either one.

The fungus is having breakfast. 

 We moved along and came to the end of the road where I spotted more of those bracket fungi.  These were on a very rotten standing tree that is about ready to fall. There were also some very nice looking red lichens growing on the wood.   Good old fungus.  What would we do with out it?  I'll tell you what we would do, we would be up to our eyeballs in dead trees.  The fungus breaks the dead trunks down into particles that other creatures can consume and break down even further until the nutrients can be used by the tree roots to make more trees.  The woods are the ultimate recycling center.  Nothing is wasted.  Thanks for reading my blog today.  Stay warm.  Bye.

The Ice Man Cometh

The "COLD FRONT" even looks cold.

Tuesday morning the weather was warm but the cold front that will drop our temperatures drastically could be seen in the distance.  The clearing line is just to the north of Mobile county and the dome of cold air is hard on it's heels.  Tomorrow's blog will probably be about how cold the morning is. The dog and I walked up to the turnip green field to see how things are going.  Along the way I saw an Evening primrose blooming probably for the last time this year.

The last photo of primrose?

 

We arrived at the turnip green field and found several rows of green now harvested.  I intend to get some of these from the owner soon and have them for supper. We headed back down to the house and the dog wanted to go on further so we walked east on the paved road heading toward the soybean field.

At the gate the dog says
"Nothing to declare".

The dog went into the brush along the side of the road and found another turtle.
He turned quickly and ran back to the house and was waiting with his prize at the gate.  He went inside the gate and spent about 5 minutes walking around trying to prevent me from taking his turtle.  Eventually after much growling and snapping I retrieved it from him and threw it into the woods.  I have the feeling that the same turtle is being caught by the dog each time.   I have formulated a plan to mark the next one to see if it gets caught again.  This may just be natures way of getting rid of dumb turtles.

The last photo of bananas?

 I stopped in the back yard to get what may be my last photo of the banana trees this year.  They don't suffer freezing weather very well.   I have waited nearly two years for the stalk of bananas to grow and I do not want to loose them so I will be watching the temperatures tonight. Light a fire and stay warm.  Thanks for reading my blog today. Bye

To those who much is given, much will be required

The trees growing straight up seems strange but it's  really OK.

On Monday morning I thought that the dog and I should walk on down to the Pig Farm.  The temperature was beginning to warm up in advance of a cold front that may very well push temperatures down into the 30's.   I would guess that the temperature was a comfortable 65 degrees this morning.   The sky was very blue and the trees lined up on the left side of the road as we ambled slowly along.  The power company has paid a contractor to cut the trees a very consistent distance away from the power lines running on the right side of the road.  The tree trimming creates what looks like a wall of trees on that side of the road. .
  I am glad that they are doing this as it cuts down on power outages from minor storms due to tree limbs falling on the lines. In major storms nothing short of burying the wires will prevent power outages.

Iron weed, the name doesn't fit this pretty flower.

  As we walked I snapped a photo of the Iron weed plant still blooming nicely.  The purple color was very strong in the morning sunlight.   I think I am becoming weary of working everyday of the week now.  The extra hour added to my day as a result of my not observing the time change may be catching up as well.  Fortunately I will soon finish my office work and my days will go back to normal.  I am looking forward to the holidays of Thanks Giving and Christmas as they are a time when I can catch back up on things that I have gotten behind on like this blog.

 Remember that today is Veteran's day.  This is the day that we take a moment to remember those who gave all they had in payment for our right to live free.  I am thankful that such people exist and that they were willing to give all when much was required.  May we all be willing to do the same when the freedoms we enjoy are in jepardy.   Thanks stopping in to reading my blog.  Bye

I walked beneath the dreaming clouds

The sky will pose only for a moment.

As the dog and I set out on our walk on Sunday morning the sky was overcast but the blue sky hung close to the horizon all around us.  The morning cloud layers at this time of year tend to be isolated and temporary occurrences.  They result from warm humid air from the Gulf of Mexico to the south interacting with the colder night time air high in the atmosphere.  On Sunday morning that interaction created a pattern that was very nice to behold.   The IPhone as good as it is, was not wide angle enough to provide a view of what the sky really looked like.  I guess I should have used the panorama feature.  I took my sky photo on the edge of the as yet unharvested soybean field and then we walked on down into the woods behind the unoccupied home.

Silence was my companion in the woods. 

 When we arrived at the end of the trail I noticed the dog was not with me and I concluded that he was chewing on  a stick he had found somewhere back up the trail.  The woods were extremely quiet with the exception of a squirrel barking at me.  These woods are home to numerous animals most of which only come out at night.  Our daytime is their night time.  My neighbors have seen deer in this area during the day so I hope one day to see them myself.  I walked back up the trail and found the dog sitting in the high grass waiting for me.  Many times when we walk I will loose track of him and call and call for him and then find him sitting and staring at me in the grass a few feet away.  I believe the dog thinks that if he can see me then I should know where he is so, he doesn't respond.  It can be annoying sometimes.

Nandina is a quiet spectacle. 

We walked on toward home and along the way I spotted a plant that is very pretty this time of year.  It was the shrub called Nandina.  The red berries and pointed leaves of this plant are very popular as a backdrop for gardens here in Grand Bay.  This particular plant has grown up in an unlikely spot under what appears to be an old potting shed once used by the lady who used to live in the unoccupied home.

Golden rods launch their seeds. 

We continued on and found that the once beautiful Golden Rods growing on the roadside have transformed into big fluffy tufts of fur like seed heads.  The wind will blow the seed heads far and wide and the Golden Rod's season will be complete.  The tall wood like stems will remain as a silent reminder through the winter that the Golden Rod was here and will be back after it's winter rest.  I look forward to it's return. Thanks for reading my blog today.  Bye.  

When the bees come to stay

The dog ambles ahead while I look a the Mistletoe.

On Saturday morning the dog and I walked up to the west end of the dirt road.  The weather was near perfection with the temperature in the low 50's and very low humidity.  The sky was azure blue peeking out from behind the tunnel of trees at the end of the dirt road.  As we walked I noticed that a large piece of Mistletoe had been blown from the top of a tree it had been growing in.

Mistletoe blown from the tree above

Mistletoe is a parasitic plant that grows high in the tops of the water oaks that are common to this area.  I believe I have read that the Mistletoe infiltrates and compromises the trees outer bark layers causing the tree to die from a lack of nutrients.

Mistletoe is unusually green. 

At any rate when we see Mistletoe growing way up high in the top of a water oak we know that the tree will slowly begin to die and rot until it becomes a hazard and must be cut down.  Mistletoe has a most unusual green color which is very bright.  Our version does not usually get the white berries seen on other varieties at least I have never seen it on our Mistletoe.

Southern wood fern makes a showing.

 At the very end of the road I saw a very nice specimen of the Southern wood fern growing out of the pine straw.  This fern is very common to our area along with many other varieties that prefer humid climates.  The color of the fern in the red pine straw is very striking even on cloudy days.  We headed back to the house as I had to do some work at my office.

On my way to my office, I stopped by my neighbors home to talk to him about his satsuma crop. He gave me a ride in his golf cart out into the orchard so we could pick some of his satsumas.  They are becoming ripe very quickly and we were able to pick a bag full in short order.

The entrance is small but the colony is
apparently quite large.

  When we finished picking the satsumas he took me by an old house on his property and showed me a hive of honey bees that have been in the exterior wall and attic of the home for over 40 years.  Numerous attempts have been made to remove the queen but all have been futile.  Killing them is not considered an option.

40 years of bee landings is removing
the paint from the siding. 

 For the last four decades the owner has only used the house for storage so the bees have been left alone to thrive.  A question comes into my mind each time I see this colony of bees.  Why have these bees not been affected by the colony collapse disease that has killed so many bee hives in the U.S. over the last ten years or so?  It seems to me to be a question that bears investigation.   Thanks for reading my blog today.  Bye

The memory of pigs

Memory Lane?

Friday morning the sun was shining brightly when the dog and I headed down to the Pig Farm.  The temperature was around 47 degrees and the humidity was pretty dry at 60 percent.  We walked through the pecan orchard as we went and I noticed that the construction of the new home there has moved a little further along.  A water well has been drilled and a pump house has been constructed to cover the pump motor.  It appears any further construction awaits the connection of the temporary power pole to electricity.   Many houses are being built in our area now as the interest rates for mortgage loans have been driven artificially low by some very worrisome government policies.  Only time will tell if this home construction boom is sustainable.  We continued on down to the Pig Farm and slipped inside to take some archival photos of the farm as I have a feeling the place will not be there much longer.   This farm is a place that shocked me one day as I suddenly realized I had been here nearly 45 years earlier with my Dad.  The farm looked very different then.  The buildings were in good order and there were several pecan trees growing around the place making it very shady.  I remember my Dad took my two brothers and I in the car with him as he drove around on one of his Sunday exploration trips.  He loved to take us to the places most parent would never have taken their kids.  At that time I was very fearful about new places and new people and  I remember being very apprehensive about going farther and farther down the dirt road to a an unfamiliar place in the what seemed  like the end of the world. When we arrived at the farm at the end of the road we got out of the car and my Dad who was not the least bit shy about going anywhere he wanted to, led us into the wooden door of the pig farm building.

A door into my past.

  I can still remember once inside the door, walking beside the pig pens and seeing all the pig jostling each other.  The noise the pigs were making and the smell made my head spin.  My Dad kept walking through the building coaxing us kids along, until we met a man who was spraying  the floor of one of the pens with a hose.  He stopped spraying the hose and greeted my Dad who told him we were out exploring.

People have stolen the metal roof above the pens.

The man seemed happy that someone had come to visit him.  He put his hose down,  leaned on the pen and spent a quite a few minutes talking to my Dad and us kids. When he heard my brothers and I asking why the pigs where not all muddy the man explained that his pigs never stood on the ground and were very clean animals. He said that pigs in farm yards rolled in mud because that was the only way they could get cool and protect themselves from insects.  He also explained the entire process of raising the pigs and caring for them and what happened to them when they were full grown and went to market.   He really did not want us to leave until we were convinced that raising pigs was not all mud and pig poop.  I guess he must have made his point pretty well because I still remember his words to this day.

The only pig pens that are still usable.  

When he and my Dad finished talking we filed out of the building, jumped in the car and drove back home.  I guess my Dad, my brothers and I forgot that day as it receded into the past but one day it all came back to me at once.  I was walking down the dirt road to the pig farm a few years after moving to my home here to Grand Bay.  There were no fences around the farm then and when I arrived at the end of the road I wandered around the buildings to see what had been there.  I walked through a wooden door to the inside of the dilapidated building and suddenly a wave of recognition washed over me. This was the place my Dad had brought me to all those years ago.  I felt very sad that my childhood memory had fallen into such disrepair and that my Dad, who had died at my house a couple of years earlier, never knew that the place he had taken us to all those years ago was just down the road.  I would liked to have had the chance to take him there and thank him for bringing my brothers and I to the Pig Farm that day as well as all the other places he carried us to during his explorations.   He instilled in me and my brothers a sense of wonder and curiosity that has served us well in our lives.  For that I am truly grateful.  Thanks Pops, I miss you.  Bye.

The wind is whistling a tune we like to hear

The dog takes a moment to assess the weather. 

Thursday morning at sunrise the clouds were hanging thick when the dog and I went for our walk.  Just like clockwork another cool front is passing through.   The rain was sputtering and the wind was blowing in fits and starts.  I guess you could say the weather was unsettled.  The dog walked out of the fence and headed east on the paved road which is something he usually doesn't like to do.  I followed along behind and we took our time and enjoyed the wet windy morning that was breaking.  The wind whistling through the leaves in the tree tops is a sound that we here on the Gulf Coast usually associate with thunder storms or hurricanes in the summer.  When we hear it in the fall we welcome it as a sign that the summer has come to an end and our mild winter is about to start.  We now have about 20 days left in our hurricane season so we will hope and pray that the next couple of weeks won't bring any surprises.

The wild persimmons are small but tasty. 

 As we made our way back I decided to stop off at the unoccupied home of a neighbor to have a look at the wild persimmons growing in the front yard.  The fully ripe wild persimmon is very small. About the size of a half dollar.  The few that have been left by the birds and squirrels have now ripened and are very sweet and soft.  I cut one open and found it very tasty albeit very small.

The inside of the persimmon is seedy.

 They have  large seeds which don't allow much space for the fruit.  There is also a domestic Hayashi persimmon growing nearby.   I have found out the hard way that the Hayashi persimmon must be allowed to ripen completely before they can be eaten.  The other domesticated persimmon grown in this area, the Fuyu,  can be picked while not completely ripe and then ripened the rest of the way after picking.  Eating an unripe persimmon is like taking a drink of gasoline. Personally,  I think the taste of gasoline may be a tad bit better than that of an unripe persimmon but in any case the results are the same.  Thanks for reading my blog today.  I hope you are getting out to walk in your area before winter sets in.  Bye.