Cathy was right. They’re called hedge balls here, but they’re also known as hedge apples, as she said, or Osage oranges, as Bob said, or even and horse apples, as Becky said — although, ahem, horse apples meant something different where I come from.
Other fun names include wild orange, bois d’arc, bodark (or bowdark mainly in Oklahoma and Texas), bodart (in northwest Louisiana), bodock (mainly in Tennessee and Alabama), and bow wood, monkey brain, monkey ball, monkey orange and brain fruit.
I take it back about sending one in the mail. Bob was right. They’re getting pretty darn disgusting. They’re slimy, and they smell worse than they look. I’m guessing it wouldn’t be the most pleasant thing to get in the mail. Besides … ewww.
I saw deer this morning at sunrise, running along the edge of the cornfield … one big one, two small ones. I guess those deer crossing signs really mean something around here.
Oh, and we had a cold front come through. I dressed the kids in long-sleeve shirts and broke out the jackets. I just bought my first real winter jacket in years at a preseason sale. We haven’t even hit “fall” on the calendar, and I’m thinking the jackets we wore for Florida’s “winter weather” won’t cut it much longer. What happens if I don’t make it to winter before wearing that new winter coat? What will I wear for winter?
The movers were here yesterday to unload the truck. After saying, “That goes in the barn,” I realized how weird that sounds. I mean … I have a barn. I kept calling them “y’all,” but they were really nice about it. And I kept singing Green Acres all day. Dah-ling.
I can’t figure out why it’s showing up way at the bottom of the page. I haven’t made any updates to my sidebar. And I haven’t started drinking tequila yet.
