Pears are very good at producing wood and no fruit. I have many 10-year pears that have never fruited. In retrospect I should have trained them a lot more, summer pruning alone is not the best route. I would recommend getting out there on the next warm day and start bending limbs down to horizontal and tying them there. If they are too big to bend, do 4-5 saw cuts spaced 1/2" to 1" apart on the side you are bending toward, the cuts going 1/3 to 1/2 the way through the limb, that will help it to bend to your will. Also for summer pruning focus on thinning out whole shoots and not so much on heading cuts; turn watersprouts you want to save into horizontal limbs by bending, or remove them. I am out there doing this same thing to many of my pears this winter. I also planted a new batch on quince rootstock. I don't think its hardy for you so your best route is to train the trees you have. Scott

I love "might could", Nell. I get the biggest kick out of that, and I sometimes use it myself! I had thought that colloquialism originated in Texas. Quite a few Anglos in New Mexico speak with southern accents. Some are descendants of Confederate soldiers, the accent has been passed down through generations! There are a lot of relocated Canadians and descendants of Canadians in Massachusetts, Nancy. I agree that the accent for Anglo Canadians is similar to a Massachusetts, or New England, accent. In my own family, three of my paternal great grandparents came down from Canada. One of them came from an area in Nova Scotia where Scots Gaelic was the predominant language. (Martha Mora told me that my great gran probably came from Cape Breton, where Scots Gaelic is still prevalent.) One of my uncles, who married into the family, calls himself a Canuck. His heritage is French Canadian. He speaks French and English. There are some French Canadian communities in Massachusetts where French is the language people speak in their homes. I'm from Salem, which is near Boston. One of the Catholic churches in Salem celebrates two masses each Sunday in French. I attended one of the French services once. I used to know an older woman, who came from a French speaking Canadian family. She was born in Massachusetts. She didn't begin to learn English until she entered the first grade. She told me English was very difficult for her to learn because her parents would not allow her to speak English in their house! Lorna

Annette, yes, those Lamb & Gird genes are something else! All mother's family lived to a very old age, and apparently, as I've traced the family genealogy of various branches of mother's family, and it has been so for eons. My mother is in her mid-80s, still sings. In fact, she is quite the debutant all around these days, performing with bands. EVERYONE loves her, and her singing! I expect she will also live to be a grand old gal. On one visit out to California to see my Grannie, she gave me her birthstone ring since I was born two days after her birthday. Grampa had it made for her back in the 1930s. The gemstone was from his gemstone mine (which was later sold to Tiffany). She told me: "I want you to have this ring now before I get old and people start stealing things from me." BEFORE SHE GOT OLD? She was 89 at the time. Now, that is what I call a young-hearted woman and what an attitude! BTW, My Grannie was a very kind-hearted person and well loved and respected by all, but I think Grannie would be the first one to chuckle at hearing anyone refer to her as "sweet" or "nice". We always called her our "Cute little Grannie", but I never heard anyone use the terms "sweet" or "nice". (LOL) No way! She was a little spit-fire and always spoke her mind. She had that British attitude not to be reckoned with! Mama says I am "just like her". Ya think? She was and still is my inspiration to be a Cottage Gardener. (which is why I posted all this). She gardened 3 acres of flowers, trees, shrubs, cactus & succulents, a citrus orchard, and several other fruit trees, and grew grapes. She kept a cow, geese and chickens and helped Grampa with his bee colonies and they harvested and sold honey for many years. She continued to do all this, and more, up until she was age 100, at which time she "Bossed" everyone else on how to do things, using her cane to point at things she wanted worked on and completed - no nonsense! She NEVER gave up! And she smiled to her last breathe. So when I read the topic posted about starting over at age 57, I had to chuckle, thinking of my Grannie. NEVER, EVER give up Gardening! ~Annie

Cindy it wasn't that this troll/s had anything against the writer; quite the opposite in fact. As you will have probably found from your googling they started some sort of 'club' in her memory and were offering special deals/new info/bios etc at a considerable price. They also collected everyone's email addresses from the thread on the subject (much easier in those days) and bombarded them with stuff. It went from being funny to being infuriating. I think they/she (some of us think it was a one-man show, others that a couple of trolls were involved) are still out there on a mountain top in Central Europe.Their 'English' was slightly spy-like unt to be trusted not.