around my town

[olmue]

For those of you who might be sad you missed the biker festival:



Adding to my collection of interesting manhole covers:



And introducing the Osage orange, one bizarre fruit (inedible) from this area. First is my 8-year-old's foot next to it, to give you a size reference:



Growing in the tree (I'd really hate to be down below when this thing falls off):



And how it looks broken open:

Comments

[robinellen.livejournal.com]

Wow, that is some weird fruit! Can birds eat it, at least?

[olmue.livejournal.com]

Well, it has latex sap in it, so it's not very appetizing. I read that prehistoric American horses (ie, before the ones the Spaniards brought over) used to eat it, as well as extinct ground sloths, and maybe mammoths and mastadons. Occasionally modern horses will encounter it and eat it. But mostly, it's food for extinct species.

The wood is supposed to be excellent for bows (as in arrows), though. Hm. Another extinct use.