MACLURA POMIFERA

OK, I know what you are thinking.... Maclura Pomifera?  What the heck is Macular Porifera?  That's why I am here today.   To tell you all about Maclura Pomifera.

On Tuesday morning, I returned to the Lake in the Woods Forest Preserve in Mahomet, Illinois.  On Monday I was there at sunset.  Yesterday, I visited the more natural part of the preserve, this time at pre-dawn.  I parked my car precisely where I had parked it the day before.  This time I spent all my time on the western side of the preserve.  It was not too long before I spotted some very odd looking softball sized freaky looking round balls on the trail.  These were something that I had never seen before.  I made a mental note where on the trail I found these so that I might go back and investigate later.  In the course of my 10 mile walk through the forest preserve, there were multiple places where these round balls were found along the trail.  I had no idea what these were.  I picked one up, I stuffed it in my backpack and a few miles later I came across a couple walking their dogs and I asked them if they knew what this was.  They did.  They told me that they were called HEDGE APPLES.

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The nice thing about walking/hiking through the woods in the year 2015 is that one travels with complete and total access to the all the information in the world in the palm of your hand.  I googled Hedge Apple and found that the scientific name for this is MACLURA POMIFERA.  These Hedge Apples, the fruit of the Osage-Orange Tree are said to be kept by folks as an insect repellant.  The female trees produce this odd looking fruit.  These hedge apples can be between 3 and 5 inches in diameter.  They ripen in September and October and then fall to the ground.  During my hike there were very few fruits still in the trees.  They were all along the trail.  The hedge apple is not an important food source for wildlife.  The theory that hedge apples can be used as a insect repellant are widely believed, although not true.

The last thing that I want to share with my readers about hedge apples are the many colorful names that these fruit are known: HEDGE BALL, HORSE APPLE, GREEN BRAINS, MONKEY BALLS, and MOCK ORANGE.

This is why I am a walker/hiker these days.  This is why I have discovered a new hobby: walking outdoors.  It is because I am seeing all kinds of things that I never knew existed.

My walk started just before sunrise and there was a distinct chill in the air. I was prepared with my ski cap and leather gloves.  It did not take long for me to warm up as I was zipping along haphazardly following the many different trails in the forest preserve.

The last four miles of my ten mile walk took me north outside of the forest preserve, then eastward and finally south along the highway until I returned to my origin point where my car was parked.

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Your Food Diary For:

Tuesday, November 10, 2015

BREAKFAST	Calories	Carbs	Fat	Protein	Sodium	Sugar
Great Value - Cereal Crunchy Oat Squares, 1.5 cup	240	52	3	6	280	12
Quaker - Instant Original Flavor Oatmeal, 4 pack	400	76	8	16	300	0
Banana - One Piece - Banana (One Whole), 100 g	120	20	0	1	1	15
	760	148	11	23	581	27
L U N C H
KROGER 54535 - VEGGIE CHIPS, 100 g (approx 1/2 cup)	460	78	14	4	440	14
KROGER 54060 - SOY NUTS, 63.5 g (approx 1/2 cup)	305	18	17	23	140	4
Wasa - Crisp'n Light 7 Grains, 24 Crackers	560	112	4	16	720	8
	1,325	208	35	43	1,300	26
D I N N E R
Campbell's Chunky - Manhattan Clam Chowder, 2 cup	240	36	6	10	1,600	6
Sage - Red Delicious Apple, 2 medium apple	190	50	1	1	4	38
	430	86	7	11	1,604	44
S N A C K S
General Mills - Nature Valley - Oats 'n Honey Crunchy Granola Bar, 2 bars	190	29	6	4	160	12
KROGER 90078 - BANANACHIPS, 50 g (approx 3/4 cup)	270	31	15	1	0	6
Cheerios - Dry, 2 cup cereal	200	40	4	6	320	2
	660	100	25	11	480	20
Totals	3,175	542	77	88	3,964	117
Your Daily Goal	3,563	445	118	179	2,300	133
Remaining	388	-97	40	90	-1,664	16
	Calories	Carbs	Fat	Protein	Sodium	Sugar

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       Your Exercise Diary for:

Tuesday, November 10, 2015

Cardiovascular	Minutes	Calories Burned
Walking, 4.5 mph, very, very brisk pace	140	1,834
MFP iOS calorie adjustment	N/A	-201
Daily Total / Goal	141 / 30	1,633 / 590
Weekly Total / Goal	281 / 210	3,328 / 4,130

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TOTAL CALORIES CONSUMED 3175 CALORIES
TOTAL CALORIES BURNED (10 MILE HIKE) 1834 CALORIES
TOTAL NET CALORIES 1341 CALORIES
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fitbit day 69

40016 steps

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I guess today, you could have called me "LITTLE GREEN RIDING HOOD"   Actually, there may be many days in the coming weeks when I will be wearing my snug, warm, zippered green hoodie.  Anyway, here are a few scenes from the trail yesterday.

It was a bit chilly at 6:30AM when I set out for my ten mile walk...I tried to take a photo of my breath.

The shadow on my face is from my iphone as I took this selfie looking in the direction of the sun

My shadow follows me everywhere... 

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