Baby It's (been) Cold Outside (and inside!)

[CJW]

Interesting, I never heard of osage orange being called hedge. I have a couple cords of it and save them for allnighters. They require a good bed of coals to keep burning.

Growing up I never heard it called osage orange. It was just referred as hedge or "that hedge row over there" and I knew the coons loved the fruit.

Locust thorns are nasty. I learned to check the ground well before sitting down when setting up for turkey in the early morning. They poke right through rubber boots too.

 

[Tbitty]

I thought they were cutting down brush from hedge rows and burning it when I read hedge. I’ve never had opportunity to burn Osage orange, but sounds like apple requiring a hot fire to burn.

Split hedge takes off pretty quick, and the full round logs are the good long burners in my experience. Of course, letting it cure helps a lot too, plus cuts down on the crackling & sparks.

It doesn't have as big or nasty thorns as locust, but nonetheless you wanted to wear gloves and be careful with your tires when cutting logs.

 

[Tbitty]

Growing up I never heard it called osage orange. It was just referred as hedge or "that hedge row over there" and I knew the coons loved the fruit.

In KS, We mostly used "hedge" but also knew it as the Osage Orange. Also a lot of references to their green ball fruit, calling either the tree or balls hedge apples, or even Horse/Crab apple. I later in life found it called Bois D' Arc (pronounced Bo-dark), too, as told to me by a nice old man from a town of that name in Missouri.

Being a good hard wood, we also used it for fence/corner posts.

 

[Wyatt Smith]

I have heard of the old timers curing their hedge post under water to prevent cracking. They would wire them into bundles then run a No.9 wire to post or tree outside the pond so they could find it easier.
Supposedly after a year under water they are excellent posts.

 

[K-man]

Being a good hard wood

Absolutely a hard wood. You can see a chain saw blade spark and smoke when cutting it
It was also traditionally used to make bows.

 

[CJW]

In KS, We mostly used "hedge" but also knew it as the Osage Orange. Also a lot of references to their green ball fruit, calling either the tree or balls hedge apples, or even Horse/Crab apple. I later in life found it called Bois D' Arc (pronounced Bo-dark), too, as told to me by a nice old man from a town of that name in Missouri.

Being a good hard wood, we also used it for fence/corner posts.

I just called them hedge balls but do recall some calling them horse apples.

The strangest thing was seeing them in a grocery store from time to time. I haven't seen that for a while. Apparently some folks think they keep away bugs.

 

[Tbitty]

The strangest thing was seeing them in a grocery store from time to time. I haven't seen that for a while. Apparently some folks think they keep away bugs.

I've heard something similar before, though it's been many years and my memory is foggy... A friend once said he sold them on Ebay to people on the East Coast as some form of bug deterrent or something like that. Allegedly he made good money and only had to go outside and pick them up.

 

[Deleted member 53080]

I have to admit that I had never heard of hedge. So I did a little research and I can see why it's a great firewood.

BTU Values of Wood Species

Wood species type BTU values of a cord burning wood in a wood stove

www.wood-heating-solutions.com

You learn something new every day. I too had never heard anyone call Osage Orange “hedge”. It’s always been Bois D’arc here. Hard stuff.

 

[Deleted member 53080]

Growing up I never heard it called osage orange. It was just referred as hedge or "that hedge row over there" and I knew the coons loved the fruit.

Locust thorns are nasty. I learned to check the ground well before sitting down when setting up for turkey in the early morning. They poke right through rubber boots too.

Squirrels go nuts over the horse/crab apples too

 

[Wyatt Smith]

Dad has had me throw about a dozen hedge apples in the crawl space before. He said it will keep the spiders out. I’ve had people tell me walnuts with the green outside part still on will do the same thing.

 

[jeanes]

 

[1dirthawker]

i hate to say it, but up here in Anchorage was not too bad. you fellas down there had the worst of the cold temps by far. oh interior AK was still cold as usual, but here in Anchorage i would say the temps were warmer that much of the lower 48 that got the storms.

i hope everyone came thru it all ok. busted pipes and water damage are not fun and expensive.

 

[Deleted member 53080]

I was cold here in Kansas City as well, but we never lost power so all I had to do was put on the cold weather hunting gear to take the new puppy outside several times a day.

As a native born Texican it is my duty to set the record straight about Yankees. A Yankee is someone who was born in a state that fought for the Union during the Civil War (otherwise known as the War of Northern Aggression to a true Southerner) and comes to visit the south then leaves. A Damn Yankee is a Yankee who visits the south and stays.

A great example of this is "The Motor City Madman", Ted Nugent or "Uncle Ted" to the folks my age, born and raised in Michigan then moved to Texas to live in a more gun friendly environment.

I know what you’re thinking, didn't he play in a band called the "Damn Yankees"? Yes, yes he did, and now you know how the band got its name.

So, what do you call a southerner who lives in the north? That’s easy, A Cultural Ambassador.

I seriously doubt many people, in this day and age, refer to the Civil War as the War of Northern Aggression or the War Between the States as the OP chooses to do so often, without making a serious mental effort to do so (at least until they have drilled it into their own brain). The folks who do use these alternate titles in an honest, sincere manner, as a result of upbringing and/or education, are extremely few and extremely far between.

To say that the modern day state of Texas and Texans are “Southern” in a general cultural sense is a VERY tough argument to make. Every bit as hard an argument as saying Oklahoma, Missouri, Kentucky, Florida and some would say West Virginia, Maryland and Delaware are “Southern”, again in a general cultural sense. These border states have some serious identity issues.

Texas pride and “Southern” pride aside I believe if one puts bias aside and objectively looks at the whole picture they couldn’t fail to come to the realization that the “Southerness” of the inhabitants of the aforementioned states (in general and including Texas) can only be determined on a case by case basis at best.

“Southern” culture, along with every other American subculture, is on its way to becoming a truly unfortunate casualty of the rise of the American macro culture, born of this melting pot which is a result of access to technology, urbanization, de-ruralization, emigration and immigration. There are few bastions of quintessential “Southern” culture left and Texas ain’t one of em. Neither are any of these other border states I mentioned earlier, including my own IMHO.

In short, not many Texans are actually “Southern”.
I realize your post was in jest so I apologize for any offense given.

 

[Red Leg]

I seriously doubt many people, in this day and age, refer to the Civil War as the War of Northern Aggression or the War Between the States as the OP chooses to do so often, without making a serious mental effort to do so (at least until they have drilled it into their own brain). The folks who do use these alternate titles in an honest, sincere manner, as a result of upbringing and/or education, are extremely few and extremely far between.

To say that the modern day state of Texas and Texans are “Southern” in a general cultural sense is a VERY tough argument to make. Every bit as hard an argument as saying Oklahoma, Missouri, Kentucky, Florida and some would say West Virginia, Maryland and Delaware are “Southern”, again in a general cultural sense. These border states have some serious identity issues.

Texas pride and “Southern” pride aside I believe if one puts bias aside and objectively looks at the whole picture they couldn’t fail to come to the realization that the “Southerness” of the inhabitants of the aforementioned states (in general and including Texas) can only be determined on a case by case basis at best.

“Southern” culture, along with every other American subculture, is on its way to becoming a truly unfortunate casualty of the rise of the American macro culture, born of this melting pot which is a result of access to technology, urbanization, de-ruralization, emigration and immigration. There are few bastions of quintessential “Southern” culture left and Texas ain’t one of em. Neither are any of these other border states I mentioned earlier, including my own IMHO.

In short, not many Texans are actually “Southern”.
I realize your post was in jest so I apologize for any offense given.

I had an ancestor lead a brigade at Gettysburg who fell mortally wounded breaking a Union Corps. His name was William Barksdale and you can google a bit about him. Another fought at Cold Harbor and was captured at Petersburg. He was my mother's favorite uncle (great uncle) who told her stories about the War Between the States as she sat on his knee. Still another rode with Forest. I personally remember my "Aunt" Mammy who was one of the last Confederate widowed pensioners in Tennessee (young second spouse to an aged veteran). As you might surmise, all were Confederates. I grew up with a sense of the War being of immediate history.

To digress a bit more than you already have, I should note I served this Constitution in uniform as did my father and grandfather. But that in no way takes away my pride in those ancestors who chose to fight for Southern independence. It is merely one of the reasons I so hate the woke generation. What have they contributed that has earned them the right to cancel my history?

You and I will agree that Texas was never strictly Southern in the sense of South Carolina or Georgia. It has always had a flavor of both Spanish and Southwest Anglo culture that were different than the deep South. On the other hand, you would be hard pressed to find any Federal Regiment that would have wanted to face Hood's Texans more than once. And one can still conclude that Texas sure as hell isn't Wisconsin.

That sense of regional identity has indeed been under quiet assault during my whole lifetime. The internet and social media are accelerating it - much less wokeness. But differences still prevail. The SEC sure isn't the Big 10. As it was two hundred years ago, New Orleans remains a remarkably successful multicultural success story. And though the Domain in Austin might as well be in Long Beach, the Galleria in Dallas still feels like a place of tall, bold women and men who deserve them.

And my highly refined Southern blood still objects to this unnatural meteorological nonsense that Yankees seemingly tolerate every winter.

 

[375 Ruger Fan]

In KS, We mostly used "hedge" but also knew it as the Osage Orange. Also a lot of references to their green ball fruit, calling either the tree or balls hedge apples, or even Horse/Crab apple. I later in life found it called Bois D' Arc (pronounced Bo-dark), too, as told to me by a nice old man from a town of that name in Missouri.

Being a good hard wood, we also used it for fence/corner posts.

Absolutely a hard wood. You can see a chain saw blade spark and smoke when cutting it
It was also traditionally used to make bows.

Bois d’arc is a French name that literally means “tree of the arch” or “bow wood.”

 

[Art Lambart II]

I seriously doubt many people, in this day and age, refer to the Civil War as the War of Northern Aggression or the War Between the States as the OP chooses to do so often, without making a serious mental effort to do so (at least until they have drilled it into their own brain). The folks who do use these alternate titles in an honest, sincere manner, as a result of upbringing and/or education, are extremely few and extremely far between.

To say that the modern day state of Texas and Texans are “Southern” in a general cultural sense is a VERY tough argument to make. Every bit as hard an argument as saying Oklahoma, Missouri, Kentucky, Florida and some would say West Virginia, Maryland and Delaware are “Southern”, again in a general cultural sense. These border states have some serious identity issues.

Texas pride and “Southern” pride aside I believe if one puts bias aside and objectively looks at the whole picture they couldn’t fail to come to the realization that the “Southerness” of the inhabitants of the aforementioned states (in general and including Texas) can only be determined on a case by case basis at best.

“Southern” culture, along with every other American subculture, is on its way to becoming a truly unfortunate casualty of the rise of the American macro culture, born of this melting pot which is a result of access to technology, urbanization, de-ruralization, emigration and immigration. There are few bastions of quintessential “Southern” culture left and Texas ain’t one of em. Neither are any of these other border states I mentioned earlier, including my own IMHO.

In short, not many Texans are actually “Southern”.
I realize your post was in jest so I apologize for any offense given.

@Wishfulthinker580 No offense taken whatsoever, I was born in Texas but raised in Michigan, I bleed Maize and Blue not Burnt Orange. My Grandfather passed on that pearl of wisdom about Yankees some 40 odd years ago. He was a native Tennessean who moved to Abilene TX after WWII.

 

[CJW]

And my highly refined Southern blood still objects to this unnatural meteorological nonsense that Yankees seemingly tolerate every winter.

Depends on what you mean by tolerate. Some, like me, choose to embrace winter while others live here their entire lives and bitch about snow and cold for 6-7 months of the year. I encourage them to move down your way as much as I can because it sucks to hear everyday about how miserably cold they are.

 

[lwaters]

All I can say is all them snowbirds that leave Kansas in the winter for Texas in their big campers got the shaft this year

 

[lwaters]

We put hedge apples in are basement to keep crickets out. It does seem to work.

Dad has had me throw about a dozen hedge apples in the crawl space before. He said it will keep the spiders out. I’ve had people tell me walnuts with the green outside part still on will do the same thing.

 

[Rob404]

You just knew some damn Yankee wouldn't be able help himself.

But do tell us - how was the inside temperature?

Hot enough to fry Chicken