a pear by any other name...

FOLLOW UP: our tree is no dud. We pick pears after Halloween. They were juicy and yummy and filled the bed of the glass blocker's truck because I had no time to deal with them. He got cash and pears. Not a bad deal for a window. 

Original Post from September 2014
So we have a ginormous pear tree in our backyard. It is full of green pears. Squirrels are enjoying the crunchy pears. Us, not so much. I've done a lot of googling on how to ripen pears. I've asked everyone I know who might know how to ripen pears.

I've heard a lot of things:

• Pick them all on Labor Day.
• Set them on cardboard in the basement to ripen.
• Don't pick too soon.
• Don't pick too late.
• They must be chilled before the ripening process will start.
• Put them by ripe bananas.

My head is spinning from all the pear ripening information and I still am lacking one ripe pear.
Maybe our tree is a dud.