We picked Grandpa's Red Pear tree til it was bare. It's a small tree and I didn't even need a ladder. I reached up for most (being 5'10 helps) then climbed the tree for the rest. Whenever I climb a tree, I ama child again, when picking pears meant I got to eat a bunch of pears. period. Now, there is a little more involved, and since I only had a small box full of pears, I decided to try to eat as many as we could and then, if needed, preserve a jar or so. I laid them on a tray and then in a muffin tin so that there was no pear on another, they each had a separate spot to ripen and not squish together. Shamefully I have a terrible habit of wanting to save ALL of the harvest, but then getting too much at the wrong time and 3/4ths of it ends up rotting. Not this time-- because they are ripening separate, I am able to enjoy them slowly.... without rush or impending guilt.