October 24, 1985 - Gloria Bleached Our AutumnPage 14A The Suffolk Times October 24, 1985
Gloria Bleached Our Autumn
By PAUL STOUTENBURGH
I'm afraid we are all going to be dis-
appointed in our fall colors this year,
thanks to hurricane Gloria. Eastern
Long Island's major tree is the oak and
while not quite as brilliant in color as
the maple it does put forth its own spec-
ial brand of yellows, browns and deep
reds.
Along with the colors of fall, the oaks
this year have had an especially good
crop of acorns. I can tell by the noise
the big handsome white oak acorns
make as they drop and hit the porch
roof.
The chestnut oak is less conspicuous
and has a most uncharacteristic oak
leaf. Once recognized, however, it will
always be remembered. This, too, has
a large beautiful nut. They look good
enough to eat. Few of us today bother
with such thoughts but in the olden
days when food was scarce and the
people lived more off the land, the white
oak and chestnut oak acorns were
eaten. We learned this from the Indians
-- acorns were a staple in their diet.
They collected them in the fall to be
eaten through the lean months of
winter.
Although the hurricane tore through
much of our woods, there is some yellow
showing up on the hickories. These
handsome nut trees faired well under
the pressure of Gloria, for their wood is
noted for its elasticity. Look at any good
ax or sledgehammer handle and you'll
find it made of hickory.
Some of the hickory trees had their
branches twisted and broken but even
these held on and still remain hanging
from the treetops. They'll be there for
a long time, broken but still attached.
The nut crop from these trees also
seems extra bountiful this year. When
Focus on
Nature
we raked the lawn after the big blow
the majority of the weight we picked up
was in fallen nuts. One couldn't walk
without wobbling on hickory nuts. I'm
sure that's why we have an over abun-
dance of grey squirrels in our woods and
scurrying about on our lawn. Almost
any time of the day you can look out
and see squirrels busy collecting their
winter food supply.
Nuts Stored in Wood Pile
And my wood pile will have a cache
of hickory nuts that the mice have
stored away for their winter's supply..
You do not see these frisky little fellows
during the daytime. They are night
workers, the exact opposite of the squir-
rel. His nest is high above in a big leafy
mass where he retreats every night.
Then each day he ventures forth to do
his collecting until the weather gets too
cold or inclement and then he'll hole up
for days. How remarkable some ani-
mals are in their ability to conserve
energy during cold spells. Sometimes
they'll gather together to take advan-
tage of each other's heat in this short
hibernation or sleep.
Once when we were doing a Christ-
mas Bird Count for Audubon over on
Gardiner's Island I walked into an old
fisherman's shack on the southeast side
of this magical island. It was bitter cold
and the ground had a crunchy layer of
frozen snow on it. My feet were freezing
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Photo by Paul Stoutenburgh
CHESTNUT OAK ACORNS - -Those of you who have nut trees around
your home will surely see squirrels gathering their winter food supply.
This has been a bountiful nut year and in many places it is tricky walking
with so many nuts underfoot.
so I thought I'd go into the old deserted
shack to warm up. You know the danc-
ing around you do to get your feet
warm? Well, I wanted to do it on some-
thing other than snow and this looked
like the likely spot.
As I stomped my feet I remembered
looking out the open windows of this
lonely shack and wondered how long it
had been since someone had lived and
worked here. Why had it been aban-
doned? How long had it been used? It
was a super place and I just let my eyes
wander around the inside until they
came to an old wood stove with the lids
on top for dropping wood in.
Warm and Cozy Inside
I lifted the lid that was over the oven
side off and there on top of the oven was
the most beautiful little nest of white
(continued on page 18A)
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Page 18.A
75 Years Ago
October 22, 1910
Hospital Donation Day: A few days
ago a man, whose wife had recently
been nursed through a very dangerous
illness at the Eastern Long Island Hos-
pital, was overhead to say, on the
streets of Greenport, "The very best
nurses on earth are right there in that
little hospital!" The words were an ex-
pression of deep gratitude. How many
friends of the 328 patients, to whom our
hospital has ministered, have that feel-
ing of gratitude!
The hospital ministers to all who
need its aid, without regard to race or
creed. Should not all minister to the
hospital on Donation Day, October
27th?
It is with grateful appreciation of past
aid, and with entire confidence in the
generosity of the charitable people of
Eastern Long Island, that the hospital
authorities make their annual Dona-
tion Day appeal.
On the day named, the friends of the
institution are asked to send to the hos-
pital itself, or to one of the receiving
stations, any gifts which may be useful
in hospital work.
Fruit, vegetables, jellies, preserves,
delicacies for the sick, sheets, pillow-
'J 7 1
The Suffolk. Times
Let's Look Back
cases, towels and a hundred other
things will be acceptable.
Gebhardt is Guilty: Guilty of mur-
der in the first degree! This was the
verdict brought in by the jury at noon
to -day (Friday) in the trial of Frederick
Gebhardt, who killed Anna Luther in
the Islip woods, April 8, 1908. He will
be sentenced next Monday.
Great beads of perspiration stood out
on the forehead of Frederick Gebhardt
in the courtroom at Riverhead Thurs-
day morning when his confession was
introduced as evidence. The prisoner
has changed entirely from his defiant
manner of the first two days of the trial.
His face now carries a worried look, and
he is pale and nervous.
In the confession Gebhardt said that
he married Anna Luther, went to Ger-
many on a wedding trip, came back to
this country on April 5, 1908, visited
friends in Newark, left his wife there
two days, then the couple went to New
York where Anna Luther drew $11 out
of the bank. From there they went to
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Bayshore to see some lots which he had
purchased. While in a lonesome place
in the woods he told Anna Luther that
he was a married man with a family
when he married her, and that he was
going back to his first wife and family.
She screamed and threw her arms
around him and implored him not to
leave her_ He then shot her twice and
left her there in the woods. Then he
walked to Islip and found the last train
had gone for New York. He hired a rig
and drove to Babylon to catch a train.
On the way back he threw the revolver
out the window.
50 Years Ago
October 25, 1935
Town Budget Reduced $17,500: At
the Southold Town budget hearing on
Friday of last week, Supervisor S.
Wentworth Horton reported that in the
face of the rising costs in most gov-
ernmental units and in spite of large
and necessary relief expenditures, the
general Town Fund carried a comforta-
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October, 24, 1985
ble balance of over $20,000, which
helped to make possible a cut in the
1936 budget of $17,402.67. The total net
budget for 1935 was $151,616.33, while
the new budget for 1936 is $134,213.66.
It was disclosed that $12,562.47 was
saved for Southold Town in the County
tax for 1935 because of equalization
values secured through the efforts of
Supervisor Horton and that $32,625.17
was saved for Southold Town in three
County Work Relief Issues by a differ-
ent method of charge -back in which
each Town paid only for what it used.
25 Years Ago
October 21, 1960
Population Figures Released: The
Planning Commission has released pre-
liminary census data showing popula-
tion by towns, incorporated villages and
other communities of Suffolk County.
This data shows a total population of
661,354 persons in the county.
Town totals according to these figures
are: Babylon, 141,927; Brookhaven,
108,571; East Hampton, 8,260; Hun-
tington, 125,697; Islip, 171,890;
Riverhead, 14,164; Shelter Island,
1,261; Smithtown, 49,813; South-
ampton, 26,409; Southold, 13,119.
Seniors to Present "Father's Been
to Mars ": The Greenport Senior Class
will present the play "Father's Been to
Mars" as their annual Senior Class pro-
duction. This timely satire on some of
our most popular television shows fea-
tures Captain Galaxy of outer space
fame, a man who even wears his outer
space costume at home. The play was
selected by the class reading committee
consisting of Karen Dean, chairman;
Sarah Postwaite and Vernon Appelt.
Focus...
(continued from page 14A)
footed mice. They looked like they were
packed in a box, four or five of them all
curled up into a knot fast asleep in one
of their mini - hibernations.
They were so deep in sleep that even
when I touched their long whiskers it
didn't disturb them. Quietly I put the
cover back on the stove and for this rare
privilege I picked out a piece of my
lunch and left it for them to feast upon.
When it warmed up they would be scur-
rying around looking for food, and
maybe this would be their Christmas
dinner.
Whether it's a squirrel or mouse who
takes these small naps during the cold
weather, they all venture forth as soon
as it warms up. Their survival is based
on their ability to find nuts, seeds and
other bits of material. They can cache
away just so much but then a mouse's
life is spent searching for food.
We made our annual pilgrimage to
our folks place to collect black walnuts
this week. They had all blown on the
ground; now they are in the garage
waiting to be spread out to dry. The
only problem is that they must be like
candy to the grey squirrels -- they've
already found them and I can follow
their trail or husks out the garage and
down the driveway.
Black walnuts have a covering that
will strain your hands like no other
stain and therefore require a little bit
of patience in removing the husks. Once
removed and dried they'll keep all
winter. There's nothing quite like the
taste of black walnuts, and the beauty
is only a small amount is needed to give
cookies or cakes that delicious flavor.
At a local sale recently we saw 8 oz.
p9ckages of the shelled nuts for $3.75.
Along with the tough - shelled black wal-
nuts, Barbara's folks also had beauti-
ful English walnuts scattered about the
ground. We collected these, too. It is
nice to have our folks live nearby and
also nice that they share the fruits of
their beautiful harvest each year with
us.
i