May 21, 1987 - Busting Out All OverBusting Out All Over
By PAUL STOUTENBURGH
For those of us who have boats,
these are busy days. Engines are
being tuned up, lines and tackle gone
over, sails checked, a new piece of
equipment added and, of course, the
annual painting of the bottom are all
parts of the world of boating. It lasts
about a week around our place and
then it's into the water and the grime
and work are forgotten for another
year. We on the East End were so
short - changed by the weather this
spring that everyone is working like
crazy to get caught up on the lost
days.
But then there are always two
sides to every story. The other side of
the rainy weather is the explosion
of flowering trees, bushes and plants
that, surrounded by a lush green,
seems to have taken over almost
overnight. The horse chestnuts along
the road are flowering with their tall
upright spears that make this tree
one of the handsomest of flowering
trees.
It's a tree all kids knew when they
were young -- when the ripe brown
nuts started to fall we were always
there to pick up the treasures and
hoard them in our pockets. The
husks left behind are sometimes not
appreciated by those who live around
the trees, but when you think of the
flowers and the shade and those
rich brown chestnuts, the inconveni-
ence of the spiny husks is well worth
it.
Sometimes we took the brown
nuts and carved faces on them like
jack -o- lanterns and, of course, we
boys would mimic our dads by whittl-
ing the center out and attaching it to
a stick in the form of a pipe. Those
were creative days.
All Trees Have Blossoms
All trees blossom in some shape or
manner but many are hardly noticed.
Even the oak with its long garlands
of greenish flowers is quite hand-
some when closely examined. My
Japanese black pines that rim the
pasture will later have flowers laden
with pollen. It's always fun to blow
across the flower's head and see the
great billows of pollen drift away.
This is nature's way of reproduc-
ing. Windblown pollen which some-
times gives us the sniffles is abso-
lutely essential in the propagation of
many plants. The red swamp maple
down at our pond is almost past its
reddish glow and is now starting to
form the familiar maple seed pods
that all kids know. Remember how
we'd split them and put them on our
nose or watch them as we threw
handfuls in the air and let them spin
like propellers to the ground?
The rhododendrons around the
house are bursting their swollen
buds to give us a mass of spectacular
flowers. Cut one short right under
the flower and lay it in a shallow
bowl on your table. One blossom so
displayed can often match the largest
bouquet.
Most of the pears, apples and
peaches in our little orchard have
finished blossoming so now it's time
again to start spraying. As much as I
dislike the idea of using pesticides, I
Focus on
Nature
cannot raise fruit without spraying.
The way to do it is to be very selec-
tive and careful. I have bees and keep
the hives right in the orchard. If I'm
not selective and spray when the
blossoms are out, I'll kill my bees, so
during blossoming time we don't
spray. Then it's every 10 days to keep
the crawling critters in line.
Time for Barbecues
With the recent good weather the
outside world has become summer -
like and we had our first outdoor bar-
becue with family and friends. It was
the usual smoky grill with hambur-
gers and sausages on rolls, salads of
all sorts, pickles, chips, and, of
course, beer and soft drinks. The
party was going along fine, everyone
eating and chatting as families do
when they get together, when I saw
a large black bird flying low over-
head. Well, party or no party, I had
to investigate this unusual visitor.
My son and two others also caught a
glimpse of it as it passed by so we all
rushed to a car in hot pursuit for a
definite identification.
It looked like a turkey vulture, but
vultures are very uncommon here on
Long Island. We see them in Connec-
ticut, on the mainland down through
New Jersey and on into the south,
but for some unknown reason hardly
ever on Long Island. Some think they
don't like to cross the water and
thereby, like everyone else, must
enter our island from the west.
We headed for an open spot where
we could see the horizon and sure
enough, the vulture was still flying,
but by this time it was being haras-
sed by a couple of seagulls. I thought
to myself, Could this be one of the
reasons vultures don't like Long Is-
land? For we surely have a surplus
of seagulls. We had brought binocu-
lars along and we could now identify
it positively as a turkey vulture.
We have two basic vultures along
the East Coast -- the turkey vulture
which is the most common, and the
black vulture. They're masters of the
thermals they soar on. Often you'll
see them high in the sky, circling
endlessly as they get higher and
higher. Vultures can be identified
from hawks by their bare heads and
the turkey vulture by its high dihed-
ral (shallow V) of its wings when
gliding. They eat nothing but carrion
which we usually see along the road
as a result of some unfortunate rab-
bit or raccoon being hit by a car.
They never kill an animal, but are
always there for the feast once one
dies. If you watch television you may
have seen them in Africa where they
are much more common than here.
Whether it's getting boats in the
water, enjoying a barbecue or putter-
ing in the garden, spring always
seems to be the busiest time of the
year. But then again, I guess we
wouldn't want it any other way.
Everyone Reads
The Suffolk Times and the News - Review
'Th6 80610firnes %May 21, 1987 /0age 9A
Photo by Paul Stoutenburgh
HORSE CHESTNUT BLOSSOM -- Although not a native of North
America, this immigrant from southern Europe is common along our
roadsides and lawns, and is one of the best and most beautiful shade
trees.
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