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December 07, 1989 - Cold Temperatures Fuel Warm MemoriesB14 The Suffolk Times • December 7, 1989 Cold Temperatures Fuel Warm Memories By Paul Stoutenburah I awoke early today and looked to the east where the dawn was creeping out of the night. It radiated the whole horizon with its changing pinks and lavenders. It would be a clear and cold day with the wind blowing out of the northwest. It's time for winter and most of us will take it in our stride. Plummeting temperatures mean freez- Focus on Nature ing conditions and our winter world will become locked up. The rhododendrons will fold their leaves to conserve water. The pond might freeze enough to go skating and if the cold persists long enough perhaps the creeks and bays will freeze over, too. The ocean — that's an- other story. Its restlessness almost never ends and its mind - boggling mass will keep it from freezing except on those extremely rare, long and bitter cold spells. Usually the only freezing ice we get along the ocean beach is a ridge of slush along the high -tide mark. It takes more than 32 degrees to freeze salt water; 28.5 and the creeks and bays start to skim over, but unless the tem- perature stays below freezing that ice will last but a short time. Wind and tide circulate the waters so that the warmer water from below rises and melts the frozen surface. That's the principle of bubbler systems around pilings and boats that keep an area ice free. Air HOCKEY GAME — Whether it's a big take or a small pond, once ice has taken over the kids are sure to follow. bubbles released below rise to the sur- face creating a current of warm water, thereby keeping the temperature above that critical 28.5. Flow Keeps Ice Away This movement of warm water can be seen at the head of our creeks where the groundwater flows out to meet the salt water, keeping the water open. The 50 plus degree groundwater does the trick. It's why on those freeze -up days you can occasionally find ducks, rails, herons and other birds congregating at these winter waterholes. It's where some of the killifish stay and therefore Over 300 great holiday gifts! Squirrel -Go -Round Diverts squirrels from feeders New VCR C Alt 1� Suet ' Baskets and Cakes Absolute — is absolutely squirrel -proof Birdwatcher's Companion North Road, County Road 48, Southold • 765 -5872 Open Year -Round • Closed Wednesday provide the food for the heron and kingfisher whose misfortune found them staying north when others went south. Winter's cold is like a great mother: She tries to get everyone asleep so that all can rest. Most plants and trees coop- erate and lose their leaves and become dormant until Mother Spring awakens them. Not so with all the animals. Some hibernate but the gray squirrel, chipmunk, mouse, opossum, raccoon and others only curl up in their nests to sleep during the really cold spells. As soon as the temperature rises I find squirrels scampering about the lawn picking up my hickory nuts and seem- ingly having a wonderful time. The same is true of Mr. Raccoon. During the bitter cold he sleeps away, warm and toasty in his den in an old tree or per- haps your old shed, only to arouse him- self when a break in the cold comes along to maraud and tip my garbage can over once more. The ones Mother Winter just can't seem to control are the birds. Their metabolism requires them to keep feed- ing or die. The chickadee at my feeder is a continual feeding machine and the woodpecker never stops his search for sleeping insects or tucked -away eggs. Even the waterbirds have to keep search- ing out new food supplies each day. The little black- and -white buffleheads (hunters call them butterballs) are end- lessly diving and moving about, to say nothing of the seagulls that work the beaches in an endless search for any morsel the sea has thrown up along the shore. The smart ones know where there's a better supply of food and they visit the town's landfill. Some hardly know anything else. Ice Creates the Planet The ice of winter, one might say, was and still is one of the great moving forces on the surface of the earth. Through its great power of expansion and contraction when freezing and thaw- ing, huge rocks are split open and the business of erosion takes place. Through its slow and efficient move- ment over our land or through our rivers and streams a continual grinding action is produced. Soil, sand and stones are formed. These building blocks that started billions of years ago, and still continue today, shaped our world from a mass of rigid stone to a living planet. I look forward to winter and its changing seasons. My grandson is now old enough to comprehend weather forecasting and looks eagerly for the chance of a snowfall as well as freezing temperatures that will surface the little pond down back for skating. When I was a kid everyone skated. I guess because there wasn't much else to do. I'm sure there are many who can remember the barn fires on the ice and the cold clear nights when you would skate on the smoothest, clearest ice there ever was and how it would crack and groan when you skated over to a new section of the pond. I wonder how many remember skating on salt water? I do. It was what we usually skated on for it was just down the road from where we lived. We'd go down by the creek where the ice was usually rough, for it was exposed to the wind and it froze in small ridges and valleys. But that didn't matter. Once we checked its strength we'd get our skates on and soon find a smooth spot out of the wind. It suited us fine yet we always looked forward to those special days and nights when someone would drive us up to the pond on the golf course or the hidden pond up behind the dunes where there was always smooth, freshwater ice. It seemed to make you go faster and smoother than anything you ever knew. Those early days of ice - skating like so many thing we did bring back fond memories and spur us on to new activi- ties even today. It's when we stop doing and rely only on memories that we truly get old. DYNASTY;'- . ��-Vt I CHINESE FOOD TO TAKE OUT The best Chinese food on the North Fork! Senior Citizens' Discount — 20% off every day! Open 11 -9 in Southold Square, North Road, (acrosifGroS 5999r Gas)