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September 30, 1993 - Bright Adventures on a Dark Afternoon6A a The .Suffolk Times, • September 30, 1993 Bright Adventures on a Dark Afternoon By Paul Stoutenburg I It looks like we are in for a few days of stormy weather. I was going to say raw days but I'll keep that adjective for later this winter. Instead it is a cool, grey day with a strong wind out of the east. All the boats moored in the once -pro- tected lee of the shore now have Focus On the tables turned Hature on them and are tugging frantically at their moorings. To most it's a dreary day, a good day for staying at home and reading books. Perhaps a fire in the fireplace to add a bit of cheer will help. Yet the seagulls that patrol the beaches probably enjoy this kind of day for it's now new spoils of the sea will be cast up for their review. Also, on calm days they must work harder to keep aloft. Today it seems as if they drift back and forth effortlessly in what appears to be a long, continuous glide. One of the gulls has been rewarded with some sort of crustacean that needs opening and so up into the wind it flies, letting it go, hopefully breaking it open on the ground below. If his strategy works he'll soon be jabbing and digging with his murderous bill. Breakfast is served. This day seems to have no effect on the cormorants that feed out in front. Their underwater world is not one of wind and flight but rather one of quiet and swimming. Its bill is designed dif- ferently than the gull's. Rather than the big, heavy, point- ed ram of the gull, the cor- dogs revert morant's bill is back to their long slender and laced with past ances- grooves that can try when they hold fast to any on come upon slippery critter that it might the scent of come upon. To a deer.' add to its striking power the cor- morant uses its wings underwater to sprint ahead for that last- minute catch. Like wolves, cormorants often hunt in packs and use this technique when feed- ESCAPING DEER —When deer are trapped by man or beast they often take to the water mile to safety. ing. Just the other day I saw five or six working together out in front. It looked as if they had teamed up to catch the fast - swimming snappers that are in the bay now. I remember seeing this team- work being used by hundreds or more cormorants down south one time. The fish were panicked by the wave of cor- morants moving against them. It was a wild orgy of diving, thrashing and feed- ing. Gulls and terns added to what seemed utter confusion, but in reality each was doing its part to bring about a no -lose feed for all. After the cormorant swims below it must come out of his liquid haunt and dry out. It does not have the oily insu- lated feathers of the ducks and geese and therefore when its feathers become wet and the bird becomes uncomfortable it has to dry out. You'll often see them sit- ting on fish nets, buoys, pilings, etc., their black silhouettes with wings spread heading into the wind to dry. It's nature's way of hanging out its laundry. Change of scene. Time lapse into the following day. We're sitting by the pic- ture window in the cabin overlooking bet's Kook Back 82 Years Ago Sept. 30, 1911 Real Ball Playing: A novelty in baseball is in the fact that the Riverhead traveling team and the Mattituck team played two games within a week and yet neither has won. A 14- inning game was played recently and neither side scored a run. Saturday the teams went at it again, played 11 innings, and the game was called again because of darkness, and the score was still a tie, each ream having five runs. Naturally interest is at fever heat in the two villages because of the unusual work. The teams are composed for the most part of young boys. It is expected that they will meet again in a week or so to break the deadlock before cold weather comes. Corwin and Goldberg compose the Riverhead battery and Cochran and Barker for Mattituck. Cochran is the plucky young pitcher who worked so faithfully for the Greenport team this season. 5o Years Ago Sept. 30, 1943 Wanted — Part -Time Workers: Contribute toward the war effort by using your spare time building invasion barges for the U.S. Navy. Hours: 6:00 p.m. to the still stormswept bay when out of the corner of my eye I see a deer running along the water's edge. Now deer are basically secretive during the day and are usually nestled down in a grassy or wooded spot that is little traveled, that is until a roving dog disturbs one and then it's off and running. Few people realize that many of their pet dogs revert back to their past ancestry when they come upon the scent of a deer. Then the chase is on. Actually the deer can outrun most dogs, but in confined areas like most of the woodlands here on the East End (with the exception of the pine barrens) the deer are sooner or later pushed out of their sparse cover and that was just what had happened here. I could see its mouth open, panting, as if it had been chased for some time. Hot Pursuit by Dog It wasn't long before the dog turned up in hot pursuit. Now both were going full -tilt along the water's edge. The deer must have realized that it had to do something quickly for the beach ended only a short distance ahead where the channel flows into the creek. Its only 10:00 p.m. Experience not required. Apply Personnel Department, Greenport Basin and Construction Company, Greenport, N.Y. (Advertisement) A Junior Home Front Soldier: Youngsters are put to work making sure that the housewives in their neigh- borhoods get their waste fats in the local salvage collection. Collecting waste fats is an important job these days because they contain 10 percent glycerine which is necessary to the manufacture of nitroglycerine, dynamite and cordite. Two pounds of waste fats produce enough glycerine to fire five 37 -mm. antitank shells. 25 Years Ago Sept. 27, 1968 Greenport's Fourth Budget Vote: The Green - port school, which opened on Sept. 4, has been operating under an austerity budget, the proposed budget as submitted by the Board of Education for the 1968 -69 school year hav- ing been defeated three times. This proposed budget will again be submitted to the taxpayers of the district at a fourth school election which is being held today from I to 9 P.M. This fourth election regarding the budget was approved by the Board of Education after a petition signed by approxi- mately 600 qualified voters was presented to the board requesting that a fourth election be held. This one swam a halt- choice was to escape into the bay and so off it turned, leaping and splashing in the water that was only knee -deep near shore. When the dog got to where the deer departed into the water, he stopped and stood and barked. I'm sure he felt this was not fair for the deer had longer legs and is an expert swimmer. We watched the drama unfold as the deer got into deeper and deeper water. Soon it was swimming with only its small head showing. But what made it easy to follow were the big, oversized ears that stood out clearly as it pushed for the opposite shore a half -mile away. The dog, puzzled, sat at the water's edge and watched as we went to get our binoculars and scope. Then the waiting game started. All we could see was a small dot on the water where those big ears slowly moved across the bay. What seemed hours in reality was about 30 minutes when it finally reached the cove on the opposite side. It came out of the water slowly, stood there for a few min- utes looking and sniffing the air about. (Was it safe ?) Every once in a while it would look back across the bay to see that no danger came from there. Darkness closed in as we last saw the deer moving into the tall grass. Now we both could rest in peace. The drama was over. The dog lost its interest and walked slowly up the beach toward home. Bridge Results North Fork Bridge Club Sept. 14 Results overall Charity Championship: 1. Al Sunshine -Jerry Rogers; 2. Maurice -Eda Lambert; 3. Thelma Richter -Marie Strasser; 4. Barbara -Ralph Shapiro. Mattituck Bridge Club Sept. 22 Results North- South: 1. Charlie Michel -Ann Kempner; 2. Bea - Harold Breslow; 3. Helen Wolff -Ari McDermott; 4. Joan Halligan -Dick Burns. East -West: 1. Jack -Bea Karp; 2. Frank Spoerr -Dick Fernandez; 3. Lillian Price -Ruth Preston; 4. Louise Deland -Edith Boczek. Cutchogue Bridge Club Sept. 24 Results North- South: 1. Charlie Michel -Dick Burns; 2. Jim - Stella Manos; 3. Dorothy Sawyer -Helen Wolff; 4. Gloria Fultz -Ruth Hess. East -West: 1. Mary Markel -Jane Wlock; 2. Lillian Price - Isabelle Munch; 3. Louise Deland -Edith Boczek; 4. Flo Tritt -Ann Boist.