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November 01, 2001 - Fall: queen bees and firewoodNovember 1, 2001 • The Suffolk'Times Fall, WE'VE BEEN WATCHING THE leaves gently falling for the past week, not a lot at one time, but sometimes when the air moves a few float to the ground. Once while Barbara and I were looking out toward the dog- wood tree as it lost an occasional FOCUS leaf, suddenly a gust of wind ON came in and filled NATURE the air with a by Paul great quantity of $toutenburgh abandoned leaves. They whirled about like a confused mass of dancing butterflies. It was really something to see. Most of the leaves are still on the trees but this will soon change. I can see the woods in the far distance has lost its summer green and is now taking on the browns, reds and yellows of oaks and hickories. It's the time of year to put up storm windows and then start taking in the pots of flowers that have been out around the place during the summer. Our window boxes all had to come down and be carried into the green- house. In a short time our drab little greenhouse blossomed with gerani- ums, impatiens, coleus and flowering The ofd dependable Christmas cac- us that had already started to put out is tiny buds while outdoors, was also )ut in the greenhouse, where it will ,tay until just ready to burst open and be brought into the house for the hol- idays. Since our little, greenhouse opens up into our living room, we often keep the light burning in the evening so we can enjoy the colors of summer a little longer. One of the unpleasant visitors that we get to see this time of year is the big yellow jacket. One found its way into our house and buzzed up and down the big picture window in its attempt to get out. These are the queen yellow jackets that are two or three times the size of the ones that annoy you when you eat out on your patio during the summer. They are the ones that will carry the species into next year. ueen bees and firewood Photo by Paul Stoutenburgh About this time of year, you'll see these large yellow jackets around your place and yes, even in your home. They are the queen yellow jackets. They will win- ter over in the ground or in a frost -free place in a building. In the meantime, all the worker yellow jackets will be killed by winter's cold and only the queen will be left to start anew next spring. All the rest, the workers, will die when the icy fingers of winter come along. The queen carries in her body the fertilized eggs of a future genera- tion and what she is doing in our house is looking for a place to winter over. When there are no houses around or buildings to scurry into, thi queen will find a place in the ground, under debris, or some other lace away from winter's cold. Then when spring comes along, she'll start her lit- tle hive of papier -mache again, some- times in the ground, sometimes in buildings, but always a start -up camp where her young will hatch out and become the workers in the hive. So it is a good thing to zap those queen yellow jackets, for they are the ones that will perpetuate the clan come next spring and summer and harass you later on. No matter what causes it, it forms a And by the way, as we are talking growth in the tree or limb called a about stinging yellow jackets, remem- gall. These galls are prized by wood ber. that big, basketball -sized papier- carvers and people working in the mache nest that houses the white- field of veneers. The grain is beautiful, faced hornet so, many of you have all twirly and twisty and irregular, so called me about? Remember I said that when they're cut correctly you that the queens of the white -faced get the beautiful patterns of the gall. hornet will do the same as the queens Because this huge gall was at the of the yellow jackets; they will burrow base of the tree and was hollow in the ground to spend the winter, inside, it caused the tree to be weak. then start anew Then in that next year, "never strong wind, the to return" to that tree, almost two feet in diameter. It tree blew over. old nest or hive yielded a huge pile of wood. There Now I have a again. So if you was a time when I would attack a pile tree to cut up like, in the middle like that with wedges and sledge with my chainsa of the winter, hammer but today I'm going to leave that once stood when things are that job to a mechanical log splitter, 40 feet high and icy cold, you can if I can find one. is 12 inches in take. that large The latest tree was one that went diameter. grasp nest down down in one of those strong winds It's hard to without any fear some weeks ago. Its weak spot was a think back to of attack, or just big gall in the base of the tree. It when we didn't leave it; it will must have been two to three feet have chainsaws. never be used long and at least two feet in diame- Then it was a again. ter, but hollow. This all *was an laborious job of Each morning g as I go out to exceptionally large one. We see these cutting with a feed the chickens outcroppings occasionally on trees. bucksaw, or bet - I can't believe the Where's a bit of a mystery as to what ter and quicker number of hicko- causes them. We're told it could be yet, a two -man ry nuts on the caused by a stimulation of fungi, saw. I can mposs insects or bacteria it's a tumor on ible to the plant tissue), probably when the remember cut - i. It's Ping up trees with cut- impossible walk without tree was young, or perhaps a defor- my dad after the your feet rolling mity of some sort brought about by '38 hurricane, n unknown cause. when I was on and slipping on e these one -inch, one end of -th saw and he h on round nuts. I the other. I did think this has little to help but been the best year for hickory nuts the companionship and balance I'm I've ever seen here and that's over a sure were appreciated. period of 40 -some years. Of course, Once they're cut up in the woods the squirrels will all converge here we'll lug the pieces to the edges of the and spend the winter chewing away driveway. Then with the tractor and a on their favorite dish. trailer behind it, we'll pick up the Another chore for this time of the wood and deliver it to the woodshed. year is the cutting of wood. Our little There it will dry until we bring it into wood lot doesn't yield a great deal, the house, where it will be used in our but usually one or two trees go down wood stove in the kitchen. The bigger either by rot or wind, and it is these pieces will be used in the fireplace, all that I cut up fof the next year's fire- to make our home a snug and warm wood. The first to g o was a bi cherr lace for the winter.