Greetings! Although we have had some spotty frost around the area, so far, no killer frost. I am still gathering my geranium flowerpots together, so I can winterize the geraniums in my basement.

My late grandmother, Margaret Brown used to put her geraniums on the windowsills of the barn, where the Brown Farms milking cows were milked. My mother, Marguerite Brown has winterized her geraniums for years. I have had mixed success, however at least 50% of them survive the winter.

Heaven has a new angel, Bill Fulton. My heartfelt sympathy to his family. I used to tell Bill that he was a cat with nine lives, as he survived chapter after chapter of the health challenges that he experienced these past ten years. Bill and Patty Fulton were passionate Yankee baseball fans. A few years ago, when the Mets (my team) was playing and lost a key game, Bill and Patty sent me a sympathy card.

In recent years, Bill Fulton rang the church bell on Christmas Eve. Bill jokingly told me that he sat in the back pew, closest to the door, so he could make a quick escape (with that special Billy Fulton humor). He used to plow the sidewalks at the Kenoza Lake United Methodist church, church angel work. A very special person with a huge, generous heart. Godspeed Bill Fulton, Godspeed.

Election Day Krispy Kreme doughnut sale at the Kenoza Lake Firehouse! The Jeffersonville Krispy Kreme doughnut sale will not take place this year. Stop by at Kenoza Lake if you want some delicious doughtnuts. No soup and chili sale this year in Kenoza Lake due to COVID 19.

What a rainstorm on Tuesday. Wow! Kudos to our local fire companies and other first responders as well as our highway departments, who helped keep the roads open and rescue some folks that were in challenging, flooded situations.

I saw some photos on Facebook that Cindy Herbert took of the water roaring through the Kenoza Lake Stone Arch Bridge. Just like the Bridges of Madison County, we could have the Stone Arch Bridges of Sullivan County with the Kenoza Lake Stone Arch Bridge, the crown jewel of them all. This iconic bridge was built by our Swiss German settlers back in the 1870s and has withstood numerous flooding challenges.

Nevertheless, I wish that the Sullivan County Department of Public Works would do some work on the Japanese Knotweed and silt that has settled in by the arch, closest to Route 52. The pressure that is being put on the Kenoza Lake Stone Arch Bridge during a rain event is enormous.

Sometimes logs get in there as well and more pressure on the stone arches. If I had more time, I would start some sort of preservation organization to help maintain and preserve, this Sullivan County iconic treasure. Maybe we can get some volunteers together to start such a foundation?

Nature Notes

My late Grandfather, Jesse Brown used to say that oak trees don’t grow on the north side of Route 17B. Although I can think of a few oak trees near Bernhardt, Jaketown and Gabriel Roads, there do seem to be more oak trees on the south side of Route 17B, which is where I live, on Pucky Huddle Road. So, the thing with oak trees and acorns, is that there are MAST YEARS. What is a mast year?

There is a huge acorn tree that is located on the front lawn of the Ray and Susan Otto house. Some years, we have so many acorns, you can literally pick them up with a shovel. An acorn year like that is called a MAST YEAR (bumper crop). I found the following definition of a mast year, from the:

“A ‘mast year’ for acorns - Columbia Journalism Review

“Mast years” occur in irregular cycles of two to five years. An abundance of acorns is often said to augur a bad winter, the theory being that the squirrels know somehow that they need to stock up. The Farmers’ Almanac explored that hypothesis, and, to judge by the answers, it’s a bad winter every year.”

This year is NOT a mast year for Pucky Huddle Road. There are hardly any acorns this year.

Kenoza Lake History Highlight from Leslie Loeffel:

“An Indian longhouse reportedly stood at the end of Kenoza Lake on the site of Wilmot Moulthrop’s house. Charles Hick, Callicoon Town Historian, writing in 1944, cites a man named Fred Stewart who says that one day after a rain he picked up a tin butter pail full of flint arrowheads on the property. Theron Taylor had a collection of artifacts, including what Hick identified as a banner stone, and Hick claims that the land for miles around Kenoza Lake “abounded in Indian relics.” One place in particular that was rich in these items, he says, was near the outlet of Birch Ridge pond.”