The Village Focus
Webster Herald
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
by Carol Klem
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Al Abraham's Call of the Wild
The call of the elk is a familiar sound perhaps in the mountains in Idaho, but on Lapham Park…I doubt it. However neighbors of Al Abraham have been listening to Al practice bugling since he made plans to fulfill his longtime dream of bagging a mighty elk.
Most of us probably are unfamiliar with the elk ‘s love call but …the word on the street was that Al was so good at reproducing the call that neighbors were concerned an elk would, one of these days, walk right up to his back porch.
After literally decades of thinking and planning a hunting exhibition, plans were finally underway to pursue this dream of ….an elk. Al and his two brothers, Ron, a forester and a 1978 graduate of the Syracuse School of Forestry, and Carl of Kansas City left last month with their bows and arrows for the trip to the mountains in Idaho. They come from a family of bow hunters.
Al’s mother-in-law, Pat LaPlaca said that Al was well prepared for the hunt. He did his homework. He researched everything there was to know about elks for years. In his heart and head, this trip had been mapped out over an over.
Three days on the road and the excitement was off the chart.
The three brothers knew once they drove into the wild …parked along the logging roads… walked for miles that they were in the right location. First Al saw a cow elk “but you knew you can only kill bulls,” Al said, trying to tutor this uneducated writer in ways of the wilderness. They were in bull country. A moose passed right in front of him, he said. Awesome.
In addition, there they were- ah yes…Elk tracks… if that isn’t a good sign what is.
And then…on the third day …while Al was hiding in a wallow, a hole of mud - finally -”the magic moment!” “One hundred yards off an elk called out, it was incredible. I tried getting him in closer”, he said. Finally the huge elk was within range…obviously a sure shot.
It was the most incredible thing I’ve ever done,” Al said.
Michele agreed. When he called and told Michele that he had his elk, they both cried. “This was the best thing that happened to him since the birth of the kids…since our house…actually this was his thing…it’s all his.”
Six hundred pounds of elk boils down to about 271 pounds of meat and it was supposed to arrive at the Abrahams last Friday. Al and his brothers did the primary butchering in the woods. The meat supposedly tastes more like beef than deer. Michele is on a search for good old elk recipes. There will be a celebration where many members of the Michele and Al’s families and friends will enjoy the taste of elk.
The head will be proudly mounted at The LaPlaca camp in the foothills of the Adirondacks, at Crogan, N.Y.
It is said that in sports, as in love, one can never pretend. Al proved himself to be one of the most noble sportsmen, humble, happy…”He’s the real deal,” his wife Michele said.
Even now, he seems to consider all this something of a miracle…a dream come true. “I was the only one out there who even saw an elk,” he said. “Prayer works.”
She did it!
The newest of the village hall ladies, Carol Moranz recently became a notary public and is available to all of us.
Yea for her! Yea for us!
Fall exhibits at the Webster Museum
History doesn’t pass the dishes again.
There are learning opportunities at your fingertips for everyone at the Webster Museum. Children, in particular, should be introduced to a quick course in Webster History 101 . They will find the stories of the past interesting.
Our friends at the Museum have put forth a package to entice people with diverse interests to visit and browse one of our favorite local resources.
Certainly, old-timers in particular will enjoy reminiscing about days gone by when farms dotted the landscape, when a handshake meant a contract and when autumn meant harvest and hard work. Harvest season was a busy and hopefully profitable time for early settlers.
This fall you are invited to learn more about Harvest time in the days of Webster’s early settlers.
Because Webster had ideal soil and climate conditions for fruit and berry producing our farmers produced small fruits and berries supplying Rochester – and then, believe it or not, “the world” with our fruit. We became the evaporated apple capital of the world. (FYI: evaporated apples were prepared from sound properly ripened fruit that was washed, peeled, cored, sorted, trimmed, cut to the desired size and dried to a specific moisture range.)
Industries developed because smart businessmen drew from the success of the fruit growers. One was J.W. Hallauer who began the Webster Canning and Preserving Company in 1890. During one growing season, the Webster Canning and Preserving Company filled and shipped two and half million cans of fruit and vegetables. We are talking a lot of fruit here – numbers like - 750,000 pounds of berries, 300, 000 pounds of cherries etc.
Farmers also required baskets in a day when plastic was unheard of and the Kittelberger Brothers, Albert, Gottleib and Charles, stepped in and fulfilled that need. Nowhere in the history of Webster will you read where the brothers were “basket cases” ( and they weren’t – before I get into trouble) but you will learn that they were savvy businessmen of their day and made baskets by the case – in fact over two million berry baskets alone.
The first baskets were made by hand over a wooden form with hammers and tacks. Their trade covered the whole United States.
The Kittelberger’s donated many of those baskets to the Museum. On display are the berry and apple baskets.
Amazing stories are available at the museum.
Also on display…dolls and children’s books
There is something to be said for collectors. Real collectors don’t play at collecting like our kids, when they collected baseball cards, sand and small bugs. I have learned that to some it is a serious day-to-day passion of love…the thrill of the hunt.
Two amazing local collectors of dolls and children’s books are being highlighted in the Museum displays this fall.
Carol Reitz, a collector of dolls, loaned the museum part of her large collection of dolls she has collected dolls since she was a young girl.
In addition, Mary Fran Grenier a collector and dealer of children’s books has brought in some of her collection to share. Mary Fran explained that many books are valuable because of the illustrations and I’ll bet you remember many from your youth.
In addition, visitors will enjoy a display belonging to the museum of dolls and children’s books that people have donated over the years.
Kretzers collection on display in the dining room.
You will love the dining room at the museum!! It is a collection from the 1930’s and will star “All Things Green,” said Jan Naujokas.
This collection will give you an idea of how a collector gets hooked, “said Jan. The collectors, Marian and Bob Kretzer, have collected over the years and ended up donating their collection to the museum. “We love their collection,” said Jan, speaking for the museum, and “we hope you will come and enjoy it too.
If you have a collection you want to share, give Jan a call at 265-3268. (On a personal note: Collecting interest does not count as a hobby or make one a collector. Collecting dust balls does not either.)
The Webster Museum is open: Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, from 2 to 4:30 p.m.
Get ready for Halloween in the Village
Ghosts and goblins, witches and princesses are invited to
The Community Meeting Room on Saturday, Oct. 25 to show off their costumes, to enjoy donuts and cider and quite possibly to win a prize.
Stay tuned to the Herald for more information on one of the most fun events of the year. Save the date…and stay tuned. (Click here for more info)
