Saturday, March 2, 2013

Marching in with a skip of snow

on the tree stump next door: side view back view top view Falling in a fierce February rainstorm, this tall red maple barely missed the garage. A week later the huge long trunk was sawed up and hauled away, leaving only the uprooted stump. It was hollow at the core and over two feet in diameter. My nephew counted 127 rings in the heart wood. The light snow cover soon melted from the ground this morning, and not long after that the frosting on the old tree stump began to disappear, too. I was amazed at all the little pock marks in the stump's snow cap. I would have thought the snow would melt "all of a piece" and either slide off or soak into the bark. But each little drizzly rain drop left a separate record of its arrival. This afternoon, only wet bark and wet ground is left as witness to the early morning precipitation.

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