BLACK WILLOWS AND FIRST STEPS

Thursday,  8:00 AM.  25 degrees F, wind NW, calm with moderate gusts.  It is an overcast, gray morning with a few errant snow flakes floating around.  The wind has a distinct bite to it.  I am making few predictions as my weather center gave up along with my computer.  I've taken care of the later but not yet the former.
   The trip to Wausau for the forester's meeting was uneventful except for some nasty weather yesterday morning (while Bayfield, hundreds of miles north, had beautiful weather).  The meeting was worthwhile, with lots of discussion of emerald ash borer and gypsy moth epidemic control and other tree problems.  I did some strategizing concerning a Forest Service grant which has an impending deadline which I will try to meet before we leave on vacation next week, but more of that another day.
   The tree photo is of a monstrous old black willow (Salix nigra) in the woods on 9th st., between Old Military Road and Manypenny Ave. There are others in the woods which are just as picturesque.  Bayfield's ravine conservancy areas have many of these trees,  planted to hold the soil after the disastrous flood of 1942.  Willows like this one are a maintenance problem because they are weak wooded, but they are undeniably beautiful, have more lives than a cat, and serve a useful purpose when properly located.
   A thought for the day: gun registration is the first step towards gun confiscation and ultimately dictatorship.

Salix nigra