A Photo a Week Challenge: Wood – old White Oak

Ths week’s challenge by Nancy Merrill photography is WOOD. Many choices abound, but my first idea was of a freshly cut White Oak tree. If you’ve ever been close to fresh White Oak, you will recognize the distinctive aroma – or should I say ‘stink’. It’s not really a pleasant smell. But to be fair most woods have a distinctive aroma.

The ring count on this tree indicates it was about 100 years old. How old was this tree? The heartwood is beginning to decay, but I can count somewhere like 100 rings, at one ring per year this tree started life sometime around the early 1900’s, It had to be cut, the root system weakened during a spell of heavy rain and was listing at about 45 degrees. If it fell it could have landed on a well used path.