This is a white oak tree standing proudly in Roundrock. I love the spread of the branches, their gnarly shapes, all of the fullness about them. It looks more like a tree I'd find over at our other patch of woods: Fallen Timbers. My forest at Roundrock is relatively young since most of it has only come up in the decades since the cattle ranchers moved out. This oak, however, is an old timer, but I wasn't sure where it was when I first saw the photo.

I often face this confusion with my pix. I've taken the picture of a rock or a stump or a leaf, and there is no identifying detail to tell me where in the 80+ acres of Roundrock the item was.

When that happens (embarrassingly too often) I go to the photo bucket and have a look at the pictures I took immediately before and after it. Since I have them displayed in chronological sequence, I can retrace my steps as I took them. Based on that, I figured out where this tree is. It rises majestically along the northern property line at the point where the road turns from the fence and into the trees, leading eventually to the dam. In fact, we turned the road into the woods at this point specifically because this tree would have to have come down if the road went any farther. We couldn't let that happen!

Actually, the lack of any trees immediately behind this one should have been my clue. That open area is a spur of my neighbor's 100 acre field. There really isn't any spot in Roundrock (aside from the lake, the pecan acre, and the pine plantation) where there is that much open space.

I wish I had lots more trees like this one in my woods, but I expect that I still have 50 years ahead of me, so maybe I'll get the benefit of seeing it come to pass.

Missouri calendar:

• Look for woodpeckers at suet feeders: downy, hairy, pileated and red-bellied.

Today in Missouri history:

• Kit Carson was born on this date in 1809. During his youth in Independence, Missouri, wanderlust struck him and lead him to become one of the most renown legends of the West.

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