This is a healed wound. Many years ago, one of the oaks on the ridgetop at Fallen Timbers lost a limb. It wasn't a clean break. In fact, I suspect that much of the limb remained connected to the trunk, but it was dead. The bark, however, continued to grow, and it grew around the remains of the branch. As I understand it, this is how trees can seal wounds. Unfortunately for the tree, this is a slow process involving many years (at least for a project this size). In that time, fungus can get into the heart of the tree and begin the premature decay. There are lots of oddities like this on the ridgetop trees at Fallen Timbers. We have some gnarly trees there. I guess being elevated as they are on top of the hill makes them easy targets for the weather. Missouri calendar:

• Opossum young are born and climb into the female's pouch.
• River otter litters are born now through late March.

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