Let Me Introduce You...

...to Cottonwood Pond.  It was born in 2012 when a great storm blew down a great Cottonwood tree.  Or maybe I should say it was born when the resulting hole filled with water after subsequent storms, rains and snow melt.  It that a bit like the chicken-and-egg dilemma?
     We've had so many trees go down in our woods, particularly in the past several years of fierce storms, torrential rains, straight-line winds, and a long drought in the summer of 2012 that exacerbated the situation.  This Cottonwood was one of our largest, growing in a low part of the woods, below a hill and near our intermittent creek.

      The Great Fallen One is about 70 feet long up to the first main branching (that's a very rough estimate, and not accounting for the amount of space from ground to fallen tree near the top).  When it fell, it landed in the "V" of a double-trunk Red Oak tree.  Unlike other fallen trees in our woods, we can easily walk beneath this one.

     Here is a nice view of the lower 1/2 to 2/3 of the fallen tree.  You can see the giant root ball in the low area.

     As our ground is clay and this is a low, soggy spot, I expect this new pond will retain water, barring another long drought.  Here you can see a trickle in the near corner that connects the pond to the nearby creek.  So far, I do not know if it trickles in or trickles out.  On this day, there is a thin layer of ice over the pond.  A long, thin stem bends and dips lyrically into the pond, where its tip creates a white ice bubble. 

     The root ball is about 15 feet across and about 9 feet from the pond to the top of the root ball, leaving a comparably sized hole.  To the far left, you can see my black glove, looking as if it is clutching at a rootlet.  The glove is about the size of a bullfrog.

     Here's a look at the base of the fallen tree and the top of the root ball.  In this view, it is easier to see further the circumference of the hole and the resulting pond.  The vegetation was once part of a flat, mucky area.

     
    The circumference a the base of the trunk is about 6 feet 27 inches in diameter..  There's my bullfrog-sized glove again, clinging to the bark.  Moss grows in the cracks of the bark.  Dead leaves accumulate in the crook of the trunk and root ball, creating a substrate for new life.

     
     Bubbles in the ice.  Layers of dead leaves below the water will also harbor new life.

     Can't you just see deer coming to drink from the edge of this pond?  Raccoons dipping in their hand-shaped paws, birds alighting on the nearby brush, a squirrel stopping on top of the root ball, flicking its fluffy red tail?

     There are many things I envision at Cottonwood Pond, but we'll see what happens.  I will be visiting it often throughout the seasons of this year, and longer.  In this blog, I will share with you what I see, hear, smell, discover and learn at Cottonwood Pond.  I expect and hope that water will remain.  I am hoping for frogs anytime soon, and into the summer.  I'll be looking at the water, in the water, near the water, on the root ball, and all along the slowly rotting trunk.  We'll see what blooms, takes root, visits, or stays to live here, and how they all interact and are connected.  Stay with me as this adventure unfolds at Cottonwood Pond.