Damaged Oak Tree

Off Auburn Folsom Road in Granite Bay is a small nature preserve that runs along Miners Ravine. The ravine got its name when miners worked its gravels for gold. Today I returned to the preserve, my last visit being many years ago. A half mile loop trail passes a granite outcrop with bedrock mortars where Nisenan women over many centuries ground acorns into meal. Granite forms deep underground. A mountaintop was several miles above here some 128 million years ago. The mountain wore away and filled part of the Sacramento Valley. Now the outcrop is at the base of the relatively young and still-rising Sierra Nevada.

My walk took me to an old oak tree. It stood proud when I last saw it, but since then disease and maybe high winds caused considerable damage.

The oak tree, October 24, 2004

The oak tree, January 21, 2017

Just a side note. The 2004 photograph was taken with slide film. I shot my last roll of slide film in November 2010. The one roll of Velvia slide film in my refrigerator may never be used. Last year I ordered chemicals to process some black and white film, dusted off the darkroom equipment, and made a few prints. It was a lot of money and time for those few prints. Film may never go away but it is not coming back.

Novus Ordo Seclorum

Today's inauguration of Donald Trump as the 45th president of the United States does not herald a new order of the ages. That new order began with the founding of our country. Trump's presidency will get us closer to the principles of that new order - the people have the power, and America's interests come first. Much work awaits us.