The ground was frozen solid under our work boots, the dry leaves crunching with every step.

Dale carried the box of heavy steel plates under one arm and a fifty-foot tape measure in his right hand.

At the corner post where Brad’s handwritten card had been stuck, Dale took a three-inch steel lag bolt from his jacket pocket.

He pressed the bright yellow steel plate flat against the rough bark of a big white oak, five feet off the ground.

The high whine of his cordless impact driver cut through the quiet woods as the steel bolt drove deep into the living wood.