Cockscomb Coral mushroom

I've been taking a stick w/ me on my walks this year. Maybe because I'm getting older but also because w/ all of the rain, I go through lots of muddy areas.  It's nice to have a stick to stabilize my jumps from one dry spot to the next. I also have used the stick to clean out the bird houses, to lay across foliage to get a clean picture of some flower, to poke at something on the ground. My current stick is slowly getting shorter as I put it to work so it's probably a good time to think about changing it out. My idea of the perfect walking stick is the dead trunk of a hophornbeam (a/k/a ironwood). These trees grow everywhere in the woods and many die after reaching an 1" to an 1 1/2" in diameter. I found one today that has some knobby roots still attached to it. Rather artistic looking. I'll use it for a couple of days before I discard the old one. Afterall, a good walking stick is a precious commodity.