This week I finished counting the trees in our woods. I could not have done it without the assistance of three residential gray squirrels who hopped grids in the snow, thereby facilitating the counting process. My purpose has been the identification and enumeration of trees for which I am responsible, so as to assist in their management. The deer were of no help whatsoever, walking around chewing on maple twigs and sticking always to the same path, without regard for a system. It appears there are seven hundred thirty-eight trees, plus bushes. Thirty-two per cent are red or black oak. Twenty-seven per cent are Norway pine, followed by eighteen per cent maple, nine per cent jack pine and seven per cent poplar. The remainder is made up of one to two per cent each chokecherry, pin cherry, white pine, serviceberry, hornbeam, black cherry and white spruce, the spruce concentrated near a small pond. A few ornamentals introduced near the house are included in the count. Someone came to our door a while back. She said the census showed there are two in our household, a male and a female and was this correct. Yes, I said, it is correct in a way, but I think you are selling this place short. There are hundreds of others here; I just haven’t finished counting them yet. Well, she said, when you do, let me know. She looked at me peculiarly, I thought, considering she was the one who had asked the question. I had imagined the census as seeking useful detail. She got back into her car, a dark blue 2007 Chevy Malibu LT with Wisconsin plates.  It is the only one of its type I have seen in our area, where about thirty-eight per cent of all vehicles are Chevy’s, nearly half of them pick-ups or light vans, slightly less than nine per cent of the total being dark blue, the latter regarded by most observers as being invasives from Minnesota.