The fancy cankerworm traps done by professionals are catching the wingless moths that crawl into the trees and lay cankerworm eggs.
If you don't have fancy traps already, drag out something sticky -- holiday packing tape, duct tape, whatever -- and please wrap your trees. There's still time to catch more of these lovely bugs.
The moths are climbing wild cherry trees in addition to willow oaks. No sign of them climbing dogwoods or a maple. How about your trees? And has anyone heard official counts of the number of bugs this year compared to prior years?

Try this new toy for local information here . It was featured in the new Time issue about the person of the year being you.
I think it still has some issues, beyond bugs. Mainly, any aggregator is only as good as the information it aggregates, and Charlotte's bloggers haven't reached critical mass yet when it comes to information. You can get plenty of opinions everywhere, but actual news and information are hard to come by, except from charlotte.com
And if the Observer doesn't cover it, did it really happen? Of course it did, but only if someone reports it, and someone "tags" it so it can be found. And will people really do that well, for free?

Merry Oaks residents on their Google group are sharing sitings of blue herons and even a deer!
Two people spotted a deer with antlers near the 2600 block of Arnold Drive the morning of Dec. 13.
From Tom Poston: "It skittered across Arnold down to the wild area along
the tributary running into the country club and off into the woods.
In fifteen years of living here I've never seen a deer in the
neighborhood, although I could see how one or more could survive in
the woods along the edge of the school and in the country club
property."
The heron or herons are visiting Briar Creek Greenway and Covington Oaks. One was hunting in my front yard about a month ago.
Drive, walk or bike with eyes wide open. Tell your neighbors -- even those in Country Club, Plaza Midwood and Commonwealth Park -- to do the same.

Photo credits: little blue heron courtesy of William Klos via Flickr.com with Creative Commons licensing.
deer courtesy of Aileen via Flickr.com with Creative Commons licensing.

A link to a long post of inspiration on how to be creative, at any age, from a cartoonist and advertising industry worker: carve out some thinking time before clicking this. And yes, there may be some offensive language, and some British slang.

If you just don't have enough to do this season, check out this site for information and shopping "inside the four."
Route 4 is Charlotte's old "inner belt," including Eastway, Wendover and I think Woodlawn on the south side, though I'm a bit fuzzy on that. The website has links to neighborhood information and blogs about events and shopping in the center city. Save gas, plan your trips, or just make virtual connections with Charlotte's best neighborhoods.

Reminder: band your trees to fight cankerworms. Advice varies whether you should do trees other than willow oaks. This picture shows what the worms can do to a dogwood, though, if the worms manage to reproduce on your oaks and then move to other food sources.