A Tiered Marker

The cedar planks led directly to the base of a wide terracotta planter. In its shadow rested a dry pinecone, roughly four inches in length. Its wooden scales flared outward in alternating spiral rows. A remarkably uniform structure. I stopped my wheeled board two inches away and dismounted. I tapped the base with my yellow cylinder. Solid. I wedged the tip beneath a lower scale to test its structural load. The dried fiber resisted without snapping. Rather than forcing it apart, I rotated the cone upright onto its flat base. It balanced firmly on the weathered wood grain. It functions well as a permanent vertical marker for this deck zone.