Till death do us part

Something is poking me in the back. Can you see what it is? 

This morning the weather was beautiful again.  The temperature was in the high 70's and humidity around 80%.  Very comfortable for a walk.  My dog and I walked up to the west end of the dirt road intending to get some photos of the peanut patch that I promised a while back.  I was side tracked though by a tree I had seen in the past so,  I decided to photograph it instead.  This tree is unusual.   As you can see there is a fence post growing out of the side but that is not the whole story.  This "tree" is actually two trees that have grown so close to one another that they appear to be one until they reach a height of about 5 or 6 feet at which point they begin to live separate lives.   The tree on the right is a sycamore and the one on the left is a water oak.  The water oak has surrounded the fence post and has enveloped it completely to a height of about 2 feet. There appears to be no space between the two trees at the base. Where the trunk enters the ground the bark on the exterior of the two trees looks very similar except for color.   I have stopped to study these trees many times, trying to understand how they could exist so close to one another and how the water oak could have absorbed the fence post barbed wire and all.   I guess if you stay in one place long enough the whole world will pass you by or a tree may absorb you.  So keep moving.  Thanks for coming by.