Arrrgh!!!

It's time to play Taps for the elm tree that resides off the southwest corner of our house. Last year it looked sickly, and it didn't make it through the incredibly harsh January weather. Now, when you look past our house toward the west, you see a crown of bare branches. I'll try to remember to take a picture to add to this post later.

The tree service will be here at 7:30 to do their magic. It's very difficult to come to the point where we have to admit we've lost a tree, but this one is a potential danger. Since it is SO large, I've hired the service, rather than waiting for Dear Husband to try his hand at bringing it down. It would take him all winter to cut this up by himself, and I'd be in fear for the new roof, and our skylights while he did it.

We've lived here close to eighteen years, and the changes to the trees and shrubs have been quite amazing to watch. The grove is a bit sparse now. I can see the outline of the neighbor's houses to the west. As trees have died out, shrubs have moved in to fill those spaces, so we still have a wall of green to the west of the house. Someone with an unlimited budget could make quite a showplace of our grounds. We prefer to leave them closer to natural, so that the wildlife has a home.

My job this morning is to weed, and listen to chain saws. I'm also taking bets. How long do you think it will be, before Dear Husband notices that the tree is gone???