So Goes the Mighty Oak

Our mighty oak is gone.  

We had it removed this week.

The most defining feature of our lot  was taken out,

It was a tough decision to make, but you can see the rotted part of the tree that had been growing at an exponential rate in the last few years.

If the tree fell on our house, it would come close to "totaling" our residence.

This is a picture of the base of the oak.  The two holes you see there were getting bigger and moved up the tree as far as you could test with a yardstick.

It was a big ol' tree.  It was perhaps the tallest and widest tree in our area.  It towered over our house majestically.  It provided a lot of cooling shade for our porch and backyard.

It also dropped limbs at a pretty good clip.  They would thud against our metal roof, and we would think, "This is it.  This is the big one." One limb did stab through the roof over our porch.  That was fun to fix.

Acorns would drop from the tree, hitting the metal roof with a sharp bang, making us think we were under siege.

Squirrels loved the acorns.  They were pretty bold around the tree.  This would provide great entertainment for the dogs, who, despite their determined efforts, were never quite able to catch a squirrel.  Sometimes watching them interact was like a Looney Tunes cartoon.

I don't know.  Maybe we were wrong.  Maybe the tree would have lasted longer than we thought.  But, given how much we have invested in the home, we couldn't take the chance.

I sure am gonna miss it, though.