Dropping More Pines

 This week has seen six more pines cut down. We're losing them at a prodigious rate. Is it the change in our climate or are they merely old? I planted all of them myself, beginning in 1987. One after another begins to show brown needles and soon they are standing there dead.

 Tom removed two a few days ago with a new electric chain saw he bought, Though dragging an extension cord can be inconvenient - and we can't reach everywhere - the saw is amazingly powerful and efficient. It's what we've needed for year. The gasoline-powered chain saws are often hard to start.

 Yesterday Bob stopped by and helped take down another four. So we lost six pines this  week.

 Here's Tom and Bob making the final cuts in one of the trees that was closest to Clayton Road. Tom cut two trees down there. Bob helped cut the trunks into manageable lengths and he took both stumps out. You can't even tell there were trees there.

 Then to the meadow where three trees were removed this week.

 That's one place I can't go when the weeds are high. My allergies cause me to break out as soon as a green leaf touches my skin. Then, too, I'm sneezing as soon as I step outside.

 Finally the guys removed a tree at the rear of the property. The largest dead pine wasn't even touched. It's a major project and one we'll probably wait for nature to begin taking it down for us. It's not near anything if it falls.

 The wait probably won't be long.