Vanessence: I Wood Miss It

Friday, August 14, 2015

I Wood Miss It

This was the view out my patio window in May of 2014. I’d been doing a “photo a day” type of thing for about a year and a half at that point, and the tree was lush and full. There were times it was a bit annoying, because I felt like I couldn’t see the sunrise in the summer. The shade was awesome, though. It protected our little patio from some of the heat.

The birds loved it. They’d serenade us at the crack of 2 AM, because Illinois birds wouldn’t know the crack of dawn if it came up and bit them in the … well, you know. Sleeping with the windows open was often not an option because they’d chirp loud enough to wake the dead. And I sleep like the dead.

This is the view out my patio window, today, Friday August 14th, 2015.

Yeah. Me too.

I took this picture of the kids, about 6 months after we moved in, in the early Spring. You can’t see the tree itself, but you can see its shadow, and see how small it was. It was kind of a spindly thing.

This was taken last week, as I was taking my weekly garden pictures. You can see the red tape around the trunk. I was hoping it was just to mark those trees that needed treatment due to disease of some kind, that they wouldn’t have to be cut down.

But, this. Sad smile I counted the rings as best I could, and it looks like the tree was around 20 years old. Probably 5 when it was planted here when the complex was built, and about 10 when we moved in. So, we’ve known it about half its life.

Just a few minutes after I took this picture …

They came by with a stump grinder and took even the stump out. If I hadn’t taken the picture, we’d have no way of even guessing how old it was.

I know the tree was unsalvageable, obviously, and needed to be removed. I hope they plant something else in its place. Seems the whole complex is getting a “makeover” as several trees had the red tape, and the tree guys are still out there cutting and grinding, all these hours later. It only took them about 20-30 minutes to get this one down and out.

Thank you, Tree! I will miss you.