I had to say goodbye to an old friend before heading into the office on this gloomy morning:
That box elder was a big tree when I moved in 20 years ago. It's been struck by lightning several times, including about a week after I moved in. That went right through the bedroom and missed my bed by about a foot. As big as it is now, it has lost large limbs over the years, more than I care to count.
It looks healthier than it really is. There are some big branches hanging over the house that are dead now, and I had two different tree companies come out to give me an estimate on pruning them out. Both said they would do that if I wanted, but both also pointed out the same weak spots that led them to believe that even some of the healthy looking foliage was actually very weak. This tree wasn't going to make it more than a couple more years and even if they pruned it there was significant risk of it coming down entirely in a big storm.
I hate to see it go, but that's the way it is. I would have hated even more to have it crash through my roof. If there is any upside here it is that the garden will get a few more hours of late afternoon sun. You take what upside you can get I guess.
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