I know this news will not be broadcast by the CNN, and the local news papers will not mention it, not even the Holiday Times, but a tree was killed in my back yard...The old Cottonwood tree planted by some previous owners on the property limit. A tree that from the height must have been 25 or 30 years old was the ONLY adult tree and ONLY shade on my property. I loved the shade in my back yard in sunny summer days, from sunrise till around 11AM. Taylor loved the tree all year round and could spend hours watching the squirrel to visit the tall tree.
My neighbor did not like it because "it was so messy" with its flying puffy seeds in the spring, and being too close to his house, he complained that branches might fall on the house. His house is there long enough, as the tree was there also. Last summer after the tornado he did not have any leaves and branches on his house, and not even in his drive way, all were fallen in my back yard. The winds blow here from NE, and that protects his house from branches that fall in the opposite direction, away from house. It was I gathering 10 big black trash bags of leaves this fall, all in my back yard, the wind did not blow the other way...
My neighbor wanted me to pay half of the price of taking down the tree, since being on the limit half was mine, and half was his. I gave him the permission because I understood his concern that the branches might fall on his house and produce damage, but I really could not pay to killing a tree that I loved and did not want to loose.
Some guys from a tree cutting company came and chopped my tree to the ground...
Taylor is searching for the tree, still looking in dismay that the tree with the visiting squirrel is no longer there... both of us feel the empty place... our tree is missing. Now my house will be like a sunflower in the summer with no shade at all from sunrise to sunset. The back yard is towards East, the front is towards West. No shade means higher AC bills in the summer, and no more reading under the shade of a tree in hot summer mornings...
The first picture on this page was the BEFORE and here below is the picture of AFTER the tree was killed in my back yard....