Timber!

Over the last several years, as the ash borer beetle made its way through here, we have lost numerous trees. They died seemingly overnight. One year they were fine, the next, they were dead.

While most of these were ash, we have also lost a few red oak trees. This may have been because of something called oak wilt, which can cause red oaks to die in weeks. It is a disease spread by beetles, so perhaps it is no coincidence that these trees are dying or have died around the same time.

We have removed most of the dead trees around the house, but a giant red oak just over our property line remained. It was on my husband's mother's property.

We finally had it removed this weekend.

You'd think out of the 30,000 photos I have there would be a picture of this tree before it died, and there probably is, but I couldn't find it.

This is what it looked like before it was cut. Imagine it all nice and green, blocking the sky.

Tree before it was cut, next to an 8 x 10 shed.

Sorry to see you go, old friend.

The view after the tree was cut.

Compare the stump to the size of the guys.

My husband said it was about 3 feet across the stump. The tree wasn't hollow, either.

When the poison oak has died out in the fall, I may go down and see if I can count the tree rings. I'd like to know how old it was.