Oh, the old oak tree . . .

Oh, the old oak tree . . . is gone.
It was a beautiful old tree, and I always enjoyed looking up at its tall branches. The birds and squirrels loved it and made their homes in it. When we first got our cat, Romeo, she climbed it and even took naps in it. Her kittens enjoyed learning how to climb in its branches.

We decided to cut it down for a variety of reasons. First, it caused our entire back yard to be shady. We like to grow plants and have had a garden for many years, but we have also had a whole bunch of challenges with growing things due to the shade and all the worms that live in the tree and the acorns and other "stuff" the tree drops and sheds every year. Speaking of the acorns and "stuff", that is another reason we wanted to cut it down. The amount of debris the tree created for us to rake up and bag up was out of control. More than once a year, more like two or three times each season, we would have to clean up all the "stuff" all over our back yard and in our flower gardens and our vegetable garden plot. The huge, contractor size bags of leaves, branches, acorns, "stuff", and more "stuff" we had to take care of frequently was getting to be too great of a job. Having to clean up all the time was taking away time that we would rather spend growing vegetables and enjoying the flowers we grow.

Another reason we gave it the "axe" was that one of the major, huge, limbs was rotting and it was hanging over our house. We didn't want to take any chances with it, considering the heavy storms we get in this area sometimes.

Our bird feeder is still filled regularly for the birds and squirrels. We didn't have very many birds or critters eating from it right after we had the tree cut down, but now they have all returned. Some days we have about 15-20 mourning doves, countless sparrows, and about 4-5 squirrels buzzing around to get the seeds.

It was a lovely tree and I do miss it sometimes. However, it was a good decision, and I know we will be glad we did it after the seasons begin to change and we don't have to clean up all that "live oak tree stuff". I look forward to spending time on my patio, using my brand new patio furniture, and watching our garden grow. There's such great sunshine coming into my living room now, too! I love the beams of light shining on our carpet while I play with Isaac.