Pining for peace of mind

Step out my front door and the whole world smells like a pine-scented candle. 

Last Friday a local tree service cut down a tree that has been threatening to fall on my house for years, a 90-foot-tall white pine conveniently located between two sets of power lines just uphill from the part of the house where the grandkids sleep when they visit. The power company had brutally trimmed off all the branches on the uphill side of the tree years ago, which probably led to the tree's eventual decline. The resident woodsman has taken down many massive trees over the years but the proximity of power lines made this one especially dangerous, and since the power company declined to take responsibility, we finally hired a tree service to take it out.

The bad news is that the patch of wild mullein that sat just downhill from the tree got flattened, but better to flatten some wildflowers than my house. No more pine-scented nightmares but plenty of pine-scented air. That's a pretty good trade. I'll pay the tree service a small fortune, but it's a small price for peace of mind.

The mullein patch before the tree was cut

Hard to see, but there's a power line in front of the rig and another behind the tree.

Mullein patch after the tree was cut

Plenty of firewood to heat the house all winter