The tree

My house came with a pair of trees in the back yard. One was a small red maple. The other was a large white maple. A gigantic, absolute monster of a tree. It was actually four trees that sprouted (or were planted) right next to each other. It was twice as tall as my house, and covered my yard. (It went well over the fence on each side, and stretched most of the length of the backyard)

I said was because I had it taken down a few weeks ago. 

On the outside, it looked healthy. Something felt off, though. The massive trunks swayed a little too much when the wind blew. The giant branches that occasionally came crashing down had no clear origin. (Seriously, I couldn't tell where they came off from) And they were big enough to cause damage. So down it went.

As the crew was chopping and hauling, I saw that some of the trunks were hollow. Others made an unsettlingly hollow clunking sound instead of a solidly reassuring thunk. 

When it came down, I felt both sad and relieved. The entire atmosphere of the back yard has changed. The stump was ground down a week later (the one they brought that day was too small) and a landscaper came by a couple days ago to grade and seed it. It's late in the season, so I don't expect the grass to fill this year. My dear wife wasn't happy to see it go. It could probably have lasted a few more years before it became a problem, but seeing the condition it was put me at ease. That tree wasn't going to last much longer, and the size of it, honestly if it hit my house it could have crashed right through the roof.

What I'm not going to miss? Taking care of the leaves. That thing held on until the end of November, then dropped them all in a single weekend. It was insane.