TIM-BER!

Two weeks ago, the wind and the rain awakened me in the pre-dawn hours, and my tossing and turning finally disturbed Jimmy. "What's the matter?" he grumped.

 "I'm worried about that big pine tree outside the bathroom window. I'm afraid it's going to fall on the house."

(Big sigh.) "Go. Back. To. Sleep."

It really wasn't such a far-fetched concern. There have been numerous reports coming out of Atlanta about an epidemic of falling trees.  The AJC said "trees in Atlanta are toppling faster than toys in a daycare center." Botanists cite several factors in play: old trees are nearing the end of their natural lifespan, and heavy rains after prolonged drought weaken the root system.  Then high winds and heavy storms move in and BOOM: trees fall. To add to the paranoia, people are being swallowed up by sinkholes as they sleep, but that's a different issue.

We have several very old, very large pines only a few feet from the house.  Some of them are diseased.  Plus there's too much shade, so we don't have any grass, and the camellias aren't happy.

SO:

The tree cutter can be seen in the top middle of the picture

You couldn't really see how bad this tree was until it was on the ground .