A Sad Morning
Whenever it becomes necessary for a grand, noble tree to be uprooted, it is always a sad event for me.  But such was the case a few days ago in Wilder as, in fact, an entire row of such trees were being removed to make way for the planting of a vineyard.

As I spotted one such tree on its side giving the best horizontal shot of this beauty from the ends of its root to its very top, I got out of the car and as quickly as possible got a few good shots.  It wasn't until the young operator got out of the cab and started walking toward me that I got worried.  But it turned out that he was very friendly even to the point of asking me if I wanted him to drive the tree a little closer for a better picture!

He said that the row of trees near the road needed to be removed because, if by chance one of them would fall, it would cause a costly amount of damage to the grape vines.
He expressed concern about two trees in the row which were particularly large and wondered how he would be able to remove them since he was doing this task alone.

But a few days later, we noted that the trees were all removed so he accomplished his task in the "job well done" category.  We left a picture of the tree taped to the cab and hoped it would be meaningful to him.

Sometimes in life we have to make changes that are difficult, such as the tree removal, but that overall are to our benefit.  Although the process is painful, the end result proves well for our greater good.