The tree removal crew came by this morning and quickly and professionally removed our doomed, split-down-the-center tree. First they clipped off the branches, then they lopped off the limbs, then they sawed off the trunk at ground level, and finally they raked up the leaves and twigs. By 2 p.m. they were done.
Our patio now sits naked, treeless and shadeless, exposed to the sun and its beating rays, and in our sawdust-strewn left flower bed a bright tan stump sits where a mighty tree (or at least a reasonably sized one) once grew. With the removal of that one tree, our patio has a completely different feel to it. It will take some time to get used to the change.