Pining for two pine friends

First you see the yellow sawdust at the bottom of the tree and soon you see a dead tree. The dead tree wasn’t in a fire, it was killed by some sort of wood boring beetles. Due to the stress and strain of the three hurricanes that came through our area over the past few years, our pines are being killed by these insects. Just like humans, stress can cause the trees to become vulnerable. A healthy tree would not fall victim to these beetles, but sadly an overly stressed one will. Many trees that were able to survive the actual storms are now meeting their fate this way.

The trees in the picture were in our yard and very close to our home. The one beside the dead one was showing signs that it too would die. It broke my heart that we were losing both of them. They both were cut down and removed yesterday.

I don’t know where the squirrels will go to live and play, but it won’t be in these trees and we have no other large trees in our yard. Yes, I sure did cry yesterday when the tree company arrived and the chainsaws began to buzz. These trees were a part of my outside family and I miss them.