Should it stay or should it go?

The big question

I had to work through more city withdrawals early this morning. And some career-envy insomnia regarding Seth Meyers' move to Late Night.

But after the sun rose, my wife calmed me down, and we hit 60 degrees, every little thing was alright.

So let's get to the real subject of today's post: Our 70-foot tall pine tree.

But I love you...

Jim, our neighbor, dropped by the other night and talked to us about cutting down the pine tree in our back yard so he can install solar panels. Seems he's had an estimation done that says our tree blocks 30 percent of his sunlight.


Cutting down trees? Not cool. Putting up solar panels? Cool.


Maybe. 


When I told my new friend Ryan -- an 18-year-old computer whiz -- he started laughing.


"Solar panels?" he asked. "He should put a Tesla coil in his basement and never pay for electricity again. I could show him how to do it."


"They'd come for him in the middle of the night," I said. "Not a good idea."

Jim is a cool dude who is actually a botanist for the state of North Carolina, so he offered to pay for the removal and help us plant some native trees as a replacement.

"I know, it's ironic," Jim laughed, "the botanist who wants to cut down trees."

We're torn. Our wonderful tree -- which Barb kind of hates -- is blocking a green project. And there are other aspects to consider, which my attorney, Dr. Skalpien, has advised me to stop talking about immediately.

So let's focus on how well it fits in with the canopy of Malvern Hills Park in the background! And when spring really pops, all that green is going to going to be sweeeeet.

Well, we're waiting...

Cricket doesn't seem to care either way. 

Here he is relaxing near the tree after finishing a chase in the yard next door with Clover (not pictured), his new dog BFF.

Rollin' in the sunshine

I took the dogs for a walk in the park to think it all over. On the way back, our neighbors stopped us and gave us some eggs their chickens had just laid. 

Eggs!

You'd think with that kind of bond forming, I'd remember their names.

Wait. What were we talking about?