Remember the crazy-looking trees growing in the back corner of our yard that we’ve been calling “yuccas” because we really have no idea what they are?

Well, notice the power lines? They’re hard to see in the picture since the sky washes everything out, but the tree on the right is getting pretty close to the highest ones, which are the high-voltage lines. So the power company sent some people out to cut it down. I’m a little sad, but apparently they’ll send us a check for $50, so that’s cool. And we get plenty of shade from the mulberry tree, so it’s not like these trees were doing much other than looking cool…

… and hiding the power pole, which is suddenly a lot more prominent. Hm. Oh, and the tree-cutters haul branches away, but not trunks or stumps, so we’ll have to think about what to do with this huge pile. And that stump is massive. Here I am crouching on it (it’s covered in sawdust so I didn’t really want to sit) for scale:

Do we get a chainsaw and get rid of the rest of it? Do we turn it into a table or make it part of an obstacle course for Loki?

The one definite up-side is this odd little 4-foot tree that was apparently planted in the shade of the two “yuccas” is now going to get some good afternoon sun:

It’s barely managed to push out a few flowers and leaves since we moved in. The flowers are pretty cool though:

Unfortunately the little tree took a bit of damage on the left side during the “yucca” removal, which is why it looks a bit lopsided in that full picture of it. So I guess we’ll watch it and see how it does.