It's like losing a friend. Seriously.

Texans love their trees...and we West Texans love them more than most! The respite they give us with their shade, the effort it takes to get them established, and their GREEN, VERTICAL beauty in a largely BEIGE, FLAT region of the state makes them dear to our hearts. Losing one really hurts.

Seriously, Karen and I are really sad. Every time we looked in the backyard yesterday, we just mourned...

The dogs aren't too upset. Ben wants to tinkle on every fallen branch while May Bee searches for birds' nests and squirrel babies (a.k.a. "appetizers").

I'm hoping Mrs. Squirrel and her babies found somewhere else to live. Here's a photo I took of her last month.

And we're going to miss the amazing SMELL of this beautiful tree. Last month, it was almost obscene...like standing next to a man on the elevator who went a little overboard on the cologne. (Karen was driving down the alley once in April and said she could smell our backyard before she could even see it.)

R.I.P., beautiful chinaberry tree.