We interrupt our regularly scheduled programming...

...to remove a large branch from the pecan tree that cracked and, uh, fell over the shop. It was about a foot in diameter and thirty feet long--long enough, fortunately, that the end of it came to rest in my neighbor's yard, which in turn prevented it from coming down on top of the roof. I don't have a photo of that (I was in such a state of dither about it that I momentarily forgot to record the event for the blog), but this is where it was:

Fortunately, I found a tree guy, Mark Stewart, of Stewart Landscaping, who was willing to come out on a Saturday and make the shop safe. Then he returned on Monday to finish the job. While he was at it, I had him take out this branch, seen here in earlier years:

The branch has long cast shade on the farm, and I've debated for a couple of years about whether to take it out, since what is unwelcome on my tomato plants* is very welcome on the shop. However, it was the twin of the branch that came down, and one look at that near miss made up my mind in a hurry. Here is the after:

And here is the Lincoln log fort I'm building from it:

Actually, I'll pass the leavings along to my neighbors for firewood.

And! And! As a bonus, Mark also installs gutters and gave me a very reasonable bid for doing the shop and the front of the house. So as soon as I finish the bench, I'm going to finish painting the trim on both and giving him a call.

*Though I don't know why I'm worrying about whether my tomatoes get enough sun, since apparently all I'm doing is growing them to feed the squirrels.