Strange title, perhaps, but this really is about a tree. We have a white pine in our yard, right behind our deck. It shades the deck in summer and provides a visual screen against traffic on a busy street. While it’s not my favorite tree in the world, it serves a useful purpose; I’d say it’s convenient.

I noticed about a week ago that a lot of its needles were browning, and a few had started to fall off. Within a few days, brown needles were raining down on our deck and the ground, and I started wondering if we were going to lose this giant of a tree. Continue reading →