Today, the drama unfolding outside the breakfast-nook windows was the felling of the willow, a massive creature with a DBH (as they say in forestry circles and meaning diameter at breast height) of 20 feet —and that's feet, not inches.

Neighbor Vi agreed to let the high-lifter, the giant crane, the jumbo chipper, the bobcat, and several trucks come through her back yard for access, but because of the hard-frozen ground it appears that little damage was done.

The tree, well beyond 100 years old (and perhaps closer to 200) liked where it was, with its toes dipped into the trickling creek that runs through the neighborhood. But it outgrew itself. Last summer it dropped a branch weighing dozens of tons, so it was scary as well as awesome.

Now, sadly, there will be no more Wind In The Willow.

Or course, Bri and Renee have their own willow story to tell.