From next door comes the sound of whirring chain saws. The tree guys have been at it for two days, felling a 100-footer with much skill, hard work and fearlessness.  To hang from the very tree you’re taking down — while holding a chain saw — requires a kind of courage I can scarcely imagine.

Meanwhile I sit here with my little computer keyboard, moving words around on a page. Yesterday I listened from inside, alternately opening and closing the window depending upon the state of tree demolition and whether or not I was on the phone.

But today I’m on the deck with a front row seat for the experience. Occasionally, there will be a thud as yet another large limb or chunk of the massive trunk hits the ground. And that’s when … I feel the earth move.