Friday morning, July 1, about 12:30 or so, Jo and I were awakened by a loud crack, CRACK, THUD! The thud actually shook the ground. We jumped up, and ran to the front door, not knowing what to expect. What we saw was two huge branches of the giant oak tree in the front yard down and blocking the entire street. I called the Independence Police to let them know the street was blocked. When I examined where the branches broke off, I could tell the whole inside of the tree was hollow and rotten (small inset). To give you some idea of the size of this tree, several of the lower branches would make very large trees all by themselves. Later Friday morning, the Independence public works folks came out, and cut up and hauled away the fallen branches. One of the workers commented to my neighbor across the street that it was a very dangerous tree. I agreed with that statement. If we got a good windstorm, it could easily fall on - and pretty much destroy - the house. Sadly, it had to be taken down. It breaks my heart to lose this wonderful old tree, but it was just too dangerous to let nature take her course. So now I have a lot less shade, and 1600 fewer bucks in my bank account. Watching the tree trimmers in action was amazing, and of course I had to document it. --------------------------------------------- I've just submitted the first of the Blending 3D Figures With Photo Backgrounds to the Tutorials section. It's now awaiting approval, and should be available soon. I'm still trying to get used to the 'new' Rendo website. It seems to work fine, but I'm still not too sure I like the bright blue, garish background. I'd like to see them tone it down a bit - the old slate gray/blue background was much more relaxing, IMHO. Hope to get a little more time to get some new work up - it's been crazy with work, family, and trees. Thanks as always for all your support! You all ROCK! Heading off to (try to) get caight up on commenting!