I can not believe I have a killer tree in my back yard. Now I will always wonder if that's what killed our cat :'( I'm glad it's dying then and I can't wait to get it out of here. Thank you all so much for your help, I'm glad the dog and kids haven't been near it.

Oak and ash look very similar from a distance, both being ring-porous woods. Ash tends to have a whiter tone (unless you get some dark heartwood). Red oak tends to have reds, yellows, and often some blacks in it (I was once told there were 35 different color gradings for red oak). White oak tends to be browner. But all that said, any wood can have all the color bleached out of it. The way I tell is to look for medullary rays. Ash has none, red oak shorter ones and white oak longer ones. What medullary rays look like depends upon the orientation of the wood as cut from the log, as the rays go radially. Plainsawn will show just short lines, quarter or rift sawn will show large figure.

yep. also called grape hyacinth. They naturalize beautifully!

You might try contacting the builder, he might know. https://www.houzz.com/pro/spaskos/paskoski-construction Or maybe not as the project was 10 years ago, but I'd bet it was expensive. Addison Reserve This 5,000 square foot Mizner style home was completely gutted and reconstructed into a modern NYC loft style home to showcase the owners extensive art collection.Project Year: 2009Project Cost: More than $2,000,000Country: United States