do what dave said ... but what he didnt say was.. and i will yell .... DO NOT MOVE THEM NOW ... its just too close to the heat of summer.. it is stressed from one planting.. and we dont want to stress it ... as the heat grows in july/august.. if you are in z5 MA ... you would do it in either late sept/oct ... when the other trees leaves turn colors. .. or immediately after ground thaw in spring.. thru the end of april ... which would give it 8 to 10 weeks to get the roots pumping water.. before the heat of next summer ... there is nothing to do about those trees .. short of buying the lot.. etc ... but i sure dont like the one giant one.. that seems to overhang your house ... which might be an optical delusion of the camera.. in the last pic .... its above a green conifer .... either the juniper or GG ... if it could fall on grass.. ignore it ... what i think about with those pix.. is the heavy machinery that was needed to build your house .. which looks rather new.. and the long term impact of soil compaction and root crushage.. on those giant old trees.. i would suspect long term .. 10 year .. decline .... ken

Well bossjim, the "yes dear" is kinda like agreeing to use MS software precisely as MS suggests you use it.........so being basically an anti-MS person, I have managed to develop alternative methods to using their mind-numbing software, by using a MAC! So....Wife 1.0, now has alternative methods of operation, which, while limited, provide for some degree of flexibility, and use of grey matter. These days though, the functionality of grey matter, has declined, therefore I have misgivings about winning the battle, in the long run. (smile)

Here is an overview of the branch I plan to keep. Sorry I don't have a wide angle lens so it's not as good as it could be, but it gives you an idea. I took this crouched as low to the ground as I could go, so it looks higher than it really is. The branch leaves the trunk at about 5' high. The top of the waterspout is probably about 12'-14' off the ground. (the trunk is just to the left of this picture) You can see there's another lateral branch from the trunk, crisscrossing the area, but it sweeps down to the ground, so I'll probably just remove it. It's the horizontal, in fact slightly upsweeping branch coming off the top of the waterspout that provides high shade. I'd forgotten that years ago the top of this waterspout cracked and fell off in a storm. The cut is clean, I fixed it standing in my Kubota FEL bucket. Tornado, I can probably take care of this myself when time comes to completely get rid of the tree. The trunk at almost 3' in diameter is difficult to remove with a smaller chainsaw, but it can be done. I've done something similar before. If the trunk is only about 12' high at that point, I just have to make sure it falls the right way...i.e., not on me!

So I'm back - yeah my last post made me feel kinda bad because I feel like I failed.... but hey that's how you learn. I'm going to continue the process - until late May - at which I will come back for advice again before purchasing plants from store. Unfortunately every nursery I call tell me the same thing "We are not sure what we're getting this May. We should have some variety" - EXTREMELY vague and I did make 9 calls - all the way to 40 minutes out of my home location. So - in terms of my peppers/eggplants... frankly when I replanted them - they barely had a stem on them - they did have leaves though - IF my memory serves correctly. So I'm not sure how much I buried - I do remember being a little surprised though because within a week their stem length doubled (I thought the transplant would injure them so).... their leaves didn't change much at the time. Either way... I'm scratching my head because the pictures don't indicate that... perhaps I'm confusing things. Eitherway - I am blasting them with the lamps and I did start with the fish feed (my cats were swarming around me) - how many hours of artificial lighting would you say they need? I hope they improve - I am seeing a marginal improvement with the peppers.. but not the eggplants. I will post updates. So my "real" reason for posting - well I have tomorrow (Monday) and Tuesday of and I'm ready to replant tomato seeds pending recommendations here. Again - the tomatoes are a little under 2 weeks old since re-rooting the cuttings. It's been about 4 days since my last set of tomato pictures - they've had their first fertilization 2 days ago and 4 days of light (directly under lamps + near window). I've noticed some serious improvements in some plants and others just crumbling. The middle of the tray - forgot the varieties - one is black kim I believe - anyway I definitely need to reseed. They are looking much more green (they are greener than the picture)/healthier - still could get a bit more green... anyway would appreciate any thoughts on them