ROTFLMBO .... engineers.. are so ... so ... conceptual ... ask them to explain anything.. and odds are.. they can ... though most of it will be un-understandable to most of us ... but OMG ... most of them need to be kept away from tools ... i had one engineer buddy.. who could do NOTHING ... without making himself bleed ... it was a running joke between the rest of us.. taking odds when it would happen in any given project ...... my wife to be and the gang went up north for a long weekend.. and we were chopping wood or whatever.. for the cottage owner.. and dave starts bleeding.. and the rest of us ignore him.. and go have another beer ... and wifey is having a stroke because he cut himself .. and our reaction was.. oh.. thats just daves way ... lol ... that was near 15 years ago.. and she was just telling the story .. again .... last week ... lol listen closely ... on trees ... the biggest mistake i made for decades.. was thinking the branch had to be taken down intact ... say a 15 footer ... then one day.. i had a 'duh' moment ... and started cutting off 5 foot sections ... basically what i could hold in my hand after severing ... without falling off the ladder ... all the brush is going to have to be sectioned out for disposal.. so why not do it while it is hanging in the tree ... as i said.. DUH!!!! good luck ken

Thanks birdguy. Since time was of the essence, I looked further online and was able to find a NY State Wildlife Rehabilitator and got her on the phone. I was only seeing one Robin adult on the ground, sitting in the corner of the garden below the pear tree. It had been sitting there for several minutes, which seemed odd. I had seen either this one or another hopping around, but for over an hour there was no adult getting INTO the tree and taking care of the one hungry chick I could see. She recommended that I go outside and walk near the adult that was sitting in the garden to see if it would fly to the nest or away. When I went out to test the situation, it hopped away and hid under another bush as I approached, and I could see that one of the wings had feathers askew. The rehabber thought that I should get a towel and try to bring both the wounded adult and the remaining chick(s) to her house where she rehabbed many birds, since nobody was getting into the tree to feed the chicks and the adult may also be in danger. I went into the house to get some boxes and towels (she recommended separate boxes for the chick and adult to reduce stress on the adult), came out and the adult was no longer in the area. Perhaps he/she was just mildly injured and could not make it into the tree, but could fly or hop away to a more secluded spot to recuperate and rest. At any rate, no adult Robin was in the picture, the chick had not eaten in some time, so I got up on a stool and took the nest down. As I suspected, there was only one chick in the nest. It was only partially covered in a soft downy fuzz and was mostly pink and grey. So, my suspicions that there had been some sort of battle for the nest and chicks the night before were correct. Two chicks were taken, and either the parents had decided to abandon ship or were injured beyond ability to care for the remaining chick. Perhaps that injured adult that was hanging around was hoping to get the strength to care for the chick, but was unable to do so. I feel that somehow I was meant to see the situation. I took the nest in a towel, covered the top (left space for air) and put it in the box gently, and hit the highway to get to the rehabber. I could hear the chick chirping occasionally, and from time to time it would lift its head with open mouth waiting to be fed. It was heartbreaking. At every red light I looked down to confirm that the chick was still breathing, which I could easily see through the gap in the towel. I got to the rehabbers house and she couldn't be nicer. She had many small chicks of all varieties in paper towel-lined baskets in bins, with heating pads underneath to keep them warm. She immediately gave the chick some fluids with minerals subcutaneously, and said that you have to wait a while for that to take effect before giving other foods or the chick would not digest the foods properly. I had to leave shortly due to some business, but I'm waiting to hear if the chick made it through the day. The rehabber said that some chicks will make it for a few days, but then will fail to thrive and not make it, so I think she was preparing me for a 50/50 chance. The rehabber told me that every spring and summer she gets many Robin chicks with deformed feet, and that she suspected lawn and garden chemicals since Robins eat mostly worms and other insects that may have consumed these chemicals as well. She said that veterinarians always dismiss her theory about the chemicals, but I don't! I resolve to stop using any lawn chemicals from this day forward (my garden areas are already chemical-free). I have learned a lot from this episode, I hope the chick makes it, and next time I hear such a screetching sound and a nest is reachable, I will not hesitate to help if I can help. I feel so bad for the little family that I photographed so happily the day before. I know it's nature's way and that not all chicks will make it, and that there are eternal rivalries for food and territory among and between species, but it's still sad this evening when I look out the kitchen window and don't see the nest, the attending adults, and the chicks. Perhaps I'll prune the branches of that pear tree to discourage other robins from using it, as this is clearly not a good territory for them to nest in with so many bluejays and starlings around. Thanks again birdguy.

As long as no other healthy ashes (Fraxinus species) or fringe tree (Chionanthus virginicus) on your property or neighboring ones there is no reason NOT to use the wood chips as mulch. In fact, even if those trees were present, it really wouldn't make any difference as sooner or later EAB will get them as well, mulch or no mulch. Wood chips make an excellent mulch and informal surfacing material for walkways. Never a good reason to have them hauled away :-)

In evaluating crape myrtles, I have a personal dislike for the form that most of them end up being. They start as skinny 4-prong multi-trunk trees growing almost vertically. (They are staked this way by the commercial grower.) They are then beheaded somewhere around waist or chest height, purely for the convenience of the one maintaining, as no ladder is required. If later allowed to grow out some more, they end up looking like this: I think a much better shape is this: Sizewise, where the canopy clears a human head by a couple of feet. The good news is that it is possible to convert the the former into latter, but it requires a complete rejuvenation, i.e., cutting to the ground and regrowing, this time paying attention to the form, which is not in the least difficult. It only takes a year or two to establish the new trunk arrangement, and another 3 or 4 years for the canopy to become full. But in the in end it's totally worth it for having a much better looking tree from then on.