In "An Enigmatic Escape: A Trilogy," Dan Groat writes, "The bones of the oak tree that had stood by the spring branch during my youth were scattered about the ground, pieces of the skeleton of a majestic life that had passed while I was growing up and old."

I know how he feels.

For the first time in my life, the giant bur oak tree in the backyard of my great-grandparents, then grandparents, then parents and now sister's house, in Tilden, no longer shoots toward the heavens.

Saturday, family members, including our Malzacher cousins - Brian and Curtis - and Aunt Joyce joined us to watch the s...