We've always been a little been uneasy about the giant pine tree which towers up and over our house. The trunk leans over our roof, the pine needles make a mess everywhere, the roots are breaking up our driveway, and it just isn't a really attractive tree.

I've never thought seriously about removing it, though, until these recent storms hit San Diego. Trees were falling down all over the county and our tree seemed like a prime candidate...just waiting to destroy our home.

We had a tree expert come out and look at the tree and he said it's definitely a hazard. Branches have already fallen on our roof and way up at the top there's a large branch that has broken off but is being supported by other branches. It's just waiting to fall on us.

Unfortunately, it takes quite a bit of money to remove a tree this size, plus we'll lose our natural shade during the hotter months. We're probably going to end up removing it, though.

I used a photo editor to digitally remove the tree to see what our house might look like afterwards. It'll take some getting used to, but I guess it isn't too bad.