There’s a crabapple tree right outside my kitchen window. How it got there, I don’t have a clue. It sprouted a few years back, and I just let it grow.

That seemed like a big mistake this fall. After all, we have two apple trees that provide more fruit each year than our family can handle. This year, we sent several sacks over to a friend for cider-making. But we don’t eat the crabapples. So the fruit falls to the ground, rots, and gets tracked into our kitchen whenever someone—including our dog—comes in from the back yard.

Yup, that thing definitely has to go.

Then, last night brought six inches of snow, along with some near-zero temperatures to the Front Range of Colorado. When I poured my first cup of coffee this morning and gazed out the kitchen window, it looked as if the crab-apple tree was in motion. Dozens of birds were perched on the branches, enjoying a feast from the tiny fruit still on the tree. There were robins and sparrows, some blackbirds, even a woodpecker, and some others I couldn’t identify.

Okay, so maybe I won’t pull out the chainsaw quite yet.