All that is left...

The wire cage around the Marshall seedless ash tree is six feet tall and meant to protect it from the deer.

Seems we should have not been so concerned...

The tree was eaten anyway...

The voraciously hungry caterpillars that grew from the eggs of the beautiful beautiful Swallowtail butterfly denuded the tree with their need to eat and grow.

They are amazing climbers and seek out every morsel they can find.

After the horrific thunder and lightning storms that rocked central Oregon last night, I was amazed to check the tree today and find there are still several big caterpillars still hanging on.  There were some 3,300 lightning strikes and heavy winds and some rain, too.  The National Weather Service sent out an alert that I picked up on our scanner.  There was the potential for quarter size hail with this storm.  Having had extreme hail damage to our house, shop and a truck a few years ago, I headed right outside to move vehicles to cover.  Fortunately, the hail did not materialize here...

Tonight all is quiet but the air is filled with smoke from the many fires that started from the lightning strikes.  One fire has grown with the wind pushing it today and by this evening homes were being evacuated from an area that was hit with fire ten years ago and 18 homes were lost then.  I really feel for the people living near the fire.  We will probably be able to see the glow of the fire from our deck tonight as the smoke settles and fire lays down for the night.