tree health

We have two elm trees in our front yard.  Probably two-thirds of our neighborhood has them.  Slowly, you see the trees disappear as they die out in each person's yard.  It's an inevitability that ours will die as well one day.

This Sunday, as we were pulling into the driveway from church I noticed that the bark near the top of one of the trees looks different than I'm used to.  I don't know what a diseased tree looks like, but I do know that elm trees are prone to disease.

So, for the last couple of days I have been thinking about whether I need to get it looked at and what it would cost to hire a crew to come cut down both of the trees, since it's only a matter of time.  Today, I decided to Google what a diseased elm tree looks like.  "Huh, that's not what our trees look like," I realized. "I wonder what that could be."

It's lichen.  Lichen doesn't damage trees.  I feel dumb, but relieved.