Ok, I have some pictures and one of them is of me eating my hat! I have to figure out how to re size. Armillaria? Maybe, maybe not. There were no active mushrooms and the sample was pretty degraded. I will say that I could not find shoe strings and the stem did not have the classic raised ring under the cap also I have to say that the original picture that was posted looked a little to orange (I've already put my foot in my mouth over the pics). There is decay on the N. root crown and lower trunk and ribs are developing on the S. & W. sides of the trunk, I got a nice hollow sound from behind the west rib. While the root crown is relatively well exposed girdling roots are present just at the surface. While this tree is certainly at an elevated risk for failure, I would not be the one to fire up a chainsaw with out first blowing out the buttress for a few feet and trying get a live wood ratio with some drilling. With some care this trees life in the landscape can be extended, but I can't say it will be safe. This would be a great tree for someones cow pasture but I can't say I'd want my kids playing under it. Should Ron take it out? Depends on the level of risk that he's willing to accept. Excavation will give him a better picture of that. Long story short, while this tree may need to come down, if it were mine I'd want to know more.
Ron, If your still following this, I'll send your batteries back to you via Tracie.
Interestingly enough, The first Arborist that met with Ron told him that this was a rare hill country "Limestone Oak" any Texas folks ever heard of it, I could not find anything on that one.
Welcome to the site.
opcorn:
