Regarding Noise: Actually more in the 100 to 125' foot range. At 125', 70mm, F4 to DOF calculator shows 78' near limit, 304' far limit. When I zoom in on the pine needles of the tree in the original raw image they are not as clear as I would like them, they look just a tiny bit pixelated, maybe? I took that to be noise but now I am thinking it is lack of sharpness in the image. I have looked at a zoomed picture of a painted wall before and saw the dots caused by noise, I took what I was seeing on the tree to be the same but now I am thinking I was wrong. I will take some more shots this afternoon.

Regarding focus: Would I have been better off limiting the AF on the camera to one point so I have complete control over what it is focusing on?

I cant thank everyone enough for being tolerant of newbie questions and willing to take the time to help.