We drove up to the Naylor’s lakehouse yesterday for an afternoon of sailing. The winds were a little on the light side, but steady for most of the day. We took the opportunity to sail as far west as we can: to the old Seaboard Air Line railroad trestle over the lake. There we got stuck in the shallow water, not having a chart (nor an accurate depth sounder). A few gentle pushes later and we were headed east again. The wind had died down a bit for the trip home and we had invested a lot of time just getting west. Thus, we cranked up the outboard for most of the trip back.
The kids were exceptionally great this time out. No squabbles at all. Kelly got in some good time at the helm, too.
We visited with the Naylors, too, and delivered a gift to them. I think they like it! It was strange seeing their yard without the huge oak tree, too. They had it cut down this week as the lightning damage it had sustained had basically killed it. Ralph counted rings and determined that grand old oak had stood there since 1893. On the bright side, they now have a better view of the lake!
The really interesting part is that the tree sustained some sort of serious damage 30 years or so into its life and grew around it. You can see where it healed over and scared in the stump. It was sad to see the tree go; but, the other thing you can see is that more than half of the trunk was dead with an uncomfortably large area in the direction of the house. Based on the thump it made coming down, it would have cut through the house like a knife through butter.