This follows on the last post, about the trees tilted over by the lake.
We can get some big storms here, and if the winds are high enough, trees will fall. Their leaves act like gigantic sails to hold the wind, and sometimes they simply cannot bend enough to let the power of the air pass through.
Last year, about this time of year, we lost a huge white pine at Cedars cottage. Luckily, it fell out onto the lawn, and there was no damage, just plenty of cleaning up and splitting of firewood to be done.
We replant trees, but it takes a long long time to grow them to anything like a replacement height for these forest monarchs, so when we lose one, it is a time of grief.
About ten years ago, a small tornado hit Dwight, ripping up a lot of trees. Some of the damage is still visible as you drive along the Boyne River flats on Hwy 60, but most of it has been cleaned up, and the new trees are growing well. A little whirlwind twister split off from that tornado came through Haystack Bay, touched down near the Cook-out beach, and skipped up through our maple sugar bush. En route, it took trees and literally twisted them off their trunks.
One of those that fell was a giant hemlock, near where the airplane hangar is. Brian saved a slice out of this tree, which was about 200 years old. He dried it, polished it up, and it now hangs over the fireplace in TAMARACK cottage.
On a dull day, you can entertain yourself for hours by counting the rings to get the actual age. And then you can consider what was going on in the world at the time of the various rings. This beautiful old tree saw the timelines for a whole lot of history...
There is a stand of old hemlocks on one of our hiking trails, the kind of trees you cannot get your arms around the trunks, and you cannot see all the way to the tops. They are beautiful things, and hopefully will survive the windstorms for years to come!
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