Nature's Design

My friend MR lives in the house originally built for her husband's grandparent's. The home was built shortly after they married. This was around 1923 or 24. The tree in the pictures were planted shortly after. The one in the picture is a sycamore and stands approximately 25 to 35 feet from the back bedroom window.

They were gone to the lake last weekend when we had a pretty hard thunder storm and lightening struck this tree. There are no gaping holes in the tree, nor are there any limbs blown from it. Just these lightening trails all around the huge tree.

This house is on one of the higher spots in the area since it is near the river and there were no levees when it was built. It was common practice to build houses on high areas and often times several steps up off the ground to prevent flooding in the house itself. The floor of the house is high enough off the ground that an adult can almost stand upright and walk underneath it.

This seems to have caused another problem since lightening seems to strike the house quite often. They have to remember to unplug tv's, computers and now phones when they leave to spare them being zapped. And they have probably had trees struck before also, but this is such a strange exhibit of what the power of a storm can do. Not only did it run these trails all around and down the tree, the bark that was blown away hit their house like shrapnel. Two windows were broken and there are holes in the siding where these small pieces of bark hit. MR spent a good deal of time cleaning all the glass and tree bark out of the bedroom and porch area. And she continues to find pieces, many the size of half dollars in the house.

Someone told them if a person had been within about 15 feet of the tree when this happened, that the pieces of bark could have gone completely through them, probably killing them instantly. They were so fortunate not to have been at home when this happened since there is almost always someone sleeping in that bedroom that sustained most of the damage.

I think it is fascinating what the forces of nature can do. And thankful that I'm usually safe from it's fury.

I hope you are having a wonderful Friday. Pray for our country. Love one another