On the Beach:The War for the Oak

So here is what the lake is capable of when it wants to make a point. Below is a photograph of the front end of  the Beachwork from last year. Notice the oak tree embedded in the wall. It is about 15 feet from the front of the Beachwork . Notice how much stone there is to the left of the tree. In the next photo you can see the front view of the structure complete with a bench and the staircase leading up to the tree. The stack of stone to the left of the tree is about 18 feet high. A pretty impressive stack of stone...now the photo next to it is what was left after April storms. All of the stone from the tree forward is gone. The oak is now the front of the wall.

The restructuring has began. A wall/bench is being placed down in front to try to protect the oak from the next storm. It is in a pretty precarious spot right now. My goal is to get it through the summer.

Two consecutive weekends of laying courses of stone along the front have resulted in a modicum of protection, but we have yet to get a serious blow.

 The wall is becoming more substantial as the second weekend passed. The next step is to integrate that wall into the surviving Beachwork. It's not pretty work at this point, pretty much Emergency Room triage. We'll see how it goes.