Odd Discoveries on a Day Trip to Lake Malone in Western Kentucky [IMAGES]

While out enjoying the day last weekend--it's always wise to enjoy every second of good weather when we get it--we ventured down the road to Lake Malone.

THE BIG TWIGS AT LAKE MALONE

Having never gotten a closer look at the Big Twigs, that was the reason for the visit. Plus, Lake Malone is just one of Kentucky's most beautiful lakes--among TOUGH competition.

A RANDOM TORNADO SLIDE AT LAKE MALONE

After taking advantage of the "Malone twig family" photo ops, we came across a random tornado slide we found in a field while driving from the lake. Other than peeling paint, it looked reasonably usable, as far as structural issues are concerned.

It says Fort Puppywood on it, and the only "Puppywood" I could find online--that was even remotely near Lake Malone--was a pet resort in Cincinnati. There seems to be NO connection, so I'm pretty sure I'm at the end of the trail.

WHAT IS THAT THING ON THAT TREE?

While we were hanging out by the lake on a beautiful Saturday afternoon, we came across a tree that had some kind of round black thing attached to it. We couldn't get much closer to the tree and wondered what purpose that object was serving.

GOOGLE SEARCHING DIDN'T HELP ME LEARN WHAT THAT ON THAT TREE WAS

I did a search for "things attached to trees" and "plastic attachments to trees." And then I searched some more using variations of those phrases. I'm not coming up with anything. I mean, THIS is a tree trunk protector and, as you can see, it isn't close.

The thing I found that looks MOST like what we saw is a Christmas tree stand.

But it's obviously not that either. I think, by now, we've all come to learn where a Christmas tree stand goes on a tree. And why would one be out in the middle of the woods at Lake Malone?

Well, I don't know. This is NOT an easy thing to search. So our drive through western Kentucky leaves me with two questions...

What in the world is that thing on that tree, and where in the world is Fort Puppywood?