Today started off very nicely - bright sunshine, very moderate temperature - the kind of day that makes you want to take a long walk in the woods, rustle through the fallen leaves, find a log or a stone wall to sit on for a while to take in the beauty of it all.

It didn't work for us. The Rossi's called around 9 o'clock to tell us Pam Hebert was seeing something far out in the pond that might have come from perhaps our camp or Hamilton's and it seemed to be sinking.

We had both just logged onto our computers - Fred to do the finishing touches on the comments page on the web site (you'll notice the changes next time you go there) and I to send my CoCoRaHS report. We shut everything down and rushed to where Diane had said the "thing" was headed, Aimi's cottage.

We already had an idea what it might be because just before they left a few weeks ago, Pat Gardner had called to tell us there was an overturned dock section against their sea wall. We posted the notice on the blog hoping someone would go there and pick it up, but then we didn't hear anything more about it. Apparently either nobody saw it on the blog or had missed it, so here it was, returning from some mysterious journey to who knows where, floating with the wind, headed back to Gardner's cove.

We considered what we might do. The thing was clearly headed towards the west shore, but we knew it wouldn't make landfall for a while without help, and even then would likely get hung up where we couldn't get it, or it would head back out to sea and someone would need to get it on a much colder and wilder day. We found an overturned aluminum boat on the shore and launched it. Fred found a board to use for a paddle and we set off.

Getting the thing to shore wasn't awfully hard, but Fred had to get into the water to haul the thing close enough to shore to tie it up. There was a short piece of light rope on one of the posts and he used that as a temporary fix. After we got the borrowed boat back where we'd found it, we drove to our camp for a piece of ski rope and then returned to secure the dock between Talbot's and Furloni's. It is water-logged and very heavy, but we hope the owner will retrieve it, preferably before winter, but certainly in the spring.

Fred said the water didn't seem cold at first, but after he'd been in for a few minutes his feet began to get really cold. At some point I slipped in the boat and gave my knee a good whack, but I'm sure it'll be okay in a day or so.

When we got home, there was a message from Peggy Pearl about the high water over the past couple of weeks here at the pond. She had noticed it when she visited the island a week ago, and I had told her to give Green Mountain Power a call, which she did. I'd sent a message to Tom Dente who also got in touch with GMP, and they sent someone right away to check the dam. Peggy called today to let me know John Voyer, the representative for GMP wanted to check in with someone from JPA, which he did by phone minutes later. He told me the mechanism monitoring the water level had malfunctioned and therefore the dam hadn't released as it should have. GMP is monitoring the situation and operating the rubber dam manually until the problem is resolved.

We haven't heard from anyone else that the water level was unusually high, but John Voyer said whenever anything unusual is noticed, we should get in touch with him right away. I have his contact numbers, so let either Tom or me know if there are any problems with water level.

The road machine was out on West Shore Road while we were traveling back and forth this morning. They gave it a really good scraping, especially on the flat in front of Rossi's and Rouleau's, all the way to the Danville line. They didn't go much past Craig's, as far as I know, and they haven't been by our place. The road is pretty good along here, though. There were the usual potholes where they worked it today.

We're expecting more nice weather, a bit cooler, but no precipitation for the next few days. We'll report any further excitement if and when it happens.

I almost forgot to mention - thanks, Lori, for your comment on yesterday's bit of foolishness. I see the resemblance - and just so you'll know, that wasn't really one of my cousins. A cousin did send it to me, though . . .