Yesterday I showed you a picture of a piece of real estate being moved back to where it came from - the wetlands at the north end of the pond. Tom Conti was at Terry Powers' cottage and was part of the unusual rescue. Terry sent me pictures - and this message:
Jane, here are some pictures taken by Tom Conti, of the activity yesterday at my camp as well as the Silloway's and Ide's on Island Drive. What a time for me to be in Philly. This is what I love about Vermonters, they are always there when needed. Thanks to all. Terry

Here is the slide show: Rescuing Our Wetlands
Now I have to ask the people in Montpelier who are bent on "preserving the wetlands" - what's wrong with these pictures?

To add to Terry's sentiment about Vermonters, I'd like to add that they are there for you even when you aren't here. This has happened over and over during this event - neighbors were watching out for others' property. I had several calls for phone numbers so absentee owners could be contacted by neighbors who were tying up boats and hauling docks back to shore for them.

The pieces of wetlands you see here are only a fraction of what was floating around in the pond during this high water event. There were some chunks reported near Sunken Island, and of course the biggest slice was in the cove below where these pictures were taken, at Lee and Ginger Erdmann's. At the rate we're losing the marsh at the head of the pond, the configuration of the pond will soon be changed - some cottages will have whole new front lawns and there could be another section of the pond opened up along Channel Drive. Perhaps one of those big chunks could be attached to Pearl Island, which is rapidly dissolving.

Thank you for the pictures, Terry. That was quite an operation. We saw some of it, but apparently the troops rallied and we hope they were successful in getting at least some of the land back into the marsh. Unfortunately, as Ginger said to us yesterday, even if she was able to get the huge mass moved from their waterfront, the next rain storm it would probably be back.








On a happier note, Ted Decker sent these nice pictures of our loon family. They apparently rode out the storm just fine. The picture on the left is of the two chicks, and on the right, with Mom and Dad on a family outing.

And here's yet another message, this time from Andy Rudin on Old Homestead - if you are looking for your Sunfish sailboat mast, here it is:

Hello Jane, I found a mast for a sunfish against my shoreline.

Do you know anyone who lost one? Thanks, Andy