MYSTERY "GREEN CANOE" FINALLY REMOVED FROM WETLAND POND

For many years the crew at Alan Roy’s annual Sam Smith Park clean-up day have looked at the bow end of a “green canoe” sticking up from the water in the North Creek Wetland pond off the east point of the island and mused about one day removing the unsightly object once and for all.

  

Well, that day came today.

Alan Roy, Terry Smith, Bruce Wilkinson and Alan’s heroic son Alec, plus, of course, Alan’s dog Koa removed the object.  

It turned out not to be a canoe at all but a deflated tetrahedron, marker buoy from a sailboat race that must have come adrift during a storm and floated in to the pond from the lake through the culvert. 

Roped off, wearing chest waders and a life-jacket, the intrepid Alec, under the watchful eye of his dad and dog, ventured out on to the ice from the island and secured a line to the object.  

Then, using an axe, Alec cut a channel through the ice for the shore crew to haul it ashore while they marked the timing of each heave on the line by, of course, singing sea shanties.

As the buoy was dragged back along the shoreline for disposal, a lot of very sleepy looking crayfish tumbled out of it and were tossed back in to the water.

Done, finally! 

A very good day.