So, I had some excitement out of the cottage this weekend.I arrived there on Friday to discovery that someone had stolen one of my kayaks and paddles out of the kayak rack.1/

I was pretty devastated. I bought those two kayaks the year I built the cottage, 25 years ago, and I'm in such an isolated spot, it was hard for me to believe that someone would have come onto my property and stolen one.2/

I've always thought of that lake is being so safe, that I frequently go out on the lake and don't even bother to lock the doors. Anyway, it was gone, and with a sick feeling, I took out the other kayak to go around the lake and let my neighbours know there was a thief about./

Whenever I saw someone on their dock, I would paddle over and tell them what happened. Uniformly, they were all shocked and all had kayaks sitting on their shorelines with paddles and in some cases life jackets.4/

When I got to the first side of the lake, a woman came up to me on her Sea-Doo and said she'd been thinking about what I said and wondered if it had something to do with an event at the lake the day before.5/

She told me there had been an accident on the main road that turns into my cottage and one of the drivers had fled the scene. The OPP had been out looking for him with the k-9 unit. She wondered if these two things might be connected.6/

A few other people I met as I continued on my journey mentioned the same incident. I began to think that this individual had probably run down the path away from the police and made his escape in my kayak.7/

If that was so, there was a good chance that my kayak had been abandoned somewhere on the lake. However my lake is pretty big and I don't have a motorboat. So I flagged down a motorboat and told them of my suspicions.8/

they had also heard about the police search. One of the people on the boat had talked to an opp officer and they had not found the guy. So we all began to think that he had escaped the k-9 unit by heading off into the water. 9/

I actually felt better about the theft, thinking that it was a "fleeing felon," as opposed to a garden-variety thief. After all, my kayak is 25 years old and there were nicer ones that a thief could have taken elsewhere.10/

Anyway, they said they would post something on the Lake association Facebook page and keep an eye out when they were on their travels and I thanked them and headed back to my cottage.11/

About 10 minutes later I heard a boat behind me honking and people shouting and I turned around to see the folks I had just met. They were shouting, "we've got your boat!" 12/

They had the kayak slung across their motorboat like a deer on the hood of a truck. And one of them had my paddle and was waving it in the air, shouting "woohoo!" 13/

When I had met with them, they took a picture of the kayak I was in, which was identical to the one that had been stolen, and then one of them remembered seeing something blue in the woods down by the waterfalls several miles down on the lake. 14/

So, they decided to take a ride down and sure enough, although they said it was almost impossible to see, the person who had stolen my kayak had ditched it by the waterfalls and pulled it into the trees and presumably fled from there on foot. 15/

They were kind enough to bring my kayak and paddle all the way back to my cottage for me. So the good news is I have everything back AND I met some lovely people around the lake I hadn't met before, and they have persuaded me to join the Lake Association. 16/

So it all turned out very well, I would have to say and I would like to acknowledge the McDonald family for rescuing my kayak and Darlene, for chasing me down on her Sea-Doo to tell me about the police search.17/

If she hadn't, I wouldn't have known about it and I wouldn't have flagged down the motor boat and I probably would never have got my kayak back, or felt safe again in my own cottage. It's all good! /end.