Today was time to bring the dock and barge back from the “mythical” south cove.  The floating dock and Yuck Finn barge spend the winter in the cove protected from the river ice.  Retrieving the dock and barge requires coordinating with the tides, timing the operation with a tide high enough to float them both off the mudflats. The full moon was yesterday, so this afternoon, Dock paddled his kayak up the river while Dick paddled his canoe down the creek, converging at the lighthouse simultaneously. Like clockwork.  I put the outboard in the bottom of Dick’s canoe and climbed in the front seat, and the three of us paddled over to the cove.  No hang ups untying the dock from its winter mooring. The outboard started up with a few quick pulls of the cord.  Leisurely motoring back to the creek–no wind, no waves, no clouds–a perfect sunny day for this task.  The only trouble was getting the dock to fit back in it’s original place.  Winter had taken its toll on some of the hardware.  Nothing a sledgehammer couldn’t fix. Pounding here and bending there, the floating dock was eventually coaxed back into position. After all that hard work, we deserved a beer.  Bottle in hand, we kicked back on a bench in the warm sun and lamented the forecast for foul weather.