Q. I have two questions for you:

1) The boardwalk in Lillie Park on Ellsworth was submerged under water for a couple of years. But this year it is out of the water and usable once again. What happened?

A. Turtle Pond has no outlet; rainwater is absorbed, or it evaporates, or the water level rises. That formula resulted in higher-than-usual water levels over the last few years. So far this year the levels are lower, allowing the boardwalk to re-emerge.

2) I answered my own question on this one, but thought it might be interesting to other Observer readers: For years I wondered about the bumper stickers that say just “26.2” or “13.1.” My friend told me that those are Internet radio station call numbers for right-wing radio stations. But I don’t know of any radio station with numbers that look like that. Finally I googled to find out what they are.

It turns out that 26.2 is the number of miles in a full marathon and 13.1 is a half-marathon.