Unidentified Falling Object

When I came home from an appointment yesterday morning, something odd in the yard caught my eye. I could see what looked like a giant white pole in the very top branches of the walnut tree. ????? I ran in and got my binoculars, and this is what I saw:

You can see a bit of the white pole. From each end, there is a box hanging by a rope. The red arrows point to the two boxes. The ropes are well tangled in the branches, so this isn't coming down anytime soon. It's probably from the launch of a weather balloon.

The binoculars bounced a lot, and the boxes were swaying, but I could see that there was writing on the boxes.

My boyfriend unearthed his telescope, and we got a better view (though backward!) The boxes are cardboard (!) and the writing says "Harmless Weather Device" or something like that. The launch location and date were handwritten, and too blurred to read. The writing also asks you to return the boxes. If these ever fall down, I will decide if I want to give them back

In other news, I decided to start repairing a rotting window sill. I took off the storm window, cleared away the rot, sanded, and cleared away the dust. Bring on the Bondo! I hope Bondo is okay to use. I think it is. Anyway it's worked well so far, and I will sand it a bit, and finish it up tomorrow. Looks a bit inelegant at this stage, but here it is.

I also noticed that the frame needs re-caulking at the siding. I think I'll go outside and check on my new weather station instead.