High-wire act

The big frond fell off an even bigger palm (at the very top left) in front of one of the guest houses across the street almost a year ago, and it's been our weather vane ever since:

If it moved down to the junction at the splitter box, we'd had a good north wind; if it was next to the concrete pole (supposedly good for a Cat 5 storm), the breeze was from the south. It did a good bit of traveling over our stormy weekend.

On Tuesday, a crew from City Electric finally got around to removing it, starting with this guy with a pole, who gave it about a dozen valiant efforts in half an hour, and ending with a bucket truck, which took about 5 minutes.

Also in the valiant department: We hiked up to the Pier House Tuesday night to listen to our friend Jody, who waits tables at the Flamingo, as she belted out some standards and blues at Larry Smith's piano bar. Late in the evening, Jody called her daughter on her cell phone, put the phone on the piano and sang her a few tunes to send her off on her way to a second tour in Iraq.

I've always resented the "no atheists in foxholes" canard, but I can tell you everyone in the bar was singing a little prayer for Jody's girl.